We would have liked to have seen it differently, but we are forced to postpone the debut with the Toyota GT86 CS-R3. Is that the result of corona or the war in Ukraine, we don’t know. The fact is that a number of crucial parts are lagging behind and we do not yet have an accurate view of new delivery times. Pinning ourselves down on new data makes little sense.
The Rallye des Ardennes and, even worse, the Sezoensrally, we will have to let pass us by this year. A painful choice, because we are big fans of the mesh pebble. In addition, the organization is always top notch and we give a big 9 out of 10 for atmosphere and conviviality.
It also seems that Rallye Terre de Langres will not take place in France and that means that we have to start with almost a blank sheet to be able to put a decent number of kilometers on the clock in the second half of the season. Kasterlee and the East Belgian Rally will remain standing for the time being.
Despite these setbacks, we continue to work motivated on the new GT86. We have added some “own” parts, conceived and created one by one by our mechanics guru Nick.
The new, more powerful battery has been given a modified bracket, on which the battery insulator was mounted at once. The camera and display have also been given a new bracket, so that they now fit seamlessly with the Toyota dashboard. And that dashboard, in turn, received a cosmetic update: the original foil was removed and the whole thing is flocked.
In the photos you get a first glimpse of the new control panel, although we have revised the mounting bracket. The new bracket has been sent to the lazer cutter and still needs to be anodized afterwards. The GPS/inertia sensors and the TPMS receiver were given their own place and the reservoir for the windscreen washer was also given a much more accessible place.
Finally, we made a small adjustment to make the Lazer lights dimmable, and we go for a setup with 4 lamps: 2 spots and 2 drive. We will initially test without corner lights. To compensate, the 2 drive LEDs will be able to rotate 10 to 15 degrees outwards.
To be continued…