Swindon Powertrain scores Toyota engine deal
Swindon Powertrain has been named as the official engine partner for Toyota’s entry into the Supercars championship with the new Gen3 GR Supra.
Swindon will provide the engines for use by both Walkinshaw TWG Racing and Brad Jones Racing in a five-year deal, with the company providing ‘key components’ for use in the 5.2 litre V8 powerplant that will be fitted to the Supra.
Those components have been developed at Swindon’s base in the UK before being shipped to Australia for final assembly of the engines at Walkinshaw TWG’s factory in Clayton.
Swindon is perhaps best known for its work in the British Touring Car Championship, where it produced the stock ‘TOCA engine’ that was available to all teams for a number of years.
Most recently, Swindon has been responsible for building the Hyundai engines used by EXCELR8, and which won the BTCC title last season with Tom Ingram.
“The Supercars calendar, including supporting the Australian F1 Grand Prix in Melbourne, sees over 12,000km of track running – that’s around five times the mileage of the 30-round British Touring Car Championship and harsher when you consider events such as the Bathurst 1000 with its 1.19-mile straight,” Swindon Powertrain chief Raphaël Caillé said.
“It’s been a fantastic collaboration: the time zone difference enabled us to work around the clock, in effect.
“However, we don’t underestimate the challenge. Supercars is a competitive championship with established engine producers with experience of the GEN3 regulations.
We respect the job they are doing and now it’s up to us to learn, develop and bring our best efforts to the track. We won’t be satisfied until we start winning!”
Caillé himself has experience of the Supercars paddock having previously worked at Triple Eight, where he also spent time alongside Walkinshaw TWG team principal Carl Faux on 888’s BTCC programme.
“It’s fantastic to be partnering with Swindon Powertrain as we bring the Toyota Australia Supercars project to life,” Faux said.
“There’s been a mountain of work and development undertaken to ensure the 2UR-GSE is Supercars ready, and importantly, meets all the regulations of the category that are so strictly enforced. To be able to have the Swindon Powertrain expertise and production capabilities has been great.
“While the final assembly and servicing of the engines all happen in-house here in Clayton, to have a programme that has been able to run day and night due to time zones has been essential in meeting deadlines and bringing it to life. We are all looking forward to the first official race in just a few weeks’ time.”
