Toyota GT86 TRD Griffon heading for Goodwood FoS

The Toyota GT86 TRD Griffon (pictured) will be at the Goodwood FoS

We’ve had a road-going version of the Toyota GT86 fettled by TRD and now we’re getting a track-focused version too.

Just like the Toyota GT86 TRD, the Griffon version gets a makeover from Toyota Racing Division, and just like the road-going version – which costs £31,495 – the Griffon track version has to make do with the same 197bhp flat four engine the stock road car gets. But the changes to the GT86 Griffon are more extreme than the road-going version, with a focus on shedding weight and sharpening responses.

That means the standard diff gets replaced with a mechanical one, the suspension is stiffer, there’s upgraded brakes with race-spec pads and a new set of alloys with track tyres and a shorter final drive.

Weight has been shed by using carbon fibre for the roof, doors, bonnet and boot (which means the Griffon will probably be too expensive ever to be sold) and CFRP gets used for the bumpers, wings and rear diffuser. TRD has even ripped out the glass and replaced it with plastic.

Strangely, Toyota hasn’t told us what all the work TRD has done has done for performance or weight, but as the Griffon isn’t going to make production it’s probably best to treat it as an advert for the road-going GT86 TRD.

The TRD Griffon Project GT86 will be in action at the Goodwood Festival of Speed next month.

By Cars UK