Toyota GR Supra Jarama Racetrack Edition 2021 UK review

Special edition commemorates coupé's rebirth, but does the Supra remain competitive in this fierce segment? Here’s one for you: what links the Renault Clio Williams, the Volkswagen Polo Harlequin and the Hyundai Tucson The Walking Dead Special Edition? Struggling? Well, they’re each limited-run special editions conceived to celebrate a particular moment in their respective maker’s history, although so tenuously named as to require of their owners a chunk of research before they can begin bragging at the pub about their latest acquisition. And yes, I promise that Hyundai one is real. The new Toyota GR Supra Jarama Racetrack Edition is a particularly tricky concept to explain, and perhaps one that will only hold appeal to avid readers of this (or a rival) motoring magazine or the people who write it. It’s named after the Madrid circuit best known as the nine-time host of the Spanish Grand Prix (before, notably, Toyota began competing in Formula 1) and far less well known as the venue for the first media drives of the sixth-generation Supra in 2018. Back then, the Supra was still in its distinctive pre-production camouflage - a livery whose longevity and recognisability was such that Toyota would later use it as an official Christmas wrapping-paper design - although you will note that it hasn’t been replicated here.For the Jarama Racetrack Edition, of which just 90 will be built and 30 shipped to the UK, Toyota has gone with an unmissable shade of Horizon Blue, which is teamed with matt-black 19in alloy wheels, black mirrors and red brake calipers in a bespoke paint scheme that – although it does feel special and attract its fair share of raised eyebrows – seems entirely unrelated to the one worn by the prototype.Anyway, it’s a welcome opportunity to revisit the Supra two years on from its market launch and to consider its evolved position in a market segment that hasn’t so much changed as been turned on its head since. Its mortal enemy (and close relation), the BMW M2 Coupé, has been off sale for several months, the Porsche 718 Cayman is now available with a charismatic flat six once again, Lotus’s sports car trio has bitten the dust ahead of the Emira’s launch and, closer to home, Toyota is about to launch the markedly distinct but still threatening GR 86.In fact, our own Matt Prior, who attended the Supra prototype drive event at Jarama, said that one of his prevailing memories of the day was a stint in a then-current GT86, which only served to highlight the superiority of that car’s chassis set-up. Hmm.