'Mountain of work and development': Behind the Toyota V8 engine program

Walkinshaw TWG Racing has enlisted the expertise of British firm Swindon Powertrain to lead a "around the clock" engine program for the new Toyota GR Supra.

In a little over two weeks, Toyota V8 power will take on the might of Ford and Chevrolet's powerplants as the new GR Supra hits the track in Sydney.

Since the Toyota project was announced in September 2024, homologation team Walkinshaw TWG Racing (formerly Walkinshaw Andretti United) and Swindon have worked around the clock to get all elements ready for 2026.

The engine project has been a global program: the engines have been developed and key components produced in the United Kingdom by Swindon Powertrain, which has ISO 9001-certified facilities located in both the UK and France.

Final assembly and maintenance and servicing of the Toyota engines, meanwhile, happens in-house at Walkinshaw’s Clayton base.

Through its connections with Walkinshaw Team Principal Carl Faux, Swindon was appointed engine partner for the Toyota project.

Toyota Gen3 project lead Faux, who arrived in Supercars after a successful stint in the British Touring Car Championship, previously worked with Swindon boss Raphaël Caillé at Triple Eight in the UK.

“It’s been a fantastic collaboration: the time zone difference enabled us to work around the clock, in effect,” Caillé said.

“However, we don’t underestimate the challenge. Supercars is a competitive championship with established engine producers with experience of the Gen3 regulations.

"We respect the job they are doing and now it’s up to us to learn, develop and bring our best efforts to the track. We won’t be satisfied until we start winning.”

Caillé is no stranger to Supercars, attending last July’s NTI Townsville 500. Sylvain Rubio will be trackside for the opening events of the 2026 season on behalf of Swindon.

There will be five Supras on the 2026 grid: two from Walkinshaw and three from Brad Jones Racing.

The new Toyota Supra is using a 5.2-litre version of its all-aluminium, quad-cam 2UR-GSE. Track testing of Walkinshaw’s first Supra began last September with a mule engine, with a production version running in recent weeks.

Faux added: “It’s fantastic to be partnering with Swindon Powertrain as we bring the Toyota Australia Supercars project to life.

“There’s been a mountain of work and development undertaken to ensure the 2UR-GSE is Supercars ready, and importantly, meets all the regulations of the category that are so strictly enforced. To be able to have the Swindon Powertrain expertise and production capabilities has been great.

“While the final assembly and servicing of the engines all happen in-house here in Clayton, to have a program that has been able to run day and night due to time zones has been essential in meeting deadlines and bringing it to life. We are all looking forward to the first official race in just a few weeks’ time."

The Ford engine program is being run by Triple Eight Powertrains, while KRE Race Engines continues the Chevrolet program.