The Toyota GR86 is many things, from a sportscar that nobody can call underpowered anymore, to a budget delight and a daily driver. And while rally car duties are not on its task list, this rendering portrays just that and we’re willing to bet the pixel work will be followed by a real-world project somewhere in the future.
Lifted sportscars turned into a bit a of a trend last decade. And, rather than an all-out World Rally Championship effort like the one rendered in this previous story, the digital machine residing on our screens seems to potray the kind of build we expect to see on YouTube.
The body of the GR86 has been left mostly intact, but nobody will mistake this for a showroom-spec Toyota. For starters, the JDM goodie features a noticeable lift—we added a few pics of the stock car in the gallery for an easy comparo.
Of course, raising the car and calling it a day wouldn’t cut it—as ex-Stinger Vehicle Performance and current Russell Built Fabrication owner TJ Russel, who has recently unveiled his second jacked-up air-cooled Posche 911 package explains, addressing the suspension geometry is crucial in such situations.
That kind of measure requires taking the kind of heavy-duty hardware that can take a beating and tweaking it to maintain the engaging RWD feel that recommends the Japanese sports car.
Next up, we have the go-anywhere tires, which can face extreme loads without coming loose, since they’re secured by the beadlock mechanism of the rugged wheels.
The lower trunk of the GR86 can’t fit a full-size spare (you’ll need a special cover for that), so the larger unit portrayed here has to ride over the back window, completing the “Baja Beast” image of the vehicle.
And, in a practice that has almost become common among two-door vehicle owners who enjoy long trips, a roof box means you don’t necessarily have to fill up the rear seats of 2+2 coupe with luggage that can come flying when you’re jumping over those dunes—this is one of the most accesible off-roading scenarios in the U.S., which is why so many real-world projects, be they expensive or not, focus on it.
We’ll give this rendering a 9/10 in the RPM (Real Project in the Making) Potential department
Installing an all-wheel-drive system would obviously help with completing a journey off the beaten path, but we’ve already seen some 911 builds like the one mentioned above skipping this (it’s an option).
The noticeable output improvement of the larger 2.4L flat-four engine of the GR86 (think: 228 hp and 184 lb-ft of torque) may not be enough to navigate rugged terrain. And while aftermarket additions for the new motor are still far from abundant right now, the car’s popularity means these will increase in the future. Hey, somebody might just throw a good old 2JZ or Supra heart (OK, it’s a BMW mill) in there, as the drifting world has already done.
As mentioned above, this work, which comes from digital artist Vishnu Suresh (aka zephyr_designz) should serve as inspiration for future builders. In fact, we’d be surprised if somebody doesn’t lift a Toyota GR86 for the 2022 SEMA show taking place this November.
