The Genesis G70 Track Day Special Concept is a unique, one-of-a-kind homage to the G70’s short but impressive heritage. It’s a well-known fact that parent company Hyundai spends a lot of time on the Nurburgring, so it’s no surprise this sport sedan operates as a ‘Ring taxi. This allows passengers to experience the thrill of the G70 and the Nurburgring with a professional driver behind the wheel; think the late Sabine Schmitz and her E60 M5.
The G70 Track Day Special Concept builds on that idea. It’s meant to promote excitement around the brand and tie the Genesis identity to motorsports and racing instead of merely luxury. My own two cents? It’s a clever way to whet our appetite before Genesis’ Magma performance division launches in the next couple of years. In the meantime, the G70 Track Day Special Concept will be making a tour across Canada over the next few weeks, and we checked it out on its first stop in Toronto.
Look good, feel good
I was a bit hesitant on the looks of the G70 Track Day Special Concept, but in person, it actually works so long as you keep in mind its purpose. The front end looks wide and menacing with the blacked-out trim and grille. The added diamond-shaped fog lights and yellow-tinted headlights give it that trademark racecar look, as does the front splitter and canards. I can’t see canards ever making it to production, but the integrated fog lights and splitter, not to mention the rather muscular hood with functional heat extractors could all work on a production-spec Magma car.
The paintwork is a homage to the G70 Nurburgring taxis, being the exact inverse colourway of the matte black and orange orange. Again, on paper it sounds kind of ridiculous, but weirdly enough it works. I guess the boy racer in me hasn’t totally grown up yet, because I even dig the huge rear wing. It works in conjunction with the rest of the modifications.
Performance comes standard
Keep in mind that this is merely a concept car meant to evoke emotion, so mechanical changes are far and few in between. Most are copied-and-pasted from the ‘Ring taxi, including lightweight O.Z. wheels and a suspension lowered by 10 millimetres. Surprisingly, the G70 Nurburgring taxi keeps the stock Brembo brakes and the standard-for-the-top-trim Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires. That carries over to the Track Day Special Concept, albeit the tires feature Michelin’s Motorsport design.
And just like the Nurburgring taxi that does lap-after-lap on the world’s most challenging track, the G70 Track Day Special Concept has no changes under the hood. The same 3.3-litre twin-turbo V6 still puts out a healthy 365 horsepower and 376 pound-feet of torque, but the stripped-out interior sheds a couple hundred pounds over the already-athletic-out-of-the-box, standard G70. Sadly, because this is literally a one-of-one concept, we don’t get any time behind the wheel, but it’s likely a peppy little thing.
The G70 Track Day Special Concept’s interior shares nothing with a production-spec G70. It’s stripped-out and has a racing seat with a harness, an Alcantara steering wheel, and a roll cage with mounting points where your child would go. It looks ready-to-roll for a Genesis G70 spec racing series, although none currently exist. Interestingly, I was told Genesis motorsports events are being explored.
A preview of things to come
Genesis reps refused to acknowledge that this has anything to do with the M- and AMG-challenging Magma line that’s on its way. But the timing of this racy showcase suggests they’re prepping their audience for bigger things to come, and I’m here for it.
