Is the BMW-sourced inline-six B58 not up to the task?
You might be surprised to hear that the new Toyota Supra has a lot of controversy for those who have just returned from Mars orbit. The reborn sports car features an engine designed by BMW and is connected to an exclusively automatic transmission. Although we don’t know whether pro drifter Daigo Sashito is upset about the powertrain combination, we do know that he has a new Supra drift vehicle that addresses both the engine- and transmission issues.
He posted photos to Instagram of his A90 Supra drift car, which featured the Toyota 2JZ inline six that made the Supra legendary. The details of the build are not available, but we have the following information from the folks at Supramkv.com
Rightly, we should point out that 2019 Formula Drift season will be just a few more weeks away. The car will need a manual gearbox and the 2JZ mill has a proven track record in performance. Saito and his team made the right decision to choose an existing mill over a modified version of the Supra’s new B58 inline six.
We can’t help but feel that this isn’t the best for Toyota’s PR department. The Supra’s new model has been subject to years of testing. This is not even counting the many on-road prototypes that we have seen since 2016. There must have been some development of a higher-level powertrain for competition-based racing, given the Supra’s racing history. We know Toyota has made a move in this direction. This is evident in the GR Supra Racing concept, the GR Supra Super GT and the newly revealed GR Supra GT4. Then, why would Toyota offer a car to Formula Drift without the latest engine?
We had a great first driving experience in the Supra prototype. We expect that the production model with its 335 horsepower 3.0-liter inline six will be equally as enjoyable. Although we expect more powerful Supra production models, the enthusiast community seems to be having difficulty accepting a Supra with a Toyota-sourced engine.