A80 Toyota Supra

2JZ-No-Sh*t

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2017
Threads
14
Messages
1,803
Reaction score
3,389
Location
NM
Car(s)
My feet
Read This To Understand Why The Toyota Supra Became A Legend



YouTube videos of 1,000 horsepower cars and memes from Fast & Furious movies have clouded our memory of how the last Toyota Supra became the icon that it is. Here’s what the car was like before all of that mythologizing, before it became one of the Holy Grails of tuning.

Most of my understanding of how the world of cars was laid out came from reading old websites about the sports cars and muscle cars of the 1960s and ‘70s, and the rest came from riding my bike down to my local newsstand when I was a kid and reading the newest issue of whatever British car magazine was on the shelf in the back. Whatever EVO liked, I liked. Whatever CAR said made a Porsche a Porsche, I took as gospel.

I still have a habit of looking up old car reviews from the British car magazines and with all of the talk of the upcoming Toyota Supra swirling around, I went looking for reviews of the legendary 1990s MKIV to see what the snobbiest, er, most discerning people in auto writing thought about the thing when it was new and stock, unburdened by legend or Stage 4 turbo kits.

Turns out, they were seriously impressed.

In 1994, CAR put the Supra up against the then-new BMW E36 M3, which was a more even match than you might think, since this was the Euro-spec car and BMW stifled the E36 M3 that we got in America. The whole review is scanned here, and you should give it a read if you have the time.

Here’s the deal. Both cars weighed abut the same. Both had 3.0-liter straight sixes up front, independent suspension all around and rear-wheel drive out back.

The Supra, though, is much more powerful, benefitting from two turbochargers the M3 did not have. The Supra’s iron-block engine made 326 horsepower and 325 lb-ft of torque, CAR claims, compared to the BMW’s 286 hp and 236 lb-ft of torque, even with its variable valve timing.

hzm1ywzvhaezruwttmw1.jpg


What I find interesting is the comparison starts out looking like it’s going to be in the BMW’s favor. “Where the M3 snarls and wails,” CAR writes, “the Toyota simply hums and whooshes, muffled by twin turbos.” The M3 has shorter gearing and is immediate and sharp on the gas, like other BMWs only more so. “None of the old clichés suffice, especially the one about razor-sharp throttle response.”

It seems like the Supra will be big on power but lower on driving enjoyment. But that’s not how it turns out. The Supra not only stands ahead of the BMW on comfort (with better seats), tech (with traction control) and refinement (with nice highway gearing), but also with much more exciting handling and direct steering. Little flicks of the wheel have the Supra darting through corners. The same action in the M3 hardly move the car at all.

The BMW was so stuck at the rear that it understeered rather than leant into oversteer. The Toyota, with traction control off, was happy to get loose even in third gear. “Big and bulky it may be,” CAR writes about the Supra, “but cumbersome it is not.”

qarjpjiqmvuundi5ohvw.jpg


Now, not everyone was completely enamored with the Supra. Motorsport tested the car in late ‘93 (you can read the review here) and said it was “not nimble or agile enough to be truly satisfying or quick on twisty roads,” but they also complained that its traction control held it back, saying that it felt “unnatural,” choppy and made the car push at the front. Also, they said that they didn’t like the car because it had such unnecessary features as air conditioning and cruise control. Like I said, the Brits can be, uh, exacting.

“You can have your right foot planted to the floor with neither revs rising nor speed increasing,” Motorsport griped about the “unnatural” traction control, “and in more extreme cases you can actually feel the brakes being applied.” It weirded the reviewer out, and goes to show how weird traction control was back in the early ‘90s.

What Motorsport nicely pointed out, though, was how huge a departure the MKIV Supra was from the generation before it, which was “literally, a huge handful on the limit” and “looked particularly flash, and was every bit as fast as it looked, but its potential entry into ‘supercardom’ was really frittered away in the chassis department.”

Autocar also pointed out that while the MKIV Supra was a third more powerful than the MKIII, the later car was lighter, though the magazine thought that the steering lacked feedback like you’d find in a Mazda or a Porsche.

My favorite car reviewer, by contrast, liked the car’s attitude a lot. Tiff Needell on old, old Top Gear, reviewed the Supra like a GT partner to the NSX, lightweight in design but strong, fast but something you can live with every day. “Its manners are impeccable,” Tiff said, and praised that the car didn’t have any “four-wheel drive, four-wheel steering gimmicks” that you’d find on other cars out of Japan’s Bubble Era.


So it’s easy for us to think of the Supra as any old kind of two-door that came with a 2JZ from the factory. We think of the car as an overbuilt, big-power brute and little more—a drag racer, meant for quicker drag races with modifications.

But there was some real finesse and character to the car, too. Don’t forget that it was a whole package that’s made the Supra what it is.

https://jalopnik.com/read-this-to-understand-why-the-toyota-supra-became-a-l-1820876748
 

NYC_Supra

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2017
Threads
1
Messages
51
Reaction score
104
Location
Driving
Car(s)
Toyota
168EF315-2746-4004-A227-5466ABF7C1FC.jpeg
E9EEABFD-6BE5-4047-98A4-6762BF882E4E.jpeg


For the rear of the 4th Gen Camaro it’s like GM saw the NSX and was like yeah we’ll just do that instead.
 
Last edited:

NYC_Supra

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2017
Threads
1
Messages
51
Reaction score
104
Location
Driving
Car(s)
Toyota
Top Secret's V12-swapped, 222 mph Toyota Supra up for auction
It's a Toyota V12, too
JOEL STOCKSDALE
Dec 15th 2017 at 12:30PM

This coming January, during the 2018 Tokyo Auto Salon, an auction house called BH Auction will offer a modified 1994 Toyota Supra. It's no ordinary modded Supra, though, it's a famous gold-colored Supra from Japanese tuning company Top Secret, and its claims to fame are incredible speed and a V12 under the hood.

Yes the number of cylinders under the hood of this Supra has doubled, and it isn't a V12 from Ferrari or Aston Martin. It's a 5.0-liter V12 developed by Toyota and used in the old Toyota Century, the company's Japan-only luxury sedan. Top Secret didn't stop there, having added a pair of turbochargers, a nitrous oxide system and stronger engine internals. In total, the car has 930 horsepower and 745 pound-feet of torque, all of which goes to the rear wheels via a six-speed manual transmission. Besides the powertrain upgrades, the car received a body kitthat makes it hard to recognize the car as a Supra from the front, but the greenhouse and taillights are dead giveaways.

The powertrain in this Supra alone makes it special, but it also has an impressive top speed to sweeten the deal. The owner of Top Secret, Smokey Nagata, took the car to the circular Nardo test track in Italy and hit a top speed of 222.6 mph.

BH Auction doesn't have an estimate for how much cash the Supra will fetch. We can't imagine it will go for cheap, so start saving your yen now before the auction on January 12.
https://www.autoblog.com/photos/1994-top-secret-toyota-supra-v12/

search3nd-1994-topsecret-ts8012v-toyota-supra-02-1.jpg
 

harvey9b

New Member
First Name
Gary
Joined
Dec 28, 2017
Threads
0
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Location
New Jersey
Car(s)
1994 Supra TT
Vehicle Showcase
1
Need assistance in repairing the fuel door release for my 94 TT, Is there a way to adjust the cable?
 

johnny_10196

Well-Known Member
First Name
John
Joined
Jul 23, 2017
Threads
19
Messages
1,137
Reaction score
1,758
Location
US
Car(s)
Ford
Drive Flashback: 1993 Toyota Supra Turbo
Twenty-two years ago, we got our mitts on Toyota's bestial Supra Turbo. It was legendary, then and now. Read our first impressions.

landscape-1431010530-img035.jpg

RON PERRY
BY KIM REYNOLDS
MAY 11, 2015

This article originally appeared in the March 1993 issue of Road & Track.

Roughly 40 times year a brand-new car lands in our laps to be driven, tested, photographed, its details dissected / and then finally judged as a success, failure or also-ran. And just between you and me, I'd guess that in about half of these cases, we quietly wish the cars designers had asked us for a few opinions before they'd finished polishing the tooling.

Mind, that's not to say we're a bunch of frustrated automotive engineers. We have trouble enough with our word processors, if you catch my drift. But after a few years, each of us has driven so many cars that, even if we don't notice wearing mismatched socks three days a week, we're hyper sensitive to the most minuscule automotive missteps— as well as the quiet touches of good design. Ah, if only they had come to us when the CAD screen was empty.

But for the Supra before you, Toyota not only asked, they listened. Two years ago, Toyota's product-planning staff assembled batches of magazine folks, me included, buckled us into every significant sports car then available, from the Porsche 944 to the Acura NSX, and then picked our brains with a scalpel.

What is a sports car? What makes it fun or romantic, good-looking, sensitive to the palms of your hands and balls of your feet? Flow should it make you feel?

Then they disappeared and the rumor mill fired up. The new Supra was a disaster, we heard. At one point it was even believed to have been abandoned.

Pulling through the gates of Atlanta Motor Speedway, nerve center for the Supra's introduction, I was wedged into a bus loaded with car-magazine writers, a couple of whom had also been part of Toyota's research panels. Naturally, I was curious and a little edgy. Had we said the right things? In a few minutes would I be sitting tall because my two cents worth two years ago helped make a great car, or would I be slouching in my seat, disavowing any association?

We turned a corner and there it was, a husky-shouldered, squatting, angry-looking car with a big hungry face and, in the case of our test Turbo model, topped off with a towering Ferrari F40-ish rear wing that, by golly, looks as if it might be more than cosmetic (Toyota claims 66 lb. of downforce at 90 mph— a useful quantity).

At least visually, this is not the car I had instructed them to build. Draw up a hairy-chested modern roadster along the lines of an updated big Healey or even an E-Type, I'd said. Evidently they didn't write that suggestion down, but the Supra they've come up with instead certainly is a raucous contender that will have no trouble elbowing itself up to the table alongside Nissan's 300ZX, Mazda's RX-7 and Mitsubishi's 3000GT (see accompanying story).

When you finally spot the car on the streets (start looking in June), walk around it quickly and see if you don't agree with me that it seems quite different from its photographs. A picture, naturally, captures just one perspective at a time.What's odd about the Supra is that its appearance seems to vary sharply with different perspectives. Some I like, some I don't.

A few of my strongest opinions: The nose is a grand slam. Topped by two big glaring exposed headlamp lenses shrouding triplets of nasty laser like lamps (high and low beam, plus fog penetrators), it provides a forceful, wide-eyed visage guaranteed to provoke double takes in many a rearview mirror. And these lamps are effective too, Toyota assures us, capable of illuminating more asphalt than any other car on the market.

Below them is a big rectangular air intake flanked by curling side nostrils with bullet turn indicators nestled in their comers. Sinister. Intentionally, all three openings are without grilles— you can plainly see the radiator and ad hoc hoses plumbed here and there. It's not exactly pretty, but it's good, strong stuff; just what a sports-car's face should be. Likewise, the big rounded rear-wheel arches telegraph rear-drive horsepower in no uncertain terms. And from there, they pinch back neatly into a narrow tail studded with packed quartets of tiny taillights. It's a unique, tense look that draws a long stare and a longer second look. A sports-car's styling should do that too.

What's between the car's ends is less convincing. The shapes are curvaceous in Toyota's typical way that relies on big radiarcs that frequently compound from convex to concave and back again. Here and there are reminders of the MR2 and Celica, for example. And maybe there's also some Honda Prelude sprinkled into the shape of the car's side window glass.

But some aspects of the body shape simply fall flat: The side scoops carved into the rocker panels look obviously tacked on, and dump air only into the rear wheel wells, lacking the ducting needed to cool the brakes. And from nearly any vantage, the proportion of roof, pillars and glass above the fenders and door tops looks undersized. As though the upper half of the car was drawn in three-quarter scale. They don't match, to my eye; and other staffers concur.

Likewise, the cockpit is a mixed bag. Three big gauges (speedometer, tachanda combination of temperature and fuel needles) are bright and canted directly at you, but oil pressure and temperature data are no-shows. The instrument pod seems excessively hooded, and the center console is angled toward the driver so much that snagging reverse in our test car (to the right and back) can pinch your fingers. The oddest aspect of the design, in my opinion, is the rather featureless, wraparound panel that holds the gauges, radio and ventilation controls (and these not too well organized). It seems almost unfinished, as though the interior styling guys just ran out of time.

Styling controversy is skin deep, however. A few millimeters beneath the Supra's controversial exterior are the mechanical specifications of a romping, stomping, nonnegotiable sports-car success. Twist the ignition key.

A quick whir of the Turbo version's starter and 320 horsepower throb to life. Now we're talking.

Like every Supra before it, its engine is a classic inline-6, in this case a freshly redesigned 3.0 liter with double cams and four valves per cylinder. The non-turbo version (already employed in the Lexus SC 300 and GS 300 sedan) punches out 220 bhp at 5800 rpm and 210 lb.-ft. of torque at 4800

rpm. It's as smooth, flexible and willing an engine of this size as you'll find.

Coupled to it is either a velvety-shifting Toyota-designed 5-speed manual or 4-speed automatic.

The intercooled turbo version generates an added 100 horsepower at 5600 rpm and 315 lb.-ft. of torque at 4000 rpm.

Listen up. This is quite an engine. Like the Mazda RX-7, it's blown by twin but sequential turbos, meaning only one is employed up to 3000 rpm for quick response. As the revs climb past this, the second turbo begins idling and then ladles in its share of boost as 3500 rpm sweeps around the dial. I found the transition to be utterly seamless, with the turbo's presence first felt at 2500 rpm and an extra punch of power arriving at about 4800. From there, the engine whistles up to its 6800-rpm redline freely enough to keep the rev limiter liberally exercised. Stab the throttle at cruising speed and the small turbos certainly spin up responsively, but I would guess that it takes three-quarters of a second for their full pressure to arrive.

Unlike the normally aspirated Supra, the Turbo offers two intriguing transmissions: a 6-speed manual de signed by Getrag and Toyota, and a 4-speed automatic allowing manual shifting that, for a change, feels akin to manual shifting. Just press a button adjacent to the shifter, and shift times are reduced 30 percent. However, I'd strongly recommend the 6-speed manual. Not only are this transmission's throws short (I measured about 4 in.), but its action is Miata-light as well. It's the kind of box you find yourself shifting up and down along a straight road, just for fun. My only criticism is that I did notice some rubber-banding as I got on and off the throttle tooling along in the middle gears.

But then why get on and off the throttle when you can keep it pressed down and thunder to 60 mph in 5.0 seconds? Nice round number, five seconds. And bettered in our Road Test Summary by only the Dodge Viper, Ferrari's 512TR and F40, the Lamborghini Diablo, Shelby's 427 Cobra and the Vector W8 TwinTurbo. Average price: $36,917. At approximately $38,000 for the Turbo (and about $32,000 for the naturally aspirated version), it doesn't take a mathematician to figure out that the Supra Turbo is one of car-dom's biggest bangs for the buck. To underline the point, although the Supra is speed-limited to 155 mph, Toyota assured us that it can threaten 180.

Of course, sprint speed has as much to do with reducing weight as adding power, and so Toyota has gone to work on the Supra's problem waistline. At the introduction, for example, they showed us how bolt heads have been dished, the optional rear wing has been molded with tiny air-filled glass spheres, and the carpeting's fibers have been formed in hollow strands. In deed, there's even a single exhaust system to trim pounds (resulting in a tailpipe big enough to swallow a Coke can, which a few staff comedians demonstrated). And it helps, with the Supra Turbo weighing in at 3450 lb. Not bad considering its size and content, but this is still a hefty chunk of car.

Suspension is by double A-arms up front (mounted to a lovely ribbed aluminum crossbeam), and at the back, an upper A-arm, twin lower lateral links plus an angled trailing link per side. Brakes are huge, 12.7 and 12.8 in. (front and rear, with the former ex haling heat through spiral internal fins). And finally, the tires are likewise substantial, sized 235/45ZR-17 front and 255/50ZR-17 rear (the non-turbo's are a smidgen smaller: 225/50ZR- 16 front and 245/50ZR-16 rear).

On paper, the right parts and the right size, but what happens at the track? How about 0.98g around the skidpad, 66.0 mph through the slalom and stopping distances from 60 mph on the order of 120 ft. Like the Supra Turbo's acceleration, its handling and braking prowess are close to the best we've ever seen, regardless of cost.

Exciting stuff, but...let's calm down for a second and note a few counter points. One, the tires are sticky (we noticed pebbles spraying up into the wheel wells at slow speeds) and so may not last more than a few oil changes. Second, the ride quality, while delightful on a test track, is stiff over real roads—say, a little smoother than the RX-7's and similar to the 300ZX's. The handling, while breathtaking at times with micrometer-precise steering, doesn't have quite the feedback I relish in cars like Porsche's 968. And around Atlanta Motor Speedway's in field road course, the Turbo's power exiting corners could easily scoot the tail out twice as far as I had guessed it was likely to drift.

So, is the Supra what I told Toyota to build two years ago? Maybe it's fortunate they resisted my lobbying for another big Healey. Plenty already exist. But a Supra with this magnitude of road-rocket performance could be history in the making.

http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a25695/drive-flashback-1993-toyota-supra-turbo/
 

A70TTR

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 9, 2017
Threads
8
Messages
2,727
Reaction score
10,052
Location
Japan/EU/USA
Car(s)
ST205 GT4, JZA70, JZA70 TT-R, S210 Athlete
love that thing ^

some guy was commenting on that about it being such a waste of time and money when he could of went 1GZ, and I had to learn him on what a difference the GZ is in comparison. Sure, it's lighter, but it has awful head flow that cant be corrected, it has an aluminum block hence the weight difference (so you're sleeving it for anything crazy), runs each cylinder bank on a separate ECU, and has zero aftermarket support. that dual 1J can use nearly all aftermarket JZ parts from rods, to pistons, and all head components. It has a custom crank, hybrid block, and timing/acc running gear, but it's immensely more badass despite being heavy.

Smokey Nagata commented that his Nardo results with the V12 Top Secret car were disappointing given the time and money he put into it. That's why that thing was auctioned off only months later. That said, that motor was never ever designed to be what folks seemingly try to make it, and that's a performance motor. Of course it can be made into something powerful, just as many others can, but I definitely don't think it's an ideal platform unless hemorrhaging cash is your thing,
 
Last edited:

Captain_Kirk

Well-Known Member
First Name
Kirk
Joined
Sep 19, 2017
Threads
23
Messages
1,373
Reaction score
2,252
Location
US
Car(s)
?
The new model closes !! Supra is a permanent preserved designated car even in the race

View attachment 5844

After about 15 years of empty time, the time when Toyota SUPRA is reviving as a new model again is approaching every minute. The A80 type SUPRA which ended production in 2002 is still popular now, and there are individuals in the used car market that approach the new car price at the time. And, in fact, professional evaluation is also a very expensive car. It is Mr. Juichi Wakisaka who is one of the professionals and has experience of controlling the domestic top race at the A80 Supra. Mr. Wakisaka spells that Supra, which gains popularity as a commercial sports car, is also a car that raised himself to a top racer.

Sentence: Juichi Wakisaka
best car March 10, 2018 issue

It was hard to deal with at the beginning! The secret story of the birth of a famous car SUPRA

Esso Ultra Flow Supra who controlled the All Japan GT Championship in 2002 with a combination of Wakisaka Shuichi / Iida Chapter. Brilliant blue Supra, together with its good results, has become a popular favorite
 Takata Nomo NSX I got on Super GT in the Honda era was a car that confirmed the racing driver · Shuichi Wakisaka confidence of "speed".

 And this time I would like to talk about this car. Esso Ultra Flow Supra. - I transferred electric shock from Honda to Toyota camp, and a lot of noise was made at that time (laugh).

 A car that Kimura-san of TRD (an affiliate responsible for Toyota's race car development) gave "I let this car win and make me cry".

 Despite fighting five seasons with Team Le Mans from 2001 to 2005, the specifications are different every year, but after all, what is the image of "Esso Ultra Flow Supra" that you imagine would be the car of 2002? Aibo is of course Iida Akira.

 According to what you hear, if you still take a questionnaire, the popular number one on Super GT history is said to be this car.

 Honda moved from Toyota to Honda and the impression when I got on SUPRA which is the development car of TRD for the first time at Central Park Mimaki Circuit (Yamaguchi Prefecture) was "honest, it came to Elly's place!" Is an honest impression. I remember having struggled with the rear grip change during braking and the turbo engine's peaking characteristics.

 The test progressed, joining the team. Team Le Mans is a team known as Akira Suzuki's team, I belonged to Formula Nippon (= then, the current Super Formula), and I was also acquainted with the maintenance of ARTA's car. It did not take much time to raise the potential of Supra and finish it as my favorite car.

"To the hands and feet eventually" a top car rider named Supra
323a6102.jpg

Mr. Junichi Wakisaka who faced love machine Supra for a long time with Super GT retirement ceremony. Supra is brought up as a top racer and at the same time it is a car that produced a top racer
 Okayama's opening game with a passionate enthusiasm, "I won the first battle I went through with a victory!"

 Feeling of being spinning, will it be, retesting in contact with the old nest Takata dream NSX. Is it right or wrong that I transferred to the next race !? I feel sorry for those who have worked hard for this transfer, myself misunderstood ... .... I still remember clearly the time spent troubling me.

 Next mid-Fuji, the mental is weakened from the mistake of the opening game, the race of tension for the tension, and the team also blessed and won the championship. Toyota, TRD, fans, people who gave thanks to those who worked hard for the transfer were able to win the championship, and it also gave me a chance to calm down and challenge the races after this.

 It gradually approaches the development team of TRD and races with Team Le Mans, but apart from that, we will begin to be responsible for the development of SUPRA to be used in Super GT. From there Esso Ultra Flow Supra will become my limbs.

 Sportsland Sugao (Miyagi) who is handed down Super GT's title in 2002, among fans still in 2003, a great reversal play at the final round last corner! It was a dark deep time with Iida, Team Le Mans, Supra is a car that raised me to "Mr. GT".

 That year specification Esso Ultra Flow Supra became Toyota's permanent preservation designation car, and still being still kept dynamic by TRD people.

 I drove this car even at my Super GT retirement ceremony, then back then flash back.

 As a racing driver, how much honor is that the Supra who fought with him is loved by the fans now and it is designated as the permanent preservation designated car of the car maker.

 I would like to thank all the people who fought with us, the wonderful rival cars and the rivalers.

■ Toyota A 80 type Supra

 The A80 model debuted in 1993 with Toyota's FR sports car, Supra's fourth generation generation model. In-line engines are in-line 6 cylinders, 3 liters, lineup of naturally aspirated specifications and turbo specifications demonstrating 280 ps. Production ended in 2002, but continued active in the race scene. In Super GT, he won the total of three times in 1997, 2001 and 2002, and raised 26 wins in total.

◆ Shuichi Wakisaka

Born in 1972, he is from Nara Prefecture. In the domestic top race 's All Japan GT Championship (now Super GT), he took Supra and earned the series champion in 2002. After that, in 2006, 2009 will also shine for the champion. All Japan GT Championship / Super GT series champion of three degrees total. Retired from Super GT with 2015.

https://bestcarweb.jp/feature/column/2459
jgtc_20021117_suzuka_6_2.jpg
Sponsored

 

Attachments

  • 0 bytes Views: 0
 




Top