[SuperDave]

Originally Posted by Guff

As strange of an engineering ideology as it may be, Tada-San specifically has "Aftermarket Tuning Capable" as one of his main design goals and that is specifically in regards to the legacy of the JZ.

Now, I def agree that the B58 seemed like a good platform to do that with (it was a clean sheet design over the older n54/n55 motors), but apparently Tada-San and the team at Toyota had a number of grievances with the B58 design that they wanted to address. Hence, the larger scale redesign of the motor.

The other caveat is that there is still the possibility that the CGI version of the motor might not be available with the car at launch, but rather will be on the GRMN top-spec model, which may be fairly powerful (450hp+), and would benefit from the added strength. However, I have it on good authority that some of the mules running around as early as 2 years ago had the new "iron" motor in it and also weighed in at roughly 1380kg.

I'm digging every day for more info as to what we're getting in the production-spec cars, but Toyota has been locking down more and more of our sources as launch nears. My main takeaway is that Toyota has had far more of an aggressive role in shaping this car than the press lets off. There has been a significant Toyota engineering presence dedicated to this project and everything from the chassis, suspension, drivetrain, etc has been meticulously curated and modified to keep the car very Toyota in ideology.

this is so reassuring to hear.