Words: Richard Opie Photos: Richard Opie, Tayler Burke
Is there currently a mainstream automotive brand doing more for the enthusiast and with more motorsport visibility than Toyota? Now, our worldview when it comes to cars might be a little narrow versus the general populace, but it’s a tough argument otherwise.
Narrow, because our comparatively teeny wee segment of enthusiasts, who clamour for all things performance and revere the sheer thrill of driving above all else, absolutely pales when contrasted with the wider vehicle-buying public. For every one of us whose heart skips a beat when we mash our foot on the loud pedal and send the tach needle into the ketchup, there’s ten thousand Susans who simply want minimal fuss and maximum economy on the way down to Woolies for a handful of bananas and a couple of litres of milk.
Whether you’re invested in the brand (emotionally or financially) or not, Toyota is doing some wickedly cool stuff in the enthusiast space right now. The participation in motorsport is staggering.
From backing our own Formula Regional Oceania Trophy series, to GR86 one-make racing, Nascar, WRC, WEC, Super GT, Dakar rallying, and even a breakout maiden victory in Supercars happening right here on Kiwi soil, Toyota’s seemingly got a hand in whatever flavour of high-level global motorsport you’d prefer.
Add to that an increasing lineup of performance-focused offerings off the showroom floor, not least accompanying the rise of the ‘GR’ moniker where the real hardcore stuff is concerned. Corolla, Yaris, 86, and now the upcoming GR GT that’s set motor shows abuzz across the globe — they’re all rock-solid commitments to Toyota’s embrace of the enthusiast. She’s not quite all CVTs and crossovers just yet!
So this brings us to the 2026 Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR) Festival, or as most attendees simply call it, “Toyota Fest.”
Toyota New Zealand (TNZ) put on this event for those die-hard fans of the Toyota brand, something Aotearoa is clearly not short of. It alternates in location between Hampton Downs in the mighty Waikato and Highlands Motorsport Park all the way down in scenic Central Otago, spreading the love between aficionados of the North and South. 2026 marked the 13th year of TNZ’s big ol’ Toyota party, drawing hundreds of the faithful to Hampton Downs’ expansive site.
Despite the day kicking off with a trademark thick North Waikato fog, a steady stream of Toyota’s finest trickled through the tunnel and up the hill, lights ablaze. It made for a moody start — not really what you want to kick off a festival — but cresting that hill into the grounds and being directed to the applicable Show and Shine parking (allocated by decade, of course) cranked a bit of fizz into the action.
The Show and Shine is really the main basis of the TGR Festival. It’s by far and away the most popular component for attendees to participate in, most likely because it costs absolutely nothing to enter. Not even a gate fee. Thanks for the generosity, TNZ!
The scope of entrants is wide. From barn-find MS40-series Crowns, stock-standard Corollas of all eras, a heavy contingent of GT86s (after all, the festival was formed on the basis of these cars), golden-era JDM heroes like the JZA80 Supra and more, the Show and Shine isn’t exclusive by any means. You love your Toyota? You’re totally welcome here.
For a select few, though, parking up and chewing the fat with fellow Toyota piners doesn’t scratch the itch quite hard enough. Lucky there’s a racetrack on site, hey?
For those wanting to bash the limiter and get sideways, the skidpan is open all day. With sprinklers running, there’s enough of a lack of grip for a bog-standard K-series Starlet to get a wheel going. It’s a mixture of styles out there — some just getting way out sideways near the wall, and others with a more considered approach going for a fast timed run — after all, there’s a trophy up for grabs!
For three lucky groups too, there’s the track laps. Split into speed groups, they cater for pretty much any driver level, from the novice just wanting to get out there and hear how far they can push until the squeal of a tortured radial invades the cabin, to the real fast guys in dedicated race cars — if you’re lucky, you might even see an ex-works Super Tourer from the ’90s out there.
TNZ provides hot laps throughout the day, with a selection of gun drivers on hand to pack the latest GR vehicles full of punters and head out for a few fast laps of Hampton Downs national circuit. Not only this, but demo laps of the GR86 one-make racer and FT60 Formula Regional machine allow the faithful to witness the peak of TNZ’s local motorsport endeavours, driven at pace.
While it’s all happening, the pits are heaving with things to do. Fancy yourself as a bit of a pit stop ace? Have a crack at the wheel-changing competition. Reckon you’re the master of the sim? Climb aboard for some virtual laps of Hampton Downs and test your mettle against other hopefuls. When the dust settles, there’s a prize in the mix for the fastest grown-up and the fastest young ‘un at each.
Punters can also browse the latest offerings in Toyota’s enthusiast lineup and get an up-close look at the factory race weapons, but of specific importance was the local launch of the new ‘GR Genuine Parts’ range. Think TRD, but for the modern age. Suspension, drivetrain, aero, and more were on display as upgrade parts that can be acquired from your local dealer to sharpen up your late-model Toyota.
To prove the point, TNZ debuted their fully kitted GR Yaris, bristling with the full complement of GR Aero components — something of a local debut and something for the Yaris enthusiasts to have a good look at. The customary group shot on the front straight falls somewhere near lunchtime. Sent out in their respective age groups, the sight of a few hundred Toyotas all lined up as far as the eye can see would be enough to bring a tear to Barry Crump’s eye if he were still about. Hiace courier vans brush shoulders with immaculate Lexus F-Sport variants, with the odd rough-and-ready 4×4 Hilux contrasting with the gleaming chrome of a classic Celica or Crown. And we haven’t even begun to talk about the absolute horde of SW20 MR2s that made the showing — surely a record for the most mid-engined Toyotas in one place on Kiwi shores, ever.
If you were wondering, the sun did eventually come out, breaking through the fog and letting all those cherished ‘yotas shine. It beamed right through until the day’s end, giving the drift guys and girls (yeah, we didn’t forget about ya) some heat to work with as the day drew to an end.
So yeah, the TL;DR version? If you dig Toyotas, get to the Toyota Gazoo Racing Festival. Next year it’s most likely to be in the South, so we reckon it’s grounds for a killer road trip from the North Island. Who’s coming?
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