Toyota Gazoo Racing Malaysia is set to open the first season of its GR86 Cup this weekend. It’s a one-make racing series that follows a similar format to the Toyota Gazoo Racing Philippine Cup that we have in the country.

With the GR86 Cup also held in other countries such as Japan, Australia, and the United States, we can’t help but think the GR86 Cup could also be a viable motorsport series in the Philippines, especially with what we found out just recently.

For starters, the GR86 Cup car starts life as the GR86 RC – a Japanese market variant that’s already devoid of infotainment touchscreens as well as ADAS, and comes exclusively with a six-speed manual transmission.

The GR86 Cup cars in Malaysia have a tasty set of modifications to take on heavy track abuse. While the 2.4-liter boxer engine is kept in factory tune, the powertrain is reinforced with an engine and transmission oil cooler, a competition clutch from Cusco, and an exhaust system from Fujitsubo.

Likewise, the suspension is beefed up with KW Racing inverted coilovers, TRD suspension bushes, plus Advics four-pot front brake calipers and two-pot rear brake calipers for sustained braking power at racing speeds. The spec tires used in Malaysia are 17-inch Bridgestone Potenza RE-71RS units fitted in Raxer alloy wheels.

For safety, the GR86 Cup car is fitted with hood pins, front and rear tow hooks, a TRD competition-compliant rollcage, bucket seats, a six-point harness, a plumbed-in fire suppression system and an external kill switch.

But despite all those racing mods, it turns out, the GR86 Cup cars in Malaysia are significantly cheaper than the ones you could buy in their dealerships by around PHP 1 million. So how did that happen?

Well, unlike the standard GR86 sports coupe, the GR86 Cup cars are not allowed to be driven on public roads. In short, the cup cars are not street legal. Malaysian regulations for track-only cars suggest these cars are exempt from taxes, hence the cheaper price tag.

In the Philippines, most race teams and enthusiasts in the country rarely use their race cars on public roads either once they transform them into purpose-built machines. Race cars such as the Formula V1 and the Radical SR3 have likewise found owners even though they're only built for track use. However, the one thing we're unsure of is legislation - we're not quite sure if such laws exist for similar provisions with purpose-built machines for the GR86 Cup Car to become cheaper than the stock version here. 

Should Toyota follow the same route as Malaysia to welcome a GR86 Cup in the country? Toyota is a brand that listens to its loyal fanbase, so sound off in the comments and let them know what you think.

Source: Paultan.org