Latest news with #ToyotaGRCupChallenge
IOL News
2 days ago
- Automotive
- IOL News
Facing our biggest and fastest challenge yet at the Toyota GR Cup: East London's Grand Prix Circuit
Round five of the National Extreme Festival at the East London Grand Prix Circuit promises to be a fast drive in the #60 Toyota Yaris. Image: Supplied Here we go again! The difference this time at Round five of the National Extreme Festival at the East London Grand Prix Circuit this weekend, it's a race we have been looking forward to with some trepidation. First time For most of us in the Toyota GR Cup Challenge, this will be our first outing around the 3.92-kilometre track with a mix of fast, sweeping corners like the legendary Potter's Pass and Rifle Bend, and a tight, technical infield with only two real opportunities to pass. When management at Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa (TGRSA) sends out a document taking you on a step-by-step guide around the track and suggesting time on the sim racer, you know things are about to get serious. It's been a track that we've put in the back of our minds since the season started, precisely because it's so daunting with little to no room for error, but there's nowhere to hide when practice starts first thing on Friday morning. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading With 25 cars in the Toyota GR Cup field focus will be key. Image: Supplied Dangerously fast The talk around the paddock and with colleagues who have gone before us focuses on Potter's Pass, the first corner after the main straight. Advice varies from going flat-out to a slight lift or dab on the brakes before turning in. Either way, it's still going to be fast, and I'll take my cue from the TGRSA driving instructors when I'm on the sim. Running out wide onto the apex, it sets you up for Rifle Bend, a kink where the Independent Media/IOL #60 GR Yaris will be doing well over 200km/h, the fastest we have yet driven. Braking will be a crucial factor throughout the weekend because a hard stomp on the brakes slows you down to 60km/h for Cocobana hairpin, the first possible place to pass (or be passed). 'Brake hard otherwise you're going to the beach,' according to our notes, gives us an idea of what to expect. The East London Grand Prix Circuit is known to be tough on brakes, tyres and drivers' necks. Image: Supplied Complex corners More hard braking after the Beach Straight for Butts Bend to set up for The Complex, a grouping of sharp left and right turns putting strain on the car, brakes and our necks as you drift out from The Sweep flat out towards Beacon Bend, the final hairpin before the main straight, and the second area to make a pass. Big field In theory it looks fine but the GR Cup Challenge with six media racers in our GR Yaris', dealers in GR Corollas, and GR Academy youngsters in their GR 86s make up a field of 25 cars. So, apart from focusing on my own race, keeping it on the black stuff and monitoring the brakes and tyres, there will be a lot of distracting activity to avoid in order to make the best of what promises to be a daunting weekend. Bring it on!
IOL News
13-05-2025
- Automotive
- IOL News
Racing the new GR Yaris: insights from our driver in the Toyota GR Cup Challenge
The Toyota GR Cup Challenge at the Aldo Scribante Circuit in Gqeberha saw the Media Challenge drivers in the new more powerful and faster GR Yaris. Image: Supplied It was the closest racing yet seen in the Toyota GR Cup Challenge this season as we tackled the Aldo Scribante Circuit in Gqeberha. When we arrived at the track on Thursday, May 8, we were greeted by our new stripped-out racing GR Yaris replete with more power, new livery, roll cage, upgraded brakes, exhaust and a new eight-speed Direct Automatic Transmission (DAT). New challenge Our first two outings in the six-speed manual GR Yaris were behind us and we were now faced with a new challenge; getting to grips with a completely new set-up. Leeroy Poulter and his team of technicians at Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa had pulled the proverbial rabbit out of a hat by stripping and converting six cars into GR Cup Media Challenge track weapons in a month. The weekend would follow the normal format with three practice sessions on Friday, qualifying on Saturday morning, followed by two races. Racing was bumper to bumper through every corner. Image: Supplied Practice We were first out early on Friday on a track that was slightly moist and covered in fine sand from a construction site close by. First though we had to bed the brakes for three laps, gently at first and then increasingly more aggressive before we could floor the GR Yaris with less than 200 kilometres on the clock. I had printed out a copy of the track's 2.48km layout and downloaded a few in-car camera clips to create a picture in my head of what to expect. Reality though is different and corners, hairpins, kinks and sweeps approach a lot quicker than watching it on a screen. After a few laps the new Toyota GR Yaris proved to be a fantastic track car. Image: Supplied Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ To compound matters the slippery surface saw a few butt-clenching moments around the S's, hairpin corner and sharp right-hander before the main straight. After getting into a rhythm I could immediately feel the difference in power over the previous GR Yaris and the auto box adapted quickly to the harsh realities of hard racing. There were one or two occasions where it would gear up instead of holding the gear around corners, but I'm not Max Verstappen, so it's of little consequence. I sent clips of my laps to Lorenzo Gualtieri of Comprehensive Driving Solutions and he would give feedback on how to improve my time. By the second session, we were a lot more familiar with the GR Yaris and the track so the times kept on improving. It takes a paradigm shift when you're told to brake later and go in wider when the 50 metre brake marker just flashes by at close to 200km/h. Aldo Scribante is well known as a tyre shredder with it's abrasive surface. Image: Supplied Tyre shredder It was a good session but what was also clear is that Aldo Scribante was living up to its reputation as a tyre shredder. It has an incredible abrasive surface and 15 minutes into the session with hot semi-slick Dunlops you really have to concentrate to keep the car from sliding off and going into the rubber marbles strewn outside the racing line. Some more feedback from Gualtieri for the third session and I was improving steadily and gaining a lot more confidence. Some of my colleagues experimented with the paddles behind the steering wheel but a couple of us preferred the electronic brain to handle the gear changes and it seems the difference is negligible, especially for the less experienced racers because we get to concentrate on braking zones and corner entrance and exit. Look, it's never comfortable in a race car. It's hot, noisy, the racing seat grips you tightly as does the five-point harness, the helmet and HANS (head and neck support) device squeeze your face and shoulders but once you're out of the pit lane and on track it's all forgotten as you belt through each sector. Focusing on the race ahead and where to improve my times. Image: Supplied Race day Saturday saw us fitted with new rubber with the instruction to go out for two warm up laps, followed by two qualifying laps and a cool down lap before returning to the pits otherwise by the end of the second race the tyres would be completely shot. With my "coach's" voice notes running through my head I had a decent qualifying time ahead of Charl Bosch ("The Citizen") and one of the dealers' GR Corollas. Nabil Abdool (SuperSport) qualified overall first and in the Media Challenge followed by Kyle Kock ("CAR Magazine"), Phuti Mpyane ("TimesLive") and Lawrence Minnie ("Auto Trader"). There was just over a second separating those of us in the midfield so racing would be tight. It would be another rolling start with the GR Academy drivers leading the field in their GR 86s followed by the GR Corollas and Yaris' all going hell for leather. I was too far behind Minnie when the lights went off so I would have to play catch-up. Remembering my notes, I focused on my braking and turning and not lifting off the accelerator around the sweep. There aren't many passing opportunities at Aldo Scribante and the only way would be to either dive bomb into a corner or wait for a mistake by the drivers ahead. The team that worked late every night and over weekends to ensure that the new Toyota GR Yaris's were race ready for Aldo Scribante and the rest of the season. Image: Supplied Discretion proved to be the better part of valour because a risky move could damage the cars and that would be a major blow to our new GR Yaris' so I settled down tightly behind a Corolla for a fifth place when the checkered flag dropped. Race two was a lot more intense with door to door cornering, bumper to bumper straights, some risky dive bombings and a bit of a two wheel gravel fright which eventually saw me crossing the line in sixth. Damn. So close for car #60. Abdool won both races with Kock and Mpanye swapping second and third place. We'll be doing more of the same at Zwartkops Raceway, a track we're more familiar with and also the home of Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa, next month.
