World’s First 1,000 HP Toyota GR Yaris

The Toyota GR Yaris and GR Corolla are noteworthy cars for several reasons, but one key aspect is the engine platform they share. It’s a small 1.6-liter three-cylinder turbocharged unit that develops 257 hp (192 kW) in its most basic form. Now, one company with an unquenchable thirst for power, LamSpeed Racing, says it’s built one with 1,000 ponies at the crankshaft.

To be clear, the GR Yaris in question made 887 horsepower (661 kW) and 573 lb-ft (776 Nm) of torque to the hubs. We say hubs because the test happened on a hub dyno so to say wheels would technically be incorrect. Now, you might wonder where the 1,000 horsepower figure comes from. LamSpeed factors in a conservative estimate of at least 11.3 percent drivetrain loss between the crankshaft and the hubs.

Read: Watch Akio Toyoda Flip Over A GR Yaris While Rallying

In truth, there’s no way to know for sure if that figure is correct except for actually removing it from the car and testing it on an engine stand. Still, it’s incredibly impressive regardless of the actual output at the crank.

According to the dynamometer readout, the G16E-GTS engine in question made that power and torque at 8,730 and 7,701 rpm respectively. To put it another way, once it was building power, it didn’t stop until redline. It takes the little engine a while to get there though. The power curve doesn’t really ramp up until about 4,200 rpm. If that’s not appropriate for a little rally rocket nothing is.

Perhaps more impressive is that it’s evidently handling about 50 psi of boost from around 7,000 rpm and up. Now, it’s time for LamSpeed Racing to go racing and to figure out if it can actually put that power to the ground. The team there has already set records at the drag strip and no doubt, this kind of power could enable it to do it once more. 

Note: The video below shows last year’s iteration of the Lamspeed Racing Toyota GR Yaris, not the 1,000HP model mentioned in the article