One of the glorious contradictions of the Goodwood Festival of Speed is that while the air smells of tyre smoke and super unleaded, the future is quietly humming in the background — or in this case, hissing at -253°C. Because among the Ferraris and McLarens and ancient rally monsters, Toyota showed up with a reminder that hydrogen isn’t done fighting yet.
Yes, while the rest of the automotive world is still arguing about plug sockets and charging times, Toyota’s been playing 4D chess. It’s betting not on one path to carbon neutrality, but several. Fuel cells, hydrogen combustion, liquid storage, rally cars, race cars, pick-ups — the works. If it can burn, convert, or store hydrogen, Toyota’s probably got an engineering team elbow-deep in it.
Meet the Hydrogen Heroes
The headline act at Goodwood was the GR010 Hybrid WEC car-based GR LH2 Racing Concept — basically Toyota’s Le Mans-winning hypercar reimagined to run on liquid hydrogen. It’s an idea so gloriously mad it makes sense: take the future fuel, give it a screaming internal combustion engine, and see what happens when the stopwatch starts ticking. For now, the GR LH2 sat proudly on static display, its innards built to handle temperatures colder than an Arctic winter and combustion pressures that would make a blacksmith sweat. Track testing is coming soon.
Meanwhile, in the “actually moving” department, Toyota rolled out something a bit more down to earth — the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Hilux prototype. It’s a pickup that looks like it could still haul sheep and construction gear, but does so with three tanks of compressed hydrogen slung underneath. Ten of these have been hand-built at Toyota’s Burnaston plant in the UK, five for internal testing and five for showing off. Each tank holds 2.6kg of hydrogen (7.8kg total), giving a range of around 373 miles. Not bad for something that can still tow a trailer and doesn’t sound like an air fryer having an existential crisis.
Under the skin, the Hilux borrows brains from the Mirai saloon — Toyota’s long-running hydrogen fuel cell car. A 330-cell polymer electrolyte membrane stack sits over the front axle, feeding a 180bhp, 221lb ft electric motor on the rear axle. There’s a small lithium-ion battery tucked in the load bay to handle power surges and store regen energy. Think of it as a hybrid system with liquid ambition.
When Hydrogen Burns
But Toyota being Toyota, it didn’t stop at clean fuel cells. Oh no — it’s also been experimenting with hydrogen combustion. That’s right, proper pistons, valves, and bangs, just fuelled by the most abundant element in the universe.
It started with a Corolla Sport running a converted three-cylinder GR Yaris engine, puffing away happily on compressed hydrogen. Then came the truly mad bit — Toyota figured out how to use boil-off gas from liquid hydrogen tanks (the stuff that literally evaporates as it warms up) and feed it back into the engine instead of venting it. It’s a neat trick that makes hydrogen ICEs both greener and cleverer.
The result? The GR Yaris H2 rally car, which made its debut at Rally Finland 2022, and more recently the GR Rally2 H2 Concept, still sideways and still spectacular. Because as Toyota will remind you: the future doesn’t have to be silent — it can still sound like a turbo triple bouncing off the limiter.
So, what’s the takeaway from Toyota’s hydrogen circus at Goodwood? Simple: the brand’s not putting all its green eggs in one lithium basket. Hydrogen, in all its forms, remains very much part of the plan — powering trucks, pick-ups, rally cars, and potentially, the next generation of endurance racers.
It’s a fascinating blend of science and stubbornness — a reminder that Toyota, the company once mocked for hybridising everything, is still engineering for the long game. And while others argue about charging infrastructure, Toyota’s quietly building a future that hisses, hums, and still smells faintly of race fuel.
Because in Toyota’s world, zero emissions don’t have to mean zero excitement.
Source: Toyota