November is Toyota month at Racer on Rails.
October opened the Showroom Series with Porsche Performance. Month two turns the showroom over to the cars that built the modern Toyota performance scene — GR86s and BRZs, GR Supras, and one of the newest spec classes in the Pacific Northwest. All month long, two cars anchor the floor. And on Saturday, November 7, we’re throwing the doors open for a full day at the shop.
The first car is Colin Koehler’s bronze/orange #10 PRO86 race car — a first-generation 86 built to the PRO86 rulebook, and it’s in the showroom all month.
PRO86 is one of the newest spec classes in the PNW — a true affordable and entry level racing option but on a modern platform. A real spec class where even the tire is spec’ed out, focused on affordability, awesome racing, and driver development. Spend more of your dollars driving, than on the car.
That’s why we picked it. The first-generation 86 is the right car for this idea: balanced, modern, and honest — a car that teaches you to drive rather than rewarding whoever spent the most. The spec formula keeps the spending war out of it, so the driver is the variable: same platform, same tire, same rulebook, and the racing comes down to preparation and seat time. And the value is real — PRO86 puts a fully spec build at roughly $15–18k in parts beyond the car itself, labor not included. For a genuine wheel-to-wheel race car, that’s incredible.
More on the class: https://pro86racing.com/
Don’t confuse it with the other 86 in the room. Jeremy Ussery’s purple/blue second-generation Subaru BRZ — the Subaru twin of the current-generation GR86 — is a street car pushed to the time-attack maximum while staying a legit street car — a very similar build and intent to the car it replaces.
Real-life race car life intervened: Nick Allen’s lime green time-attack GR86 developed a drivetrain issue, so at the last minute we’ve swapped Jeremy’s car in for the month. Same spirit, different generation — and both cars are in the showroom all month, so you can see the two approaches side by side.
And the pace these cars are running is serious. The time-attack 86s are doing 1:47s and 1:48s at the Ridge — holy crap, that’s fast — and they’re doing it still naturally aspirated, on street tires, not DOT slicks. That is incredibly impressive. The platform keeps proving itself: we’ve seen GR86s perform well in SCCA Touring 3, Touring 4, and GLTC.
And for one day only: Kevin Lam’s GR Supra joins us on November 7. It’s here for the Showcase, not the month — so if you want to see it in the building, Saturday is the day.
Saturday, November 7 — the day itself
Racer on Rails, Kent, WA — 9 AM to 5 PM.
Cars & coffee in the morning. A dyno day running all day. A PRO86 tech session from 1–2 PM, with the PRO86 car on the rack in the main production floor and a donor car beside it — bring your PRO86 and 86-build questions and ask them in person. And a giveaway on the day.
The dyno is the heart of the day. Seven hourly slots, $80 each — 9, 10, and 11 AM, then 1, 2, 3, and 4 PM, with a break from 12–1 PM. Rear- and front-wheel-drive cars only (our all-wheel-drive roller is down). Six slots are left: the 3 PM slot is gone — that’s when our own street Z goes on, running the new street performance and MPG tunes from Eugene, so the Toyotas will have a Nissan to chase on the day.
Get a dyno slot here: https://www.raceronrails.com/product/dyno-day-slot-toyota-gr-performance-showcase-nov-7
The point of the day is the same as the point of the month: real cars, real craft, real people. The 86 platform rewards the driver who does the work — setup, seat time, and honest measurement. A day on the dyno saves a builder months of guessing.
RSVP — and bring someone
RSVP for Saturday, November 7 here: https://www.facebook.com/share/1Mje6jbn6b/
Come for the morning, stay for the tech session, or just swing by to see the two showroom cars side by side. Forward this to the Toyota, GR, and 86 people in your life — the more of the community in the building, the better the day.
From dawn to dusk. For the love of the craft.