Toyota at Le Mans – 50 years ago almost

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Congratulations to Toyota for winning this year’s Le Mans 24-hours race. It took them some time to get there, but as we all know perseverance pays! Fernando Alonso, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima securd the title for the Japanese manufacturer. Toyota had never won the sports car race despite years of trying. Alonso, twice a Monaco Grand Prix winner, now wants to win the Indianapolis 500 since it was only Graham Hill who won all three classic races in the entire history of motorsport.

Anyhow. Did you know that Toyota almost ran at Le Mans fifty years ago? The Toyota 7 was a three-litre V8 powered racing car, developed in coorporation with Yamaha and largely developed by the man who also came up with the Toyota 2000 sports car. The 7 was a totally non-compromising Can-Am-style open top racer with exhaust pipes placed directly on top of the engine, exiting straight off the tail of the car. It was entered in Grand Prix racing for the 1968 season, mainly at Fuji and Suzuka circuit. The next year the cars were much modified and now named ‘New 7’. They had a strongly wedge shaped body, turbo or even twin turbo power up to 800bhp and a massive rear wing. Reputedly the idea was to enter it for Le Mans in 1969 but this never happened due to a series of fatal racing accidents and a change in rules.

Remarkably, the 7’s base was used once ore for a concept car, seen at the Tokyo Motor Show of 1970. Now without the turbochargers and with neat coupe bodywork (click here).

(Words editor, pictures archive)      

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