Car Showroom will bring you our first local test of Toyota’s stunning 86 sports car in the first week of June (following our drive in Japan last year), but already the joint Toyota/Subaru sports car has pocketed its first award – the 2012 Vehicle Dynamics International Award.
Given jointly to Toyota chief engineer Tetsuya Tada and his Subaru colleague Toshio Masuda, the award is judged by an international panel of engineers, technologists and journalists.
Both Tada-San and Masuda-San were named as joint ‘Dynamicists Of The Year’ and Toyota was named Dynamics Team Of The Year for its efforts to bring to fruition the ‘Fun To Drive. Again’ philosophy championed by Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda.
In handing-out the award, Vehicle Dynamics International magazine editor Graham Heeps said: “In the face of rising power outputs and ever-greater levels of complication in the drivetrain, suspension and steering, cars from major manufacturers that take a less-is-more approach and offer fun at legal speeds have been thin on the ground. That’s why we believe the Toyota 86 and its twin sister the Subaru BRZ, are deserved recipients of the 2012 VDI Car Of The Year Award.”
