Toyota GR Cup Racing Series In North America Use Blockchain Technology For Digital Awards

Toyota Gazoo Racing, announced that they will begin giving digital awards (photo: twitter @TOYOTA_GR)

JAKARTA - Toyota Gazoo Racing, a racing series organizer in North America, recently announced that it will start giving digital awards and recording the performance of racers using Polygon blockchain technology.

According to a press release, the new blockchain-based award system will include a digital award for riders who are on the podium (the rider who won the first, second, or third place in the race). Blockchain records will also include statistics on race and the performance of the riders.

According to Jack Irving, business executive director for the Toyota Racing Development (TRD), the goal of this program is to perpetuate the achievements of the riders on the blockchain so that fans can interact with them:

"Blockchain technology helps us create permanent digital records about the achievements of the riders they can share with their friends, family and fans. It also allows us to develop new opportunities to introduce racing enthusiasts to our partners."

The Toyota Gazoo Racing League and the Toyota GR Cup are designed as a series of events involving fans. Like today's popular video racing game, the GR Cup riders are starting the race with a standard car (in this case, Toyota GR86) which only has a choice available from the factory.

Then, the race car is sent to the TRD workshop, the term "gazoo" means "work" where the car will be equipped with Toyota's official racing equipment. This makes all riders have the same equipment when the race starts, because their hardware is uniform across the grid.

Toyota has been involved in blockchain spaces since at least 2016, when the company joined R3 Consortium in partnerships for blockchain research and technology development. The company then founded its Toyota Blockchain Lab in 2019.

It is not yet clear at this time whether fans will be able to interact directly with digital awards or whether the company plans to print a digital collection. TRD has not yet responded to requests for comment.

According to a press release, riders will be able to access achievements before and after the event with "fast and easy". The next race in this series will take place at the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix in Nashville, Tennessee from 4 to 6 August.