Toyota muscle dominates Dragstrip Challenge

Toyota blitzed the competition in a dominant performance at the latest JapShow event at the Santa Pod Raceway. The hard-fought Pro-Shootout competition, which pits the cream of professionally-prepared Japanese machines against each other in timed runs along the famous drag strip, resulted in an all-Toyota final on 25 June.

The contenders for victory in the top, all-wheel/rear-wheel drive category were Northumberland’s Kevin Huntley in the Envy Performance Supra and Adrian Smith, from Cambridgeshire, in his 650bhp Fensport-tuned Celica GT4X. In the qualifying rounds they saw off challenges from rival Supras, Celicas, Subaru Imprezas and Nissan Skylines.

Cheered on by an 8,000-strong crowd at the Bedfordshire venue, Smith clocked a personal best, hitting 135mph in 10.647 seconds. But it wasn’t enough to beat Huntley, who also achieved a personal record, powering the Supra to 145mph in 10.409 seconds to shade the race on the line.

Demonstrating the pinnacle of Toyota performance and reliability, the drag strip heroes will be locked in combat again at the next JapShow at Santa Pod on 8 October.