Toyota at The 2008 Goodwood FestivalOf Speed

By Toyota GB

Amid a formidable array of high-powered classic and contemporary racing cars and bikes, a small, three-wheeled Toyota stands out as one of the most remarkable machines at the 2008 Goodwood Festival of Speed. i-REAL is Toyota’s vision for the future of everyday, sustainable personal transport and is making its first appearance in the UK since being unveiled at last year’s Tokyo motor show.

i-REAL is a fully working concept car, a vehicle that neatly adapts to suit the driving environment: upright and slow-moving among pedestrians; lower-angled for stable performance at higher speeds on the road.

It forms a key element in the festival’s showcase for advanced engineering and design, with driving demonstrations on the hillclimb course and in a specially designed arena, close to the Festival of Speed Technology Pavilion.

True to its long-running support of the festival, Toyota is also bringing its stars of Formula 1, World Rally and Le Mans sports car racing out to play, representing its involvement at the highest levels of international motor sport.

This year the Corolla WRC is making its debut at the event, a machine that was hailed as the definitive World Rally car when it made its competition debut in 1997. Across three seasons it posted a string of emphatic performances, culminating in a second manufacturers’ championship title for Toyota in 1999 – a fitting finale to the marque’s two decades of international rallying glory.

The Corolla WRC is driven by Juha Kankkunen, one of rallying’s all time greats with a record of four world championships – the last of these achieved with Toyota in 1993 – and 23 world rally victories.

Toyota has brought a Formula 1 car to the festival every year since it made its Grand Prix debut in 2002. This year it continues the tradition with the Toyota TF107 ready to blaze a trail up the Goodwood sprint course. At the wheel is Kamui Kobayashi, who was recruited as the third driver for Panasonic Toyota Racing for the 2008 Grand Prix season. A member of the Toyota Young Driver Programme, Kobayashi has achieved international success in Formula 3 competition and raced to an excellent series of wins this year in his maiden GP2 competition season.

Completing a trio of world-class Toyota models at the festival is the V10-powered TS010. Created with input from consultant Tony Southgate, the TS010 was a thoroughbred racing machine which claimed World and Japanese sports car championship victories and a podium finish at Le Mans in 1992. At Goodwood it is piloted by Toshio Suzuki, one of Japan’s most accomplished sports car racers and twice a member of the Toyota works team at Le Mans.