Rumours have been circulating about a hotter Supra GRMN, could this be it?
Toyota has been spotted putting laps on what could be the long-awaited Supra GRMN, an ultimate high performance variant of its two-seater sports car. Packing an uprated six-cylinder engine, plus some serious chassis upgrades, it will arrive next year to rival other serious track-focused sports cars like the Alpine A110 R, Porsche Cayman GT4 and BMW’s incoming M2 CS.
Visual changes on the prototype are limited to more aggressive aero around the front splitter and a new raised rear wing, but look closer and you’ll see a new lightweight wheel design wrapped in Michelin rubber, plus a bigger set of brakes behind. The body also looks to sit lower on its suspension than the current model, which is expected to be totally recalibrated for the GRMN.
What’s hiding underneath the clamshell bonnet, however, is still a mystery as the Supra’s BMW-derived underpinnings could be hiding one of its BMW M powertrains for the first time. As it stands, the six-cylinder GR Supra currently features a 250kW turbocharged 3.0-litre in-line six-cylinder engine with the B58 designation. This engine is used in a variety of BMW models from the M340i sedan to the X7 SUV, but rumour has it that the GRMN will finally adopt a full-fat M motor.
The engine in question is likely to be the S58 engine currently in use in the M2, M3 and M4 models. In its least aggressive tune, the engine produces 345kW, with further 375kW and 404kW tunes also available further up the range. Yet which of these – if it’ll mirror a BMW M tune at all – is still unknown.
The existing GR Supra is available with both a six-speed manual or eight-speed automatic, with the former being torque-limited which could be the deciding factor of its availability in the GRMN. In any case it will work with an electronically-controlled limited-slip differential and create a far more capable dynamic package.