Toyota Supra Chief Engineer Says It Can Lap The Nurburgring In 7:40

Toyota says that the new Supra is not only a genuinely exciting car to drive, but also one that can lap a track like the Nurburgring pretty fast as well.

Speaking to Road & Track, the new Supra’s chief engineer Tetsuya Tada said that although they haven’t done a proper flying lap on the German track, their new sports car is more than capable of posting a 7min 40sec lap – with one caveat.

“We haven’t had an official time attack yet,” Tada said. As is, the new Toyota Supra would likely hit its 155mph top speed limiter on Nurburgring’s long straight, he then explained, stealing valuable seconds off its lap time. “One day, perhaps, we cut the speed limiter and try the time attack,” he said. “But even just driving it as it is, it’s really fast. On the old course, it’s very easy to break eights—7:50, 7:40. It will do that easily.”

Tada says the new Supra is lighter and more rigid than its sister car, the BMW Z4. Both use the same 3.0-liter straight-six engine and eight-speed automatic transmission, but the BMW is the most powerful of the two, with 382hp and 369lb-ft over the Supra’s 335hp and 365lb-ft.

BMW also hasn’t released an official Nurburgring lap time for the Z4; however the German Sport Auto lapped a pre-production Z4 M40i around the legendary track in 7:55, giving us an indication of its performance.

If Toyota manages to shave five or ten seconds off that time with a de-restricted Supra, then it would really make headlines and further enhance its credentials in the sports car scene.