APR's TS030 SuperGT Prius turns a pig into a lion
There are many feelings that go through my head when I set my eyes on the 2016 production Toyota Prius. But ‘arousal’ is certainly not one of them. Sitting on its dinky little wheels, the thing looks like a mish mash of designer languages — each of them less literate than the last.
However, and it pains me to say this, I absolutely love the look of this racing Toyota Prius. Check it out in the magical moving pictures box below.
While the road-going version wears a cacophony of overly complex design elements on a mundane and simple silhouette — like placing Dame Edna’s spectacles on a potato — all of the Prius' weird oddities look completely at home on the GT300 platform; christened the 'TS030'. Mating perfectly to the impossibly complicated collection of winglets, diffusers, and canards, it's a creation that easily ranks as one of the best looking race cars of 2016. At least to my perverted and wayward mind.
Produced by APR Racing for Japan's 2016 SuperGT championship, the TS030 is the third Prius campaigned in the series by APR. But it's also the most incredible to look at.
Under the skin lies a 3.4-litre 'RV8K' V8 power plant. Although that doesn't sound particularly 'clean and green', it's complimented by the Prius' own Hybrid Synergy Drive system.
I realize that this isn't really a Prius. Subtract the lights, the badging, and maybe a few other details and this is more 'APR' than 'Toyota'. But, when the result is this pretty, and this extreme, who gives a crap. I'll take five.