The Toyota Mirai fuel cell vehicle isn’t exactly the first candidate that pops into your mind when someone mentions the sport of rallying, right? Wrong. In order to further drum up some hype in the lead up to its European market launch, Toyota has unleashed a rally-spec Mirai at the 2015 ADAC Rally Deutschland.
Said rally car, driven by Japanese journalist and ex-rally driver, Mitsuhiro Kunisawa, played the role of the “zero car” which precedes the rest of the pack through the rally stage. Also, the Toyota Mirai you see here isn’t just a tarted-up, wanna-be racer. Modifications, although mild, include the adoption of competition-spec brake pads and tyres, a roll cage and race seats.
Power figures remain as is as no change has been carried out on the Mirai’s powertrain – the 0-100 km/h time of 9.6 seconds is maintained. Toyota Germany provided additional support in the form of a mobile hydrogen refuelling system that can brim the Mirai’s tank in under three minutes. “It is our dream that one day our fuel cell vehicles will be able to compete in WRC,” said Mirai chief engineer, Yoshikazu Tanaka.
“Spectators at the Rallye Deutschland will have to get used to this noiseless premiere at Trier, but they’ll experience the art of an almost pollution-free future,” added Tanaka. The Toyota Mirai went on sale in its home country of Japan in December 2014 while European sales are set to commence in October 2015.
The Toyota Mirai, as you would have known by now, gets motivated by pure hydrogen. The fuel cell stack is situated under the driver and front passenger – it offers 3.1 kW/L of power output density. Total power is rated at 153 hp while a single tank of hydrogen is said to offer a maximum range of 502 km.
GALLERY: Toyota Mirai
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Bullshit also can used for racing?