At the moment, BMW is currently working with Toyota on a joint rear-wheel drive chassis, which is going to underpin the BMW Z4 and Toyota Supra (or whatever it ends up being called). The Toyota birthed from this joint venture is rumored to use a BMW engine, likely the B58 I6. So the idea of a Toyota being powered by a Bavarian engine isn’t a new one. Which is what makes this Toyota/BMW pairing rather fitting. Australian team Zoom Garage recently stuffed one of BMW’s greatest all-time engines in the best modern Toyota to make a pretty crazy time-attack car. Meet the BMW S85 V10-powered Toyota GT86.
For those of you uneducated in BMW engine codes, the S85 is the 5.0 liter, naturally-aspirated V10 that powers the E60-generation BMW M5. In stock form, it makes 500 hp and revs to 8,250 rpm. Though, power is the last thing enthusiasts think of.when the S85 engine comes to mind. What everyone remembers, and loves, is its noise. Even in stock form, the S85 V10 is one of the very best sounding production engines ever made. At low revs, it’s burbly and muscular and at high revs it shrieks and wails, like an old-school F1 engine.
In this Toyota GT86 Time-Attack car, the original car’s 2.5 liter boxer four-cylinder engine has been replaced with BMW’s famous V10. That’s a huge weight and balance different for the small Toyota, so Zoom Garage has had to get to work to make it fit and balance properly. So the engine has been given a dry-sump lubrication setup, as well as new air intakes, among other things to reduce the weight over the front wheels. They also fitted a different fuel cell at the back to balance the car’s weight out. All in all, it has a 52/48 weight balance, front/rear. And the massive V10 is only about 10 kg heavier than the old four-cylinder unit. Which is impressive.
When you listen to that mighty V10 scream through the cabin, with no sound deadening getting in the way, it sounds incredible. Pure motorsport. It sounds like a nitro glycerin-power chainsaw and we love it. Check it out.
