gr cup north america - circuit of the americas
This past weekend, the team was invited out to COTA by Toyota USA to check out the GR Cup North America sanctioned and hosted by SRO Motorsports Group/ SRO America. To give more insight on SRO America, they are an established leader in GT Racing, and the host for GT America. Most notable marquee events are 24-hour races at the Nurburgring in Germany and Spa in Belgium.
First time hearing about the GR Cup? If you’re an enthusiast of Gazoo Racing, you should continue reading. The GR Cup is a one make racing series using a GR86 Cup car designed and manufactured by Toytoa Gazoo Racing North America. The goal was to create a competitive and affordable race series with the ability to purchase and drive an entry level competitive race car straight from the factory. Toyota has put together a purse of $1 million for the season. Each race pays $12,000 to win (through $5,000 for eighth) with the season champion earning $50,000. There will be 14 competitive events over 7 very well-known tracks, most of which you can visit via racing games like Gran Turismo or Assetto Corsa.
The GR86 Cup car was designed for simplicity, performance, and most of all, entry level affordability and accessibility. Each GR86 starts off as a stock factory vehicle and then transformed into a reliable, high-performance race car right in our own backyard in TRD’s state-of-the-art facility in Mooresville, North Carolina. Modifications included are Bosch engine management, custom Borla exhaust, SADEV 6-speed sequential transmission, Alcon Brakes, JRI adjustable shocks, OMP Racing safety equipment, roll cage, carbon fiber rear wing, 22-gallon fuel cell, TGRNA (Toyota Gazoo Racing North America) designed MacPherson strut, STRATASYS custom bodywork, a TGRNA designed splitter, and more. For $120,000.00 USD, you can purchase your very own cup car engineered and built by Toyota and bring it straight to the track.
It was amazing to watch what the GR86 can do when engineered with simplistic performance in mind. The race was full of excitement and drama. Cars overtaking aggressively, some making contact, and of course, your occasional blown tire leaving debris altering driving lines with some cars going off track. Lap times in the race were fast enough to be competitive with some of the higher horsepower cars seen in other race series like Global Time Attack – albeit different types of purpose and competition. Overall, the The GR Cup provides a great fan and enthusiast experience. From the perspective of enthusiasts who extensively modified cars for the form and function of tracking, it’s definitely inspiring.
Each competition day is a 2 part event – qualifying and the race. The qualifying session determines grid starting positions to start the race. The race itself is wheel to wheel action over a 45-minute timed period to determine who has completed the most laps with the overall best position by the end of the race. Once the checkered flag is waved, the race is concluded and all cars are corralled to the SRO podium where winners are announced and awards are presented.
The competition fielded 31 cars across more than a dozen teams with a wide diverse group of male and female drivers. Most, if not all, do not drive full-time but still work regular 9-to-5 jobs or are still full-time students
Thank you again to Toyota USA for being an awesome host. Did we mention they were also kind enough to give us a few hot laps around COTA in the all new Circuit Edition GR Corolla with one of the competing professional drivers? We’ll provide more on that experience and save that for another time.
If you want to know more and attend one of the GR Cup events, visit their instagram @officialgrcup and website Toyota Gazoo Racing North America for more information and schedule. We highly recommend attending. You won’t be disappointed.
