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Yes, the John Smith car was built by TOMS Japan . I believe the Minolta/Fuxitsu sponsored cars were part of the same "family" of 7 cars, 1 of which was crushed here to avoid duties.
I understood from my brief correspondence with hewland, that the special gearboxes were built for Toyota Japan and their GpA racers , so I assume these are the cars built by TOMS. The 2 TOMS cars here, had these special boxes.
As far as I know, at that time, TOMS GB was concentrating on Formula cars and the BTCC front drive corolla (which I own), and they dont seem to have had much, if any, role in the Supras. Whilst TOMS GB may have been a bit of staging post for other european events, from what little I know, it never got anywhere near the depth of TOMS Japan.
I dont have any definite proof yet, but I'm sure the Bemani cars were ex TOMS. I have not yet had a reply from bermani. I have some contacts in Germany chasing leads at that end, so maybe something will eventually surface.
Toyota team Australia was disbanded when GpA finished in 1993 and the parts/cars scattered. John Smith, their lead driver, managed to hang onto the Supra and a pile of parts for this and his AE92 corolla. His AE92 corolla was sold many years ago and still competes in historic events.
The Gary Wilmington Supra that raced here was definitely not an ex-TOMS car. I have tried to trace the car , but the leads have gone cold. Whislt there is some anecdotal evidence it got converted back to a road car, it more likely was exported around 1999 when it appears it's then owner "did a runner" from creditors.
These were all expensively and professionally built cars, and given there was no new model to transfer parts to, I'll be surprised if they were all scrapped.
The search continues!!
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