During its history the Toyota Supra has enjoyed considerable success in a variety of different motorsports.
Drag racing The Supra has a history of professional drag racing, mainly in Japan and the United States. The HKS team have used both the Mk III and Mk IV to showcase its products, known as the HKS Drag Supra. This Supra was driven by Charlie Goncalves Catanho. It was mainly built on a custom chassis with a carbon fiber body, the Mk III version housed a de-stroked 2.89-liter twin-turbo 7M-GTE, good for at over 9000 rpm, giving a best quarter mile time of 8.09 seconds. The HKS Drag 70 Supra later set a 7-second in 1991.
One of the first Pro Mod drivers in import drag racing, Vinny Ten used a Supra to hold national records for drag racing in the United States between 1997 and 2000 as well as being the first in the US to build a Japanese engine without the need of nitrous or alcohol fuel. Ten also achieved the first for the Supra to break into the 12 to 8 second barriers as well as achieving a speed of over 120 to . Ten has since taken his Supra into the six second barrier.
Craig Paisley, another pioneer of sport compact drag racing, also used a nitrous-assisted Supra, his first sport compact, to compete in the same category. He achieved a best of 8.2-second e.t.s at more than and would switch to the factory supported Tacoma by 2002. Paisley was also the first sport compact racer to receive factory sponsorship and support. Toyota became the first Japanese car company to get involved with drag racing.
After years of competing in other cars, in 2002, HKS returned with the Mk IV version of the HKS Drag Supra, driven by Tetsuya "Dryhopp" Kawasaki, its 4.0 liter 1UZ-FE V-8, equipped with two prototype HKS GT3540 turbos, HKS rods and billet crank and stock valves, producing in total of . The HKS Drag 80 Supra set a sub-7 second mile in 2001.
In 2003, the Supra was to compete in the NHRA Sport Compact Series, but the car became ineligible when the category it was to enter in, Pro V8, was axed at the beginning of the year, therefore it was permitted to perform demonstration runs throughout the season, where at a round at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, Englishtown, the Supra took the car's record time of 6.893 ET at , eclipsing its best in Japan of 7.277 posted at Sendai Hi-Land Raceway.
In 2002, in the NHRA's street tire class, the unibodied Titan Motorsport Supra of Mark Mazurowski broke the all-season dominance of Ari Yallon's Rotary Performance RX-7 to take the title and became the fastest uni-body Supra in the world, with a time of 9.42 second and at Maple Grove Raceway, Pennsylvania, despite a quicker time at Houston Raceway Park of 9.002 at which was unofficial.
The Supra won all but the first round, losing a final to Yallon. With the cancellation of the Street Tire Class, Titan moved to the Pro RWD class with a 2JZ-GTE-powered Celica The Supra was used by BF Goodrich to advertise its Drag Radials tires which it was equipped with.
Many cars that appeared in the series also appeared in the NDRA (NOPI Drag Racing Association) BF Goodrich Tires Pro Street Tire Series.
In the United Kingdom, Steve Whittaker used a Mk III built around a pro-style chassis to achieve a best of 8.207 at .
Sriyantha Weerasuria and Boost Logic were able to achieve a pass at the Texas Mile and a 7.91 seconds at quarter mile pass with the stock Getrag V160 transmission. Weerasuria also held the record for the fasted quarter mile in a manual transmission vehicle (which was done in a Supra) which held for many years.
The current record for the fastest pass with the stock Getrag V160 transmission is held by Vlad Yevtushenko at 7.88 at .
At TX2K10 (a national racing event that takes place annually in Texas), Boost Logic made a quarter-mile pass with their drag car with a time of 7.59 seconds at . The car was driven by Kean Wang.
The record is now held by Ebrahim Kanoo of Bahrain with driver, Gary White. His 10.5 Supra (10.5-inch-wide tire) ran 6.23 seconds at in the quarter mile. He also held the Supra IRS (independent rear suspension) record with his IRS Supra that ran 7.18 seconds at in the quarter mile. Both cars were built and tuned by Titan Motorsports.
The record for fastest Supra IRS (independent rear suspension) was set during TX2K20 at 6.807 at , held by Jack Cuoto.
In November 2021, Toyota unveiled the GR Supra body for the NHRA's Funny Car category which it competed in 2022 season.
The record for fastest fifth-generation GR Supra is 7.908 seconds at in the quarter mile, set by Mikey Botti in May 2023 at Darlington Dragway. The modified B58 engine is tuned to approximately .
Touring car
During the Group A period, Toyota used the Mk II for Division 3 category touring car racing, especially in the JTCC (Japan), ETCC (Europe), BTCC Britain) and ATCC (Australia) with the AE86 competing in Division 1.
The Mk II Celica Supras debuted in August 1981, although relatively underpowered to be a serious contender against the Rover SD1 and BMW 635CSI, managed to be competitive despite this, being driven by drivers such as Win Percy winning a BTCC round, at Brands HatchBRMC: All’s Well That Ends Well? When its star driver, Percy, was tempted away by rival Tom Walkinshaw and his TWR-prepared Jaguar XJS V12, Toyota GB took on Grand Prix motorcycle racing star Barry Sheene, following his retirement from motorcycle racing, for the 1985 BTCC season, but the car was outclassed by the newer turbocharged cars and Sheene's performance was hampered by past motorcycle racing injuries. Nevertheless, he drew in the crowds and retired from professional racing at the end of the season.BRMC: Barry Sheene - Group A Touring Car Driver Later the Toyota Team GB Supra was shipped to a privateer in Australia where it won the first Group A race on the continent.
The Mk II was replaced by the Mk III Supra (MA70) which, like the Mk II, had varying degrees of success, but both TOM'S and SARD, who represented the factory effort competed in 1987-1990, fared better in Japan with the TOM'S team winning its debut, at the Sugo Track, on September 9, 1987. In all, eleven MA70 Group-A turbos were built by TRD Japan for racing. In 1987 the Turbo MK III was fairly competitive in Japan - it not only won its debut race, but also for the remainder of the race season the Supras outqualified all Nissan Skylines (HR31 and DR30) in Division 3 of the JTCC.
After January 1988 when FIA increased the weight multiplication factor from 1.4 to 1.7, the MK III lost competitiveness as the rest of the Division 3 cars were mostly running 2.0 or 2.5 L engines, increasing weight differences. Additionally, unreliable long-stroke engines, homologation delays and poor development caused a further decline of the car as the Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 and the more advanced Nissan Skyline GT-R became the cars to have in top flight Group A racing.
Among all the private teams that competed with the Mk III Group A Supra (RAS-Belgium, MIL-UK, and Bemani-Switzerland), the Swiss team was the most successful. This was largely due to the team founder Beni Bühler, who was very much aware of the multiplication factor changes as early as July 1987 and thus made the right choice to develop a naturally aspirated 7M-GE-powered MA70 Supra.
With financial support from Walter Frey (Toyota Switzerland), Bemani entered the European Touring Car Championship (ETCC) with two cars, consistently achieving finishes just behind the factory teams. At the Group A endurance race—the Spa 24 Hours—Bemani secured 5th place overall and 3rd in their class.
In the 1989 and 1990 seasons, Bemani entered the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM). However, competing against the dominance of BMW and Mercedes proved extremely challenging. Despite the Toyota Supra 3.0i’s impressive 330 horsepower, the team struggled to be competitive and non delivery of the promised budget in millions from Toyota Germany did not help. Notable highlights included briefly leading a heat race at Mainz-Finthen and running 2nd at AVUS before the AMG team forced the Toyota out of the race after direct order from their Team Principle.
Despite the significant aerodynamic advantage and double wishbone suspension - the Gr.A Mk III Supra Factory race effort was largely discontinued at the end of the 1990 season in favour of the Toyota Corolla AE101. For the 1991 and 1992 only a few race cars were kept in competition by privateers including top finishes by Bemani Toyota Team in the Swiss Group A Championship.
The GR Supra made its debut in the 2026 Supercars Championship (Australia) with a Hilux Dakar-derived 2UR-GSE V8 engine.
Production Car racing Peter Fitzgerald won the 1989 Australian Production Car Championship driving a Toyota Supra Turbo.
Rallying
Although the Celica and Corolla Levin represented Toyota in rallying, the touring car spec Celica Supra was used occasionally in Group A with modifications to make it drivable. The Celica Supra managed to finish second in category at Circuit of Ireland Ulster Rally, Scottish Rally and the Welsh Rally during the 1983 British Open Rally Championship, driven by Per Eklund and Dave Whittock, allowing them to successfully defend their championship title.
Toyota sold the car off after the 1985 season.
Following the demise of Group B and upon insistence by Toyota management, its rally entrant Toyota Team Europe used the Supra to specialize in African rallies while the lighter Celica took the job for the other rallies. The Supra 3.0i made Toyota's Group A debut with the Supra which was capable of producing , despite its weight and size being a clear disadvantage, driven by Björn Waldegaard, it led the 1987 Safari Rally until its final day when its engine overheated. The Supra scored its only win in the Hong Kong - Beijing Rally with the same driver. The NA version was shortly replaced by the turbo version, which on its debut at the Rallye Côte d'Ivoire, the Supra led but the team withdrew when their hired Cessna 340 crashed, killing the team manager, Henry Liddon and his assistant, Nigel Harris, plus a pilot and navigator. TTE would return for its African attempt for the following two years but was unable to repeat its performance and was replaced by the Celica which achieved better successes there.
A naturally aspirated, privately entered A80 Supra competed in SCCA ProRally series in 1996 to 1998.
Sports car racing
The Supra has a long history of professional sports car racing, mainly in Japan and the United States. The Supra has been raced in many different sports car racing championships over the years, most notably in the JGTC, Super GT, IMSA, GT4, and 24 Hours of Le Mans.
IMSA The Mk III Supra, which replaced the Mk II Celica, competed in the IMSA Camel GT series by Kent Racing and All American Racers in 1983 in the GTU (Grand Touring, under 3.0-liter) category, later in the season, AAR inherited the racing program of Kent Racing, although superior to the AAR cars, the semi-tube frame car Kent Racing used housed a , 2030 cc, 16-valve DOHC engine. Feeling that the car needs to be developed, it underwent further redesign by aerodynamicist Hiro Fujimori.
For the 1985 season, AAR specially adapted a 2.1-liter turbocharged 4T-GT engine to one of their GTU car to be used at the GTO category, which scored a win at Laguna Seca, that car would later be used for engine development. Despite heavy competition against the RX-7s, by the time they progressed to the higher GTO category in 1986 with a Celica, they had taken 10 GTU victories.
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