20 Facts About Toyota 7

Toyota 7 was a series of racing cars developed by Toyota Motor Company in cooperation with Yamaha Motor Corporation.

Toyota 7 designed a new aluminium-block V8 engine, the 3-litre 61E.

Toyota 7's time was two seconds slower than the 415S' fastest time from preseason testing, and over five seconds slower than the fastest time set by Kunimitsu Takahashi in his R381.

Toyota 7 entered five 415S, with newcomer Minoru Kawai joining Japan Grand Prix drivers Fushida, Fukuzawa, Otsubo, and Hosoya .

Development on the new Toyota 7 began in May 1968 immediately following the Japan Grand Prix.

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The new Toyota 7 was referred to internally as the 474S, while press material referred to it as the New 7.

Toyota 7 had taken many endurance racing victories and had won many domestic sprint races, but hadn't won the Japan Grand Prix or the "Japan Can-Am", regarded as the two biggest races on the calendar at the time.

Two other Toyota 7 474S were entered Kukidome retired after 46 laps, and Hosoya retired after 35 laps.

Toyota 7 Turbo was set to compete in the 1970 Japan Grand Prix Car Race at Fuji Speedway, against Nissan's prospective challenger, the R383.

Shortly thereafter, Toyota 7 announced they would withdraw from the Japan Grand Prix, and the Japan Automobile Federation cancelled the 1970 running of the race.

Toyota 7 planned to move the cars to North America and enter the Can-Am Series.

An example of the Toyota 7 Turbo is exhibited at the Toyota Automotive Museum in Nagakute, Aichi.

The car makes occasional appearances at automotive festivals such as the Toyota 7 Gazoo Racing Festival and Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Toyota 7 used the 7 once more in 1970 as a base for the EX-7, publicly shown at that year's Tokyo Motor Show.

Toyota 7 project was tarnished by two fatal testing accidents, which ultimately led to Team Toyota abandoning plans to enter the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Canadian-American Challenge Cup, ultimately resulting in the end of the project in 1970.

On 29 March 1968, Toyota 7 survived a near catastrophe during testing for the upcoming Japan Grand Prix, when Yoshio Otsubo crashed through the guardrail at the 30° banked corner at Fuji, while driving the 3-litre 415S.

Toyota 7 did not provide photographs of the accident vehicle to local authorities, citing confidential trade secrets.

Toyota 7 then stated that the accident was caused by driver error.

Subsequently, Shintaro Fukuzawa, Sachio's father, took legal action against Toyota 7, charging them with negligence and obstructing the investigation into Fukuzawa's accident, while claiming that a design flaw on the accident vehicle was the cause of the accident.

Toyota 7 Turbo appears in several installments of the Gran Turismo video game series, beginning with Gran Turismo 4, Gran Turismo, Gran Turismo 5, and most recently Gran Turismo 6.