Toyota claims it partnered with BMW on the 2020 Toyota Supra, in part, because it wanted to keep an inline six-cylinder powertrain which the Germans could supply. Of course, to purists, that was never going to be enough, and now it looks like somebody has already started work on the first new Toyota Supra with a 2JZ engine swap.
That person is Daigo Saito, a champion in both D1GP in Japan and Formula Drift here in America. Today he posted photos of his new Supra build, hood up with a shiny turbo 2JZ, the iconic engine from the previous generation, heart transplant to many a drag car and drift car ever since.
Daigo is working on the car with Japanese mega-tuner HKS, which claims it’s expecting 800 horsepower in a press release. They’re hoping to be completed in time to compete in the D1GP All Star Shoot-Out exhibition event in Tokyo scheduled for March 23.
Daigo’s previous lineup of cars includes his big-power 2JZ Lexus SC that conquered American drifting, a 1,000-hp Nissan GT-R that didn’t, a Lamborghini Murciélago V12 and all, the Ferrari 599 that went on to compete in FD (with a great deal of changes), and probably the most extreme Corvette in drifting right now.
Here’s a look at the new car, rendered here without a livery:
And here with it:
There will always be those who say they still don’t like the looks of the new Supra. For me, it all changed when I saw it in person, and now I like it even more in this drift body. It makes a lot of the dramatic curves look like they were always meant for ridiculously large fenders.