It was 2007 when I first visited Japan and the Toyota Automobile Museum in far Nagakute, Japan, an expensive 3 hour train ride from Higashi-ginza Station, the closest to the Hotel Presso where I stayed.
That year I was also at the 40th Tokyo Motor Show with my dad and his colleagues from Nissan Motor Philippines. Too many cars in 3 days, at the Toyota Automobile Museum it was too little time to see the cars.
This year the TAM will have a small, very crowd-regulated event called “Everlasting Challenge Spirit: Toyota Motorsport Biography” which will feature several great Toyota race cars. Starting this Tuesday, November 3, 2020 (which is a national holiday in Japan– Bunka no Hi–or National Culture Day) all the way to April 11 the following year.
For any car manufacturer, the significance of motorsports goes far beyond simply winning or losing a race. For the spectator, it is relating with thier favorite cars and favorite teams. And for racers and teams it is the championing of a cause, winning is just one of them.
The exhibition casts light on the company’s ongoing engagement in motorsports activities, which started with TMC founder Kiichiro Toyoda’s assertion that participation in motor racing could prove valuable to a car manufacturer. A number of actual race cars are on display.
“A harsh environment of competition toughens our people and cars.” Let us find out how these words inspired Toyota engineers to take on difficult challenges,” Kiichiro Toyoda, founder of Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) said.
To enable race cars to keep competing on difficult courses under the toughest conditions, automakers must constantly improve their technologies. These innovative technologies can then be applied to mass-market cars, bringing greater satisfaction to drivers in general and providing a safe and secure means of transport for all.
A broad look at the history of motorsports tells us how automakers have responded to the social trends and issues of each successive period.
This exhibition puts a focus on various motor races in which Toyota has participated–and some vehicles that played a part in those races–to illustrate the connection between motorsports and car manufacturing at Toyota.
It will be at the TAM’s Special Exhibition Room (on the second floor of the Cultural Gallery), Toyota Automobile Museum.
Vehicles to be displayed will include the following:
1957 Toyopet Crown RSD: an entrant to the 1957 Round Australia Trial (Mobilgas Rally) (replica)
1966 Toyota 2000GT: the legendary record setter in a high-speed endurance trial (replica)
1969 Toyota 7: the winner of the 1969 World Challenge Cup Fuji 200 Miles (a Japanese Can-Am race)
1970 Toyota 7: an exhibition car for the 1970 All Japan Fuji 1000 km race
1970 Toyota 7 Turbo: an exhibition car for the 1970 All Japan Fuji 1000 km race
1988 Toyota Celica Turbo: a GTO-class entrant to the 1988 IMSA race
1989 Toyota 89C-V: the winner of the 1989 Inter Challenge Fuji 1000 km
1998 Toyota GT-One (TS020): a fully equipped test car for the final of the 1988 24 Hours of Le Mans
2009 Toyota TF109: a car that competed in Formula 1 races
