Toyota Gazoo Racing has a new home base at Kyalami.
Image: Supplied
Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa (TGRSA) and its local motorsport partner SVR have just opened up their new home base, located in Kyalami.
Designed to be a “world-class” hub dedicated to high-performance motorsport engineering, the 12,500 m² facility will house the team’s race vehicles and technical departments under one roof, including the all-important Rally-Raid operations.
To that end, the facility has been purpose-built to support every aspect of modern rally-raid racing and now has space to prepare up to 20 race cars at a time, versus the previous facility’s limit of six. What’s more, a number of processes that were previously outsourced have now been brought in-house.
The new warehouse boasts a dedicated engine room, in-house dyno, damper laboratory, upgraded fabrication division and comprehensive parts store.
Designed to optimise workflow efficiency, the facility also has a custom-built software system to manage inventory and logistics.
All of these improvements will allow the team to improve efficiency and reduce turnaround times, while enhancing the quality and performance of race cars served by the facility, Toyota says.
“Toyota and SVR had the vision to open a world-class hub for motorsport fabrication, which would showcase our collective ability and excellence,” explained Shameer Variawa, Team Principal of TGRSA and owner of SVR.
“Using the TGR’s slogan of ‘Pushing the Limits for Better’ as inspiration, we sat down and sketched what we wanted the new SVR hub to become. I’m incredibly proud of the product that stands before us today.”
Toyota SA’s Vice President of Marketing, Glenn Crompton, said the opening of the new SVR Motorsport Hub represents a new chapter for Toyota’s motorsport exploits.
“Shameer, with support from the entire SVR team, has transitioned from privateer driver to team principal to world-class Rally-Raid facility operator. It is the undeniable passion for the sport that drives them to strive for excellence in everything they do.
“From a TGRSA perspective, we couldn’t have asked for a better partner. This is the beginning of an exciting journey for us all, and I’m confident together we’ll reach even greater heights.”
IOL