BEST Motoring Battle: AE86 vs. GT86
86’s, old and new, throw down on Tsukuba circuit.
The Drift King himself, Keiichi Tsuchiya, is an avid fan of the Toyota 86. In fact, it was his very white AE86 that inspired the cult-favorite manga and anime Initial D. So, it’s only natural that when a gathering of 86s occurs at Tsukuba circuit, that he be there, participating in the festivities.
Tsuchiya-san sets a lap time around Tsukuba in his 86 and then invites tuners to battle it out in their modified 86s, old and new, to see which reigns supreme.
But before that, we are introduced to the cars in attendance. While it may be in Japanese, it’s easy enough to follow. A wide range of modified 86 models are in attendance, included something we have never seen before: a flat-six swapped example. Way to keep the spirit of the new 86, but offer a lot more grunt at the same time. We also thought it was pretty humorous to see a Scion-badged Subaru BRZ pop up at a Japanese time attack event. Tsuchiya and fellow pro racing driver, Max Orido, offer their driving impressions of all of the cars in attendance, and are generally pretty positive all the way around. It’s hard to mess up the balance of these cars.
We won’t spoil what happens in the video, but it’s a must watch. The classic AE86s sound amazing, and the newer GT86s put on a strong showing, swapped powertrains and all.
