Top 10 Craziest JGTC/Super GT Cars of All Time

Honda just announced the brand's new Prelude GT race car that will compete in the Super GT racing series, in the GT500 class. In true Super GT tradition, the car is unusual. The hybrid front-wheel drive road car shares little with the rear-wheel drive race car that utilizes a turbocharged four-cylinder engine.

Unusual configurations like the Prelude are less common in Super GT these days, but in the past, including the Japan Grand Touring Car (JGTC) days, creativity and ingenuity were on full display. Strange vehicle choices, upside down vehicle configurations, out of date entries...if one could dream it, there's a good chance it would end up in JGTC/Super GT.

Below we've assembled 10 of the crazier entries ever to race in the series. These entries are all from the slower GT300 class as the rules were more open to interpretation in the past, and costs were lower.

By Mike Schlee

top 10 craziest jgtc super gt cars of all time

ASL ARTA Garaiya

We start with a car that never became a car. When Autobacs Sportscar Laboratory showed off the brand’s new mid-engine concept car, called the Garaiya, people took notice. Debuting in the early 2000s, the intention was for the small manufacturer to produce the Garaiya road car in the near future. To gain publicity, a racing version was campaigned in the GT300 class. Although it never took home a championship, it did place runner up for the constructor's title once, and took home a few race victories. The road car never made it to production though.

Chevrolet Zipspeed Corvette (C4)

Very cool, yet very unsuccessful, the Zipspeed Chevrolet Corvette is as obscure as obscure gets. Campaigned in the 2002 season, the car was based on a fourth-generation Corvette which had been out of production for six years. It never completed a race, rarely even starting many during the 2002 season.

Honda CR-Z GT

Long before the Prelude GT, Honda was converting front-wheel drive cars into rear-wheel drive racers. The CR-Z may be the most unusual though, being a subcompact hybrid commuter. Although the race car did remain a hybrid, the 1.5-liter four-cylinder was ditched in favor of a turbocharged 2.8-liter V6. The car would compete for many years, even winning the 2013 class championship.

Mitsubishi Taeivon Trampio FTO

In the late ‘90s of the JGTC, some cars were entered with front-wheel drive, including the Mitsubishi FTO. It kept a 2.0-liter engine that was now turbocharged and making oodles of power. Campaigned in the 1998 season, the car took a few podiums on the way to a respectable fifth place overall team finish.

Mooncraft Shiden

Here’s another real oddball. A protoype race car, the Mooncraft Shiden was a callback, in name at least, to the Mooncraft Shiden 77 race car from the late 1970s. Using a mid-mounted V8 engine, there were road car versions of the car planned, but like ASL, they never came to be. The Mooncraft was campaigned from 2006 through 2012, claiming a few victories as well as the 2007 constructor's championship.

Porsche 968 GT4

Much like the Zipspeed Corvette, the Porsche 968 GT4 was campaigned years after the car was already out of production. Campaigned by Team LeyJun, the car retained a 3.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder, but the bodywork was quite unique. The 968 was entered in the 2005 and 2006 season, with no real success. At least it was one of the coolest looking cars on track during its time.

Renault Sport Spider

A French manufacturer participating in Super GT is rare, and this car is the rarest of the rare. The completely open top Renault Sport Spider only participating in one race, which naturally included a torrential downpour of rain. Using a Clio rally car engine with unique body work, this was more of a demonstration entry than a serious competitor.

Subaru Legacy B4

For the 2009 season, Subaru partnered up with R&D Sport and switch the brand’s GT300 platform from the Impreza WRX STI to the larger Legacy B4. With wild, wide, and lowered body work, the car looked comically long, like a Subaru Limo. In 2009 the car used all-wheel drive, but switched to rear-wheel drive in 2010 and found better success over the next two seasons.

Toyota Cavalier

Yes, the rebadged Chevrolet Cavalier sold by Toyota in Japan raced in the JGTC series for part of the 1997 season and all of the 1998 season. This wasn’t just some entrepreneur’s crazy dream either, as the car was partially backed by Toyota. The custom body work retained the Cavalier’s overall look, while the engine was ditched in favor of the MR2’s turbocharged unit, placed up front, powering the front wheels exclusively.

Toyota Prius apr GT

The Prius was an unlikely nameplate to use for a race car, especially when it first arrived in 2012. But this was a Prius only by name, and a few of the car’s hybrid components. The engine used was a mid-mounted 3.4-liter V8 hybrid, powering the rear wheels. The wild, aerodynamic bodywork, kind of resembled a Prius at certain angles. The mid-engine car would compete, with success for many years, before being replaced by another Prius GT300 race car, this time utilizing a 5.4-liter V8 up front under the hood.

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