Toyota may want to hold off on building its own version of the Nurburgring in Japan because it appears that the Supra doesn’t agree with the actual Nurburgring. The Japanese automaker’s new prized sports car crashed at the ‘Ring in a testing session that occurred during Industry Pool. The crash occurred at the Nordschleife's Exmühle section, and available photos show that it was significant enough to cause the Supra’s bumper to get torn off completely. Details are limited on how the crash actually occurred, though considering where it occurred, the driver may have misjudged the racing line through this area, leading to a bit of understeer that ultimately led to the driver losing control of the sports car. Either way, the crashed Supra looks like it’s in need of a lot of repairs.

I suppose this was bound to happen at some point. The Nurburgring has claimed the lives of many sports cars in the past, and the more testing Toyota does of the Supra in the track, the higher the possibility that the sports car would figure into a crash. If we’re going to be straight, though, this isn’t the first time the new Supra came too close in contact with the ‘Ring. Just last year, a camouflaged test prototype crashed on the track’s 12.4-mile straight that’s more famously known as the Döttinger Höhe. This time, the crash occurred on the track’s Ex-Mühle area, a particular section that comes with a sharp corner many in the business call the “Junek Bend.” The corner itself is named after racer Vincent Junek who lost his life in that corner during a racing accident all the back in 1928.

Photos of the aftermath show that the crash was significant enough to mess up the Supra’s front section completely. Look closely at the photos, and you’ll see that the sports car’s bumper is gone completely. Presumably, it was torn off completely at the moment of impact.

The good news is that the driver didn’t suffer any injuries as a result of the crash. Even better news, the crashed Supra isn’t actually a production model, but a test model that was being used during Industry Pool, a professional testing event for some of today’s newer sports cars. So, by my count, the number of production Supras that have crashed at the Nurburgring still stands at 0. I don’t know if that’s a good thing, but I suppose if a Supra were to crash in a testing event like this one, it might as well be one that’s owned by the company that’s building it. Hopefully, more information comes to light on what caused the crash at the Nurburgring. That’s something that Toyota should pay clear attention to, especially now that it’s building its own version of the Nurburgring as part of the Toyota Technical Center Shimoyama, located right in the heart of the company’s operations front in Toyota-shi, Japan. Once completed, the new facility will wind through the inner part of the city, as well as through the mountainous topography that surrounds it. The track will also feature a roughly 75-meter change in elevation between its highest and lowest points, on top of a wide array of curves and corners scattered throughout it.

Hopefully, the new Toyota Supra can race around this track better than it can at the Nurburgring. It’s a small sample size, sure, but with two Supras already crashing in the ‘Ring, I don’t think it’s a good idea for any future owners of the sports car to bring their new prized acquisitions within the vicinity of the Green Hell.



Further Reading

The 2020 Toyota Supra’s Styling Is Growing On Me

The 2020 Toyota Supra Is Surprisingly Small In Person

Read our review of the 2020 Toyota Supra

How Much BMW DNA Can Be Found In The 2020 Toyota Supra?

14 Little-Know Facts About The 2020 Toyota Supra A90

Read our full review on the 2019 BMW Z4.