Alan Jones 1987 Toyota 87c Launch May 2026

: The 1987 24 Hours of Le Mans was a failure for the team. The car shared by Jones, Lees, and Eje Elgh retired after only 19 laps when Jones coasted to a halt out of fuel, just a kilometre short of the pits due to a team miscalculation. Alan Jones' Perspective

: Built on a sheet-aluminium monocoque with a honeycomb core and carbon-fibre reinforcements. The bodywork was designed with large frontal air-intakes and ground-effect tunnels to improve performance. ALAN JONES 1987 TOYOTA 87C LAUNCH

Despite the Fuji victory, Jones later reflected on the Toyota 87C in a July 2000 interview as the . He was critical of the car's ergonomics and technical quirks, such as windshield wipers that smeared the glass to the point of zero visibility. : The 1987 24 Hours of Le Mans was a failure for the team

: The highlight of the season for Jones was a victory at the Fuji 1000 km in May. Alongside Lees and Masanori Sekiya, Jones won in torrential rain—a race he later recalled as "surviving the chaos" on a track that didn't drain properly. The bodywork was designed with large frontal air-intakes

At the end of the 1987 season, the 87C was phased out as Toyota developed the all-new V8-powered for the following year.

: It utilized a 2.1-litre, 4-cylinder turbocharged engine (designated 3S-GTM), based on a production block but featuring a bespoke 16-valve aluminium head.

The launch of the in 1987 marked a significant step in Toyota's increased commitment to international sports car racing, headlined by the high-profile signing of former Formula 1 World Champion Alan Jones . The Machine: Toyota 87C