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Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race Scion FR-S [w/video]

Toyota has been hosting its Pro/Celebrity race at the Toyota Grand Prix on Long Beach since 1977. The charity event, which has raised millions of dollars over the years, traditionally pits Hollywood celebrities against professional athletes (including race car drivers) on the full Grand Prix course in modified street vehicles. The short, sprint-style race is popular with the crowds as the amateur drivers race uninhibited - the result is an action-packed race with plenty of excitement and automotive... er... carnage.
Over the decades, the drivers have raced a variety of Toyota products including last year's front-wheel-drive Scion tC. But this year, Toyota announced at the Chicago Auto Show that the new rear-wheel-drive Scion FR-S would be stepping up to the plate. The good news only became better when Toyota Motorsports invited us out to Southern California's Willow Springs Raceway (the same circuit where the drivers train and practice) to be one of the first behind the wheel.
Driving Notes:

The last new Scion is this tC Release Series 10.0

"We're not dead yet!" That's the message Scion will send next week at the New York Auto Show when it takes the stage with its very last brand-new car, the tC Release Series 10.0. For its final act, the tC gets an aero kit by JDM designer Ken Miura, consisting of a front lip spoiler, new rocker panels, a lower rear spoiler, and a little wing on the deck. Blacked-out Scion badges and gloss black alloy wheels contrast against this tC's unique Barcelona Red paint. It's not all for show, either. The Release Series 10.0 includes TRD lowering springs and TRD-tuned dual exhaust. Inside, black and red pours onto the new seat inserts, and there's similarly-toned contrast stitching on the shift boot, parking brake cover, and steering wheel. Only 1,200 examples will be built, available with a six-speed manual or automatic transmission. The manual car will go for $23,985, and with the six-speed auto, add $1,150. It's all very fitting – Scion was introduced to the US at the New York show in 2002, and over the past 14 years, the tC was the brand's most popular car (and one of its longest-running). To commemorate the occasion, Scion will also show some of its most popular showcars, including the original 2002 BBx concept, 2009 iQ concept, and 2011 FR-S concept – the "Friggin' Really Sweet" car, if you recall. Scroll down for the official "Scion-ara" (yep) announcement. Related Video: Scion-ara Celebration at New York International Auto Show Includes JDM-inspired tC Coupe and Classic Concepts TORRANCE, Calif. (March 16, 2016) – Scion is not going away quietly. With a final Kei Miura-inspired tC Release Series 10.0, a display of some of its most impressive project cars, and cool swag, the Scion by Toyota booth is sure to be a flurry of activity at the New York International Auto Show, March 25 – April 3, 2016. It's only fitting that Scion closes its auto show history at New York since that's where it all began. Fourteen years ago Scion debuted its first concept vehicles and announced the new youth division for Toyota that would be a laboratory for experimentation and introduce new products and processes. That commitment to innovation carries through to the debut of Scion's final Release Series vehicle for the tC sports coupe, Scion's most popular car.

Toyota GT86 engineer Tada recounts how sports car came to be

Because the Toyota GT86, Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ coupes are now a reality, it's almost hard to imagine the struggle that had to happen within the large, conservative corporate structures at both automakers for the joint project to even get off of the ground.
Speaking to those struggles on Toyota UK's Toyota Blog, GT86 Chief Engineer Tetsuya Tada enlightens us with a recap of the sports car's earliest origins. For Tada, the first stages of the project must have seemed almost as dreamlike as the final product is to drive.
Said the Chief, "I had been working in the minivan department engineering new product, but a month after the meeting I was summoned. 'Forget about minivans,' they said, 'you are now working on the sports-car project.'"