Anyone fancy a widebody Toyota GR86?

If we’re not mistaken, you’ve already read our review of the new Toyota GR86. So you’ll know we found it a thoroughly more grown-up, serious experience compared to the last, low-limits and low-expectations 86. And while that’s something we’d usually frown on – after all, road speed limits aren’t exactly getting higher any time soon – it somehow works in the case of the GR86. And it’s clearly something a few people think could go a few steps further. 

By way of an example, go ahead and take in the manga-spec wheel arches, wings and sheers width of this widebody GR86. There’s a full five inches of extra girth across the front and six in the back (minds out of the gutter, now), with appropriately widened front and rear tracks. The ground clearance, on the other hand, looks to be just enough to give a caterpillar a buzz cut. 

If this strikes you as just the sort of thing that’d come directly from Japan, you’d normally be bang on. This time, however, the company behind this rather overt kit is American. Well, technically Californian, which is something of a law unto itself in the whole ‘Oh yeah, definitely still United’ States of America, but still very much that part of the world. 

And, as it’s come from a company that’s literally called Aerodynamic Development Race Optimization (ADRO for short), you’d better believe it’s not just a case of visual tinsel. ADRO claims a full 90kg of downforce at 110mph, as well as less drag due to a motorsport-esque swan-mount rear wing. Combine that with the much wider track, extra mass of the kit (apparently about 110kg) and belly-scraping ground clearance, we’re tipping cornering speeds might have moved up by a few miles per hour.

Which then leads us to wonder about the newly embiggened, more powerful and more torquey 2.4-litre engine. While the original 2.0 was a touch on the underwhelming side for the car it powered, the 2.4 feels like a much better match. But if you then add weight, downforce, higher cornering speeds and a lower centre of gravity, you’ve moved the goalposts again. 

So, who’d like to even the playing field with a 300bhp GR86? Er, that’d be Toyota itself actually...