One of the major complaints that Toyota fans have had with the brand over the past couple of decades is that the legendary Japanese automaker has been making nothing but boring cars. Sure, the Toyota 86 and, more recently, the GR Supra have been cool, but besides these two, the brand is known more for the everyday Corollas and Camrys than for sports cars. This is a pity because Toyota has been highly competitive at Le Mans and has the ability to produce something special. Fortunately, since revealing the Gazoo Racing GR Super Sport concept, Toyota has been working towards bringing the hypercar to life as a road-going version of the race car intended to compete in the new Le Mans hypercar class. New patents suggest that the company is getting closer to this goal.

The patent is for a canopy-like door and roof mechanism, which means that the production version of the Super Sport will feature a very unusual means of facilitating entry and exit to and from the car. It will open upwards and forwards and will have special latches to secure it in place, although the force of air pushing it down into place while driving should mean that there won't be any reason to worry about your hypercar suddenly turning into a convertible.

The only issues we predict with this setup are that climbing in and out in an Armani suit or Dior dress will be very difficult to achieve gracefully, and the rainy season will likely be a time to avoid visiting places that don't have undercover parking. Fortunately, a second patent addresses one of these issues by making allowance for a specific latch design that is intended to make entry and exit a little easier.

Further production details are still scarce, but the patents do at least confirm that the Super Sport will have an unusual door mechanism, and with only 20 required to be produced, you can be sure the Super Sport will be as close to the real race car as can be. From what Toyota has let slip, however, we expect the new hypercar to be capable of accelerating from 0-60 mph in 2.5 seconds. the sprint from 0-124 mph will also insanely quick, with an expected time of around seven seconds. This could be just what Toyota needs to capture our imaginations and create a new generation of fans for the brand.