Gazoo Racing Builds Toyota Yaris Turbo Concept with 180-Horses [Video]

While Toyota has no current plans to develop a performance version of its latest generation Yaris (marketed in Japan as the Vitz), the automaker's tuning and motorsports partner Gazoo Racing introduced an interesting concept model at this past weekend's Tokyo Auto Salon 2012.

The Vitz Turbo Concept is based on the three-door Yaris and comes with a raft of performance upgrades that may become available to the public in the very near future.

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Gazoo Racing Supercharges Toyota iQ, Production Limited to 100 Units [Video]

Remember the patent drawings of a wide body Toyota iQ (branded as a Scion in North America) that we showed you back in December? As it turns out, the drawings were for the GRMN iQ 130G that was revealed today at the 2012 Tokyo Auto Salon in Japan.

It's the creation of Toyota's motorsports and performance partner Gazoo Racing and is scheduled for a limited production run of 100 units later this year.

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Toyota's MR2 Based GRMN SPORTS HYBRID Concept II gets its Motorshow Debut

Visitors at this week's 2011 Tokyo Motor Show will have the chance to see Toyota's MR2 roadster-based GRMN SPORTS HYBRID Concept II in the flesh.

Developed by Toyota and its motorsports partner Gazoo Racing, the prototype made its debut at this year’s 24-hour endurance race at the Nürburgring in Germany.

For those of you wondering, "GRMN" is an acronym for “Gazoo Racing tuned by the Meister of the Nürburgring,” the latter being a nickname for Toyota’s late test driver Hiromu Naruse who died in an accident last summer while driving a prototype of the Lexus LFA Nurburgring Edition.

The GRMN SPORTS HYBRID Concept II is a development of last year's racing prototype that was based on production MR-2. The second iteration of Toyota's hybrid sports car features a brand new body while also improving upon the first concept on the powertrain front.

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Toyota FT-86 Completes Nürburgring Endurance Race without a Hitch

Endurance races are quite a spectacle if you are a motorsports fan. Even more so if they take place at the Mecca of tracks, the (in)famous Nürburgring circuit.

It’s the only place where you can see an Opel Manta or a Mercedes-Benz 190E finishing ahead of a Porsche 911 or a Lexus LFA. That’s because a lot of things can happen in endurance races and to cross the finish line of the Nordschleife is in itself, quite an achievement.

As we reported, Toyota decided to pull an LFA-like stunt and enter its new rear-wheel drive FT-86 coupe before launching the production version, in this past Saturday's race at the track Jackie Stewart christened “the Green Hell”.

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Our Spies get Up, Close and Personal with the Toyota FT-86 by Gazoo Racing

We are still a couple of months away from the world premiere of the series production Toyota FT-86 at the Tokyo Motor Show in December, but on Saturday, October 15, the rear-wheel drive coupe will make its racing debut at the VLN endurance racing championship on the Nürburgring track.

The race-prepped FT-86 has been developed by Toyota's motorsports partner Gazoo Racing and it is based on the actual production model that goes on sale next year.

After the first crop of pictures that we showed you on Thursday, our crafty spies were able to get very close to the racecar during testing at the pits and on the track, and even shot some photos if the FT-86's interior.

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SCOOP: Toyota FT-86 by Gazoo Racing Snagged Testing, will Debut this Saturday on the 'Ring!

In a move that sounds very similar to what Lexus did with the LF-A some two years ago, Toyota and its motorsports partner Gazoo Racing are preparing a specially modified version of the upcoming FT-86 rear-wheel drive coupe that will make its racing debut before the official presentation of the production model at the Tokyo Motor Show in early December.

Our man with the long lens not only caught the FT-86 by Gazoo Racing, but he also told us that it will break cover this Saturday, October 15, at the VLN endurance racing championship at the Nürburgring.

We checked the entries and can confirm that the FT-86 has been officially listed with Masahiko Kagayama and Minoru Takaki taking the driver's seat.

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