This year's Toyota Festival was a celebration of decades: the 10th anniversary of the event itself, the 10th anniversary of the 86 coupe (the two really do together, for reasons we'll explain in a minute) and the 10th anniversary of the venue for the 2023 Festival, Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell, Central Otago.
The Festival is gathering of Toyota owners and fans that alternates between Highlands in the South Island and Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, in the Waikato, for the North Island. Both are part of the Tony Quinn group of facilities and Toyota's GR headquarters is at Hampton, so it's all in the family.
This year, for example, there were over 650 registered attendees at Highlands, 70 drivers participating in track activities and 173 vehicles in the group photo/Parade Lap (an annual tradition). That was on the Saturday, but 40 4x4s also fronted up on Sunday for a Festival off-tarmac trek into the hills of Central.
It all started as a modest gathering in Taupo organised by 86 owner (and Toyota superfan of course) Paul Pettit, in 2013. So the launch of the 86 - Toyota's first bespoke enthusiast model for many years and the catalyst for a complete renewal of the brand's lineup - really does go hand-in-hand with the launch of the Festival. Although it didn't really become the "Toyota Festival" until Pettit went to then-marketing boss of Toyota NZ, Neeraj Lala, and suggested perhaps the company should be managing an event aimed specifically at its most enthusiastic customers.
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Lala, now chief executive of the company, agreed, and the event has grown enormously in the years since, albeit with a brief pause for Covid-19 (so it's not the 10th running, just the 10th anniversary). And Pettit is still a special guest. Of course.
DRIVEN joined in in this year and had a heap of fun. The event is anchored by the Show & Shine, but there are track packages available ($159-$259 depending on how much time you want to spend on the circuit) and the annual tradition of the group photo and Parade Lap, which any Toyota or Lexus model is welcome to join at no cost.
The great thing about the event is that it covers a staggeringly broad range of cars and personalities; everything from rare heritage sports cars to humble family hatchbacks... and all owners seem equally passionate about their vehicles. Check out our video above to see some of the action.
