Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa (TGRSA) and SVR have unveiled their new motorsport operations base – the Toyota Gazoo Racing Motorsport Hub, located in Kyalami, Gauteng.

Construction on the 12 500 m² facility began in October last year, with the goal of creating a world-class centre dedicated to high- performance motorsport engineering, manufacturing and development.

The Rally-Raid Hub will serve as the new home of TGRSA, housing the team’s race vehicles and technical departments under one multilevel roof, and with room to grow.

The facility includes a dedicated engine room, a damper laboratory, an in-house dyno, and an extensively upgraded fabrication division.

The new parts store has a custom-built software system to manage inventory and logistics, and services not only TGRSA, but multiple teams around the world.

The machine shop has also been significantly enhanced, now featuring a full suite of three-, four-, and five-axis computer numerically controlled machinery, ensuring precision component production at global standards.

The new building also significantly improves capacity over the old facility, with space to prepare up to 20 race cars, compared with six at the team’s previous base.

To further streamline operations, a number of processes previously outsourced have been brought in-house.

Construction was not without its challenges. Under normal conditions, a facility of this scale would require upwards of 18 months.

Owing to the demands of the global racing calendar, however, the construction team halved the timeline, with multiple crews working around the clock.

“Toyota and SVR had the vision to open a world-class hub for motorsport fabrication, which would showcase our collective ability and excellence,” says TGRSA team principal and SVR owner Shameer Variawa.

“Using the Toyota Gazoo Racing slogan of ‘Pushing the Limits for Better’ as inspiration, we sat down and sketched what we wanted the new SVR hub to become.

“We place tremendous value in our partnership with Toyota Gazoo Racing and the race results that are to come.”

Among other races, Toyota Gazoo Racing competes in the Dakar.