Toyota: Aurion won't enter V8 Supercar

TOYOTA Australia chief John Conomos said the company had no plans to enter a Camry or Aurion model in V8 Supercar racing Down Under, despite the Japanese constructor fielding a Camry in the NASCAR Nextel Cup in the United States nextyear.

Mr Conomos conceded there was considerable marketing exposure to be gained from V8 touring car racing in Australia, but said the lack of a suitable donor car would make the exercise both expensive and irrelevant.

"Even with our high-performance Aurion, I don’t think its specification is appropriate to match the V8 Supercars," he said.

The NASCAR formula is not dissimilar from Australia’s. Currently contested only by Ford, Chevrolet and Dodge, the category calls for 355-cubic-inch carburettor-fed, pushrod V8s sending 550kW to the rear wheels via a four-speed manual gearbox.

Quite a contrast to the front-drive, four-cylinder/V6 format of the road-going Camry/Aurion.