When it comes to the Toyota 86 the list of those just raving about it is getting longer and longer, and coming from weirder and weirder places.

Today whilst listing some more spare parts on our Trade Me account for our Great Garage Sale we stumbled across this interesting read from the team at Trade Me motors.

My lords, ladies and gentlemen, please be upstanding and raise your glasses to the Toyota GT86

Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear waxes lyrical on why he picked the Toyota GT86 as his favourite car of 2012.

While driving through America recently, James May and I happened upon a car of such unparalleled awfulness that we slowed down to get a closer look. It was called a Nissan Versa, and I simply can't imagine what the design team was thinking of when they were styling it. The Austin A35, probably.

Both of us agreed it was the worst car we had ever seen and that, in all of our lives, we'd never encounter a machine that we'd like the look of less. But then, round the very next corner, we stumbled upon a Chevrolet something or other which was even more terrible. Part Chrysler PT Cruiser and part Morris Traveller, it was a disjointed mishmash of nothing that anyone likes.

And then later, while hanging around in a San Diego car park, we noticed another car. We had no idea what it was. It had four wheels, four doors and was made from metal. There were windows and doors, and neither of us could come up with a single reason why someone should have bought such a thing.

It wasn't as stupid as the Nissan and Chevy we'd seen earlier. In fact, it wasn't stupid at all. Nor was it ugly. It was nothing. It was just a car-shaped hole in the view. Later, we learned what it was. We even found out which model. But we can't remember now.

When it comes to sending a car around the track as a part of the annual Port Nelson Street Races, Nelson Road Racing Association president Nick Marer called upon Bowater Toyota with only one car in mind.
That car, is of course the Toyota 86. The perfect car for the job.

Nick was on the hunt for the Official Pace Car for the annual 2013 Port Nelson Street Races. This street race is an iconic street circuit motorcycle race, held in Nelson since 1992, and featuring multiple classes of racing, culminating in the King of the Port Race - always a hotly contested event.

We jumped at the chance to get the Toyota 86 into it's "natural" environment, an official "closed road" track where it could stretch it's legs unhindered and without breaking any laws!

The chance to get trackside does not happen that often in Nelson. Normally those wanting to get some track day action have to travel a long way to satisfy that urge, or just resign themselves that it is not a reality, and just the dreams of car crazy young boys.
The Toyota 86 has changed all of that. Finally a car has come onto the market that is not only remarkably priced at just $41,986,  but has actually been designed for those wanting to enjoy a perfectly respectable, everyday car 90% of the time, but also experience the thrills of Track Days if the opportunity arises.
All this being said, the 2013 Port Nelson Street Race gave us the perfect opportunity to show the motor racing fans of Nelson the new face of the performance side of Toyota.