What are the odds of seeing this one of one Toyota GT-One in the Netherlands? Fact is that I found this example at the Louwman Museum in The Hague for their ‘Supercars of the 90’s’ display. Louwman is the Toyota Importer for the Netherlands and has very close ties to Toyota in Japan. So some friends in high places must have helped get this car on display at their own museum.
This Toyota GT-One was made to homologate the race car for the Endurance Racing Championship in 1998. During that time the name of the Championship changed to FIA GT Championship. Toyota was required by regulations to base their race car on a road-going vehicle. So, they built exactly one, but it was never publicly offered for sale. This allowed the GT-One to be almost an exact replica of its track monster counterpart.
Developed by Toyota’s motorsport division in Germany and the Italian company Dallara, the GT-One features a carbon fiber monocoque and body panels, making it incredibly lightweight. Behind its spartan interior lies a beast of an engine. Based on a block from previous Group C race cars, it was upgraded for this new racing demon. The twin-turbocharged 3.6-liter V8 is equipped with two catalytic converters and a muffler, unlike the race version. The power was dialed back from 620 to 550 horsepower, but that’s still plenty to easily hit 300 km/h on the speedo.