Toyota 86 Racing Series extended to 2020

Toyota Australia has announced a two year extension of its national Toyota 86 Racing Series, an affordable, one-make competition designed to unearth and develop emerging motorsport talent.

Launched in 2016, the series allows teams to compete at selected Supercars rounds, in examples of the 86 sports coupe not far removed from their road-going counterparts. A set list of control parts, claimed to cost less than $25,000 (as of 2017) is required to bring a car up to race specification.

Toyota says continuation of the series is thanks to its success over the first two of its originally planned three-year run. 

In making the announcement at a season preview at Sydney Motorsport Park, Toyota said pre-registrations for this year's series were "off the charts".

Toyota shows its commitment to upcoming talent with the ,000 'Kaizen' award for most improved driver.

The prize pool has also been increased by $25,000 to a total of $150,000, with participants who place as low as 8th now receiving prize money.

To further its commitment to upcoming talent, Toyota has boosted the ‘Kaizen award’ (now valued at $35,000) for the most improved driver throughout the year. Kaizen is the Japanese concept of continuous improvement.

This year the series will consist of 18 races on six tracks (up from 15 races on five tracks last year), and the cost per race meeting will remain steady at just $1500. Toyota claims this is the lowest entry fee of its kind in Australia.

Entrants for the 2018 series will have the opportunity to be mentored by Bathurst 1000 winner Jason Bargwanna.

The T86RS cars will race on the same day as Supercars at notable venues, including Sandown, Mount Panorama and the relatively fresh Newcastle city circuit.

The changes year-on-year to 2020 are planned to be ‘minimal’ with one of the largest changes for this season being a new Dunlop control tyre.

Toyota also confirmed that to standardise entry requirements and maintain an even playing field, the base car will continue to be a 2016 or earlier manual transmission Toyota 86, in either GT or GTS spec. 

The changes year-on-year to 2020 are planned to be ‘minimal’ with one of the largest changes for this season being a new Dunlop control tyre. 

The car will remain unchanged in terms of engine performance, the race car gaining 20kW over the standard car, to 167kW, thanks largely to a track ECU tune and less restrictive exhaust.

The 2018 series kicks off on April 20-22 at Phillip Island, followed by Townsville in July, and South Australia's new Bend Motorsport Park at Tailem Bend in August.

What do you think of the T86RS racing series, do you consider less than $100k a year affordable? Tell us what you think in the comments.