The Sard MC8-R was a modified and lengthened version of the Toyota MR2 (SW20) built for GT racing by Toyota's SARD (Sigma Advanced Research Development) works team. SARD heavily modified the original MR2 frontal chassis deriving with custom rear chassis in order to fit a

twin-turbo Twin-turbo (not to be confused with a twincharger setup, which is a combination of a supercharger and a turbocharger) refers to an engine in which two turbochargers work in tandem to compress the intake fuel/air mixture (or intake air, in the case ...

version of the 4.0-liter 1UZ-FE V8 producing . This is the first car which only using the frontal chassis of production car was effectively a purpose-built semi- sports-prototype that successfully got GT1 homologation. The MC8-R lacked pace and was very unreliable in that makes it often at the bottom of the race and even the 'traditional' GT1 Toyota Supra also faster than it and let alone with the McLaren F1 and

Ferrari F40 The Ferrari F40 (''tipo'' F120) is a mid-engine, rear-wheel drive sports car engineered by Nicola Materazzi with styling by Pininfarina. It was built from 1987 until 1992, with the LM and GTE race car versions continuing production until 1994 ...

. Since the custom rear chassis and numerous dedicated components will lead to significant differences from the original MR2, a homologation car had to be built. SARD built one MC8 road car in order to meet homologation requirements. This car disappeared from public eye within a year of its construction, but resurfaced again on the Japanese collector car website SEiyaa in 2015, two decades after its disappearance. The car is currently in the possession of a private collector, who has registered the car for road use in Japan.

1995 and 1996

*The MC8-R paritcipated

1995 BPR Global GT Series The 1995 BPR Kärcher Global Endurance GT was the second season of BPR Global GT Series. It was a series for Grand Touring A grand tourer (GT) is a type of car that is designed for high speed and long-distance driving, due to a combination ...

which is the first purpose-built semi- sports-prototype that successfully got GT1 homologation which inspired 911 GT1 that kind of homologation specialists which planted a foreshadowing for the cancellation of GT1. *The MC8-R made its first outing in the

1995 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 63rd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 17 and 18 June 1995 in one of the wettest races in the event's history with about 17 hours of steady rain. The race was won by the #59 McLaren F1 GTR driven by J ...

piloted by Alain Ferté, Kenny Acheson, and

Tomiko Yoshikawa is a Japanese racing driver who competed in junior open-wheel racing and sports car categories. She entered the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times, the 24 Hours of Daytona once and also raced in her native Japan in such series as the All-Japan Formula ...

. It retired after 14 laps. Later that year the car attempted the

1000km Suzuka The Suzuka Summer Endurance Race is an annual motorsport event for sports cars that has been held at the Suzuka International Racing Course, Mie Prefecture, Japan since 1966, and the oldest automobile endurance race in Japan. From 1966 to 2017, ...

, this time managing to finish 26th overall. *One MC8-R was entered in the

1996 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1996 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 64th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 15 and 16 June 1996. It was won by a Tom Walkinshaw-Porsche prototype run by Joest Racing with drivers Davy Jones, Manuel Reuter and Le Mans rookie Alexander Wu ...

, piloted by Masanori Sekiya,

Hidetoshi Mitsusada is a former racing driver from Japan. Career Mitsusada began competing in Japanese Formula Three in 1991 with Now Motor Sports and secured a podium in his first season with the team. By 1993, he continued to race with the team and won his firs ...

, and

Masami Kageyama is a Japanese racing driver from Kanagawa Prefecture.Masami Kageyama ...

. The team qualified 37th and finished 24th, second-to-last of finishers.

1997

*The team also entered the

1997 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 65th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 14 and 15 June 1997. The race saw the first of a record (as of 2022) 9 wins at Le Mans for popular Danish driver Tom Kristensen. Pre-race The Dunlop chicane wa ...

, but driver Olivier Grouillard failed to make it past pre-qualifying. Two cars were also entered in the FIA GT Championship round at the

1997 Suzuka 1000km The 1997 Pokka Suzuka 1000km was the seventh race of the 1997 FIA GT Championship season. It was run at the Suzuka Circuit The , more famously known as the , is a long motorsport race track located in Ino, Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture, Japa ...

(one by Team Menicon SARD and one entered by IDC Ootsukakagu SARD), but neither car managed to finish. It was replaced for the following year with the

Toyota GT-One The Toyota GT-One (model code TS020) is a racing car initially developed for grand touring GT1 rules, but later adapted into a Le Mans prototype LMGTP car. It raced in the 1998 and 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans. History Following the end of the G ...

References

{{reflist Motorsport Toyota racing cars

1995 and 1996

1997

See also

References