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NEWS
SPY PICS: Toyota tests lighter 86
Nurburgring spy shots reveal concept car has made it to the trackA lighter and potentially faster version of the Toyota 86 coupe could be headed for production with a test mule spotted doing laps at the Nurburgring recently.
The GRMN 86 was unveiled at the Tokyo Auto Salon in January, featuring a distinctive carbon-fibre vented bonnet, roof, boot-lid and rear wing.
Now, an 86 with the same bodywork has shown up at the Nurburgring and been snapped by Automedia.
And if the specifications revealed in January are all still part of this car then something more potent than the 86's standard 147kW 2.0-litre boxer engine sits under that vented bonnet.
Just how much more potent we don't know for sure, but there are references to the engine being enhanced, engine parts being reinforced, an oil cooler added, the ECU rewritten and a mechanical limited slip diff bolted into the rear axle. So that bodes well.
Of course, a turbocharger has been speculated on for the 86 since it first launched in 2012 and motoring.com.au's Peter Lyon reported in May that just such an engine is on its way in 2016 as part of a dramatically expanded model range.
There are also suggestions in the media the next generation 86 could be developed by Toyota in conjunction with BMW, rather than Subaru as the current car has been.
Intriguingly, the 2014 GRMN 86 follows on from a 2013 GRMN 'Sports FR' concept that boasted a turbocharged and supercharged boxer engine making 235kW and 421Nm.
Do those vents mean there's been a marriage of the best bits of the two concepts to produce the 86 we've always hankered after? That we can't tell you, but it sounds good, doesn't it!
Apart from the carbon-fibre bits we do know the 2014 GRMN 86 concept also comes with polycarbonate windows, carbon-fibre front seats with the rear seats removed completely, some chassis stiffening enhancements and lowered sports suspension.
By the way, GRMN stands for 'Gazoo Racing tuned by MN'. Gazoo Racing is the factory Toyota racing team founded by current president Akio Toyoda.
The 'MN' is a reference to the legendary Nurburgring race track where Gazoo has competed for the last eight years in the 24-hour classic. Toyoda has driven there the last four years under the pseudonym 'Morizo'.
As yet we don't know whether we'll see the GRMN 86 emerge as a special edition 86 production car, or an options package.
But the 86 chief engineer Tetsuya Tada recently said the facelifted version due in 2015 could make use of a larger boxer engine along with improved exhaust and intake systems developed in collaboration with Gazoo Racing.
A basically unchanged MY15 86 goes on sale in Australia next month.
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Written byCarsales Staff
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