Toyota Supra in motorsport

During its history the Toyota Supra has enjoyed considerable success in a variety of different motorsports.

The Supra has a history of professional drag racing, mainly in Japan and the United States. The HKS team have used both the Mk III and Mk IV to showcase its products, known as the HKS Drag Supra. This Supra was driven by Charlie Goncalves Catanho. It was mainly built on a custom chassis with a carbon fiber body, the Mk III version housed a de-stroked 2.89-liter twin-turbo 7M-GTE, good for 800 bhp (600 kW) at over 9000 rpm, giving a best quarter mile time of 8.09 seconds.

One of the first Pro Mod driver in import drag racing, Vinny Ten used a Supra to hold national records for drag racing in the United States between 1997 and 2000 as well as being the first in the US to build a 1,000 bhp (700 kW) Japanese engine without the need of nitrous or alcohol fuel. Ten also achieved the first for the Supra to break into the 12 to 8 second barriers as well as achieving a speed of over 120 to 160 mph (260 km/h). Ten has since taken his Supra into the six second barrier.

Craig Paisley, another pioneer of sport compact drag racing, also used a nitrous-assisted Supra, his first sport compact, to compete in the same category. He achieved a best of 8.2-second e.t.s at more than 160 mph (260 km/h) and would switch to the factory supported Tacoma by 2002. Paisley was also the first sport compact racer to receive factory sponsorship and support. Toyota became the first Japanese car company to ever get involved with drag racing.

After years of competing in other cars, in 2002, HKS returned with the Mk IV version of the HKS Drag Supra, driven by Tetsuya "Dryhopp" Kawasaki, its 4.0 liter 1UZ-FE V-8, equipped with two prototype HKS GT3540 turbos, HKS rods and billet crank and stock valves, producing in total of 1,479 bhp (1,103 kW).

In 2003, the Supra was to compete in the NHRA Sport Compact Series, but the car became ineligible when the category it was to enter in, Pro V8, was axed at the beginning of the year, therefore it was permitted to perform demonstration runs throughout the season, where at a round at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, Englishtown, the Supra took the car's record time of 6.893 ET at 193.13 mph (310.81 km/h), eclipsing its best in Japan of 7.277 posted at Sendai Hi-Land Raceway.

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