Tsuki
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 15, 2021
- Threads
- 9
- Messages
- 373
- Reaction score
- 398
- Location
- Charlotte, NC
- Car(s)
- 2022 A91-CF
'Gazoo Racing' might sound fairly silly, but they have a much cooler origin story than TRD. The real problem is that Toyota are inconsistent in their branding. You have TRD Offroad/TRD Pro trucks, GR cars, and F cars in the Lexus lineup. I think they would present a much more consistent message if they badged everything as GR, which they've already started doing overseas.I just don't know why Toyota got rid of TRD. I think the name Gazoo is pretty ridiculous but what can you do?
Since Akio Toyoda was one of the founders of Gazoo Racing, bringing the name into the Toyota fold. Gazoo are much more like Mugen than TRD, honestly.
That aside, many people think the name 'TRD' is silly, because it's like an abbreviation of 'turd'.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Gazoo_Racing
In 2007, an in-house team consisted of student test drivers and mechanics led by Hiromu Naruse, who was a test driver of Toyota, competed in the 24 Hours NĂŒrburgring race. Akio Toyoda, then the vice president of Toyota, who received driving instruction directly from Naruse, also participated as a driver.[1] At that time, he was not allowed to call the team "Works Toyota Racing". Therefore, the name Team Gazoo was used instead. "Gazoo" (from ç»ć (GazĆ, lit. "image")) is the name of a portal site that Toyota was involved in establishing. And in public relations, the drivers were also given the nicknames "Cap" for Naruse and "Morizo" for Toyoda. Also, as there were minimal budgets, they used the Altezzas and BMW E90s, which at the time had been discontinued, as the race car project. The Gazoo website posted the activity report as an amateur race project.
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