Toyota GR Supra dominates class at Emerald Speed Fest

The format in which competitors would compete was a one-mile (1.6 kilometres) timed sprint race. The track was littered with twists and turns and included chicanes which would test the drivers. Competing in the A3 or production car category were two GR Supra vehicles, fielded by Toyota. Behind the wheel of each car was Autodealer editor Sean Nurse and motoring journalist Thomas Falkiner. Although respected motoring scribes in their profession, both are motorsport enthusiast and compete in amateur time trial/club racing.

Onlookers and competing drivers were left amazed at the pace of the two drivers piloting standard “showroom” specification Supras. Both drivers managed to place at the top of their class using the Supras which was shod with standard road tyres. The engineering and tuning of Gazoo Racing had motorsport fans and fellow competitors remark on the impressive results achieved by the drivers and their stock cars.

The Supra vehicles and their drivers quickly moved up the ranks on the Friday practice sessions and remained on top for the duration of the weekend. Saturday, however, did provide for more of a challenge as wet weather rolled in soon after the first qualifying session. Although all drivers had to adapt their driving styles to the track conditions, it did not hinder Sean or Thomas in further increasing their leads over third place. A key element in improving race times after each session was Adrian Burford from Stigworx who coached both drivers and provided invaluable feedback to the drivers using the data recorded by the Racelogic VBOX data analysis equipment.

The combination of the talent of the drivers and implementing on advice from the advanced telemetry, video recording and years of motorsport experience of Adrian Burford and Stigworx, both drivers saw improvements session after session with Sean improving by over 3 seconds over the weekend. The main race day came on Sunday where both drivers would compete in three timed runs of which the aggregate would determine the final class position.

Both Sean and Thomas were performing at the top of their game with both recording 40.5 second runs in the GR Supra vehicles. Thomas and Sean separated by only 0.019 managed to place first and second in their class with Sean topping the log in his 3.0-litre, turbocharged, six-cylinder  GR Supra which sends the 250 kW and 500 Nm of torque to the rear wheels via a rapid-shifting 8-speed automatic transmission and an adjustable limited-slip differential.