The 2019 Toyota GR Supra Drift by HKS is a heavily modified Supra that will make its debut at the 2019 Goodwood Festival of Speed in July. Built by HKS, a Japanese company known for modifying cars and selling aftermarket parts, this Toyota Supra looks like a full-fledged race car and drifts like no other fifth-generation Supra. The really cool thing is that it has a 2JZ-GTE engine under the hood instead of the Supra's BMW-sourced mill.

Are you happy that the Supra is finally back but you're also upset that it has a BMW engine? Are you crazy about the iconic 2JZ-GTE in the previous Supra? Well, this might be the car you've been looking for. It looks like the new Supra but it sounds and drifts like the old Supra. The bad news is that you can't take it home. The good news is that you can see it in action at the 2019 Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Exterior

The Supra Drift HKS looks a lot like the GT4 Concept race car that Toyota unveiled in March 2019. It's actually a tad more aggressive, especially in the rear, but it's not as extreme as Toyota's design for the Japanese Super GT Championship.

Up front, the Drift HKS showcases a bumper and splitter configuration similar to the GT4 concept car. Both the vents and the splitter are bigger than the regular model, while additional intakes can be seen at the outer edges of the bumper. Thanks to the wheel arch extensions, the front end looks notably wider. We can also notice new vents in the engine hood, as well as the angled front wheels for drifting duty.

The Supra's profile looks a bit different too, mostly thanks to the big side skirt extensions and the new wheels painted in white. The biggest changes are visible in the rear. The highlight is the massive wing that sits almost as high as the roof. The aero element is attached to the rear fascia, a big departure from usual designs with wings mounted on the deck lid. The wing is made from carbon-fiber and the posts extend the car's length by a few good inches.

HKS also crafted a new spoiler that's notably larger than on the standard car. The element extends the trunk lid well over the taillights and also trickles down toward the rear bumper edges. It almost creates a hood over the rear fascia. The rear wheel arches were widened and now feature cooling vents toward the rear. The rear wheels are also wider now. Finally, a more aggressive diffuser covers the lower side of the bumper.

Another cool feature that sets this car apart is the unique HKS livery. The red, purple, and green splashed over a black body have been part of the HKS trademark since the early days of the Japanese company. We've seen it on the latest Nissan GT-R, but it also dates back to the iconic Skyline R32 GT-R. Combined with the white wheels, the black livery takes me back to the glory days of the Skyline R32 GT-R in Japanese racing.

Interior

The Supra Drift's interior doesn't share much with the standard sports car. Sure, the door panels and the dashboard shell are similar, but everything else is different. Overall, this interior looks like it was prepared for high-profile racing.

The instrument cluster was replaced with a small screen that displays basic information only. The display is no longer fitted in the dash, but it was moved closer to the steering wheel. The latter is also simpler, no longer featuring the multi-function design seen on the regular Supra. It's just a leather-wrapped rim and three simple spokes.

An additional panel on the center stack includes big buttons that control various features, while the center console is as simple as they get and includes just the steering wheel and the drift-specific handbrake. There's bare metal floor, carbon-fiber inserts on the dash and the door panels, and a competition roll-cage.

The driver sits in a motorsport-spec seat with heavy bolstering and enhanced lateral protection around the headrests. The seat is equipped with a six-point harness. The driver compartment is also fitted with a fire extinguisher, just in case things go wrong while drifting.

Drivetrain and Performance

Now this is where things become a lot more interesting. Instead of the twin-turbo, 3.0-liter inline-six engine found in the new Supra, HKS opted to use a 2JZ-GTE mill. That's the engine featured in the previous-generation Supra made from 1993 to 2002 and it's arguably one of the most iconic units Toyota ever made.

The inline-six mill isn't standard though. HKS increased displacement from the standard 3.0 liters to 3.4 and made a series of upgrades that result in a notable power increase. The engine now delivers 690 horsepower and 620 pound-feet of torque, which is twice as much as the output of the standard GR Supra, powered by a BMW-sourced inline-six rated at 335 horsepower and 369 pound-feet.

Toyota Supra Drift By HKS (2JZ) vs Toyota Supra

It's also a lot more than the old Supra with the 2JZ-GTE engine. The most powerful iteration of the fourth-gen Supra came with 326 horsepower and 325 pound-feet in Europe and 321 horses and 315 pound-feet in the United States. So this engine produces more than twice the power of the old mill. The turbocharger is a custom GTIII-4R unit made by HKS and explains the massive output coming from the engine.

Other details are rather scant, but we do know that the drift car rides on a bespoke Hipermax SPL suspension and on Advan wheels wrapped in Advan tires. The wheels measure 19 inches in the front and 20 inches in the rear. The Supra also features race-spec brakes front and rear.

There's no word on how quick it is, but it should be able to hit 60 mph from a standing start in less than 3.5 seconds. That's at least a half-second quicker than the standard Supra with the BMW engine, which hits the benchmark in 4.1 seconds.

Final Thoughts

HKS' Supra Drift is pretty much a dream come true for all you gearheads unhappy that the fifth-generation Supra has a BMW engine. The fact that this car is fitted with a version of the iconic 2JZ-GTE makes things that much better. Sadly, this drifter is for show purposes only and HKS won't turn it into a production car. Sure, you probably can order something similar or opt to have a standard Supra fitted with a similar engine, but it won't be cheap. Instead of doing that, it's probably wiser to buy a fourth-generation Supra and restore it. Still, the Supra Drift HKS remains a cool exercise and it's definitely worth seeing it in action.

Further Reading

Read our full review on the 2019 Toyota GR Supra GT4 Concept.

Driving the 2020 Toyota Supra On the Track and the Street

Read our full driven review on the 2020 Toyota Supra.

Read our review of the 2020 Toyota Supra

Read our full review on the 2019 BMW Z4.