The Toyota Supra is back. After leaked specs and many spins around the rumor mill, the first official evidence of the car?s rebirth came at this year?s Geneva auto show with the reveal of the GR Supra Racing concept, a race-car version of the eventual production model. We sat down with Supra (and Toyota 86) chief engineer Tetsuya Tada at the show, where he revealed more of the car?s secrets. There?s still much to learn, but the pieces are starting to fall into place. Here is what we learned.
? The production Supra will be strictly a two-seater. If you look carefully at the race car?s 97.2-inch wheelbase, it?s four inches shorter than that of the Toyota 86, a car that needed more space between its axles to package a rear seat and make other concessions to practicality. Tada said the Supra will make no such concessions. ? The concept version is set up to GT-class spec, although it doesn?t have a powertrain installed. If the Supra were ultimately to enter that racing class, rules specify a production engine?but not necessarily one from that specific car. So the GT Supra could use anything from a version of the turbocharged inline-six slated for the roadgoing model to the V-8 currently stuffed in Lexus?s RC F GT3 race cars; we did confirm with Tada that a V-8 would indeed fit beneath the Supra racer?s hood. He also said that the car could use different powertrains depending on the racing series.

? The racing version was developed in tandem with the street car. Doing so allowe...