From sports car to world champion: The Art & Cars Museum, or MAC for short, in Singen has an exhibition dedicated to the history of racing and the sports cars from Toyota. Twelve vehicles can be seen. Of course, the exhibits also include the 2000 GT, of which only 351 were built. In 1966, the sports car set three world speed records and 13 international class records. On the Yatabe test track, the vehicle traveled 78 hours and 15,000 kilometers at a time at an average speed of over 206 km/h.
The following year, Toyota became the first Japanese manufacturer to take part in the Round Australia Rally: a specially modified production vehicle, the Crown Deluxe, finished third in its class at the 19-day long-distance race. In addition to classics, visitors to the MAC Museum can expect the original TS050 Hybrid with the chassis number 17-06: Kamui Kobayashi drove the fastest lap on the Circuit de la Sarthe to date in 2017. At an average speed of 251.9 km/h, the long-distance hybrid racing car needed just three minutes and 14.791 seconds. It also formed the basis for three consecutive Le Mans victories (2018 to 2020) and two WEC world championship titles.
Other winning types include the Celia GT4-ST165 rally car, with which Carlos Sainz won the marque’s first world title in 1990, the Corolla WRC-AE111 – winner at Monte Carlo in 1998 – and the Yaris WRC, with which Toyota won in 2017 following 18 years break has returned to the pinnacle of rallying. Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli contested a total of 79 Formula 1 races with the Toyota TF105 Formula 1, which was also on display, and achieved five podium finishes and two pole positions.
Also on display is the Lexus LFA supercar, of which only 14 were delivered to Germany in its debut year, 2010. And the GT One is known to fans of motor sports from the “Gran Turismo” video game. Photos and films in the MAC are also reminiscent of Toyota’s successes in the endurance world championship.
The exhibition “Racing & Innovation – a Retrospective of Toyota in Motorsport” can be seen until mid-April next year. (awm)