If you are familiar with drifting, then you have heard of the "hachi roku". It was an old lil rear wheel drive Toyota corolla that became a legend w/ the explosion of the drifting craze a few years ago. "Hachi roku" was simply "eight six" in japanese, which referred to the car model AE86. The car was popularized by Japanese race car driver, Keiichi Tsuchiya, who is better known as the "Drift King". He had one as a youth and praised its handling abilities and teaching him the dynamics of a car. Basically, it was the car he lost his automotive virginity to. The 86 reached cult icon when it was used as the main characters racing apparatus in the anime/manga series Initial D. I know this because thats how I learned about the car. That and video games. You can always be guaranteed to see a piece of junk Corolla or (Trueno in japan) in just about every racing game at the scum of the barrel (entry) class. Now you sorta know why. The real car wasnt anything spectacular putting out a modest 87 hp (up to 112 ponies in the GT-S version). But people loved it because it was light, easily tunable, balanced and rear wheel drive: all necessities in car control and, more importantly, drifting.So why is any of this relevant? because Toyota is bringing the 86 back! Yup. Thats right! Toyota will try to capture "the soul of the hachi roku" in their new sports car. Rear wheel drive, affordable, fun, and sporty. Toyota is also working with Subaru to build the car: which some have named the Toyobaru. I like the name but the official name from Toyota so far is the FT-86.
