The story of Gazoo Racing is more dramatic than I thought. This should be a movie.

Definitely got a little misty eyed listening to this. You can really understand the passion that Toyoda and Naruse-san had for cars through James's words.

"Naruse-san, we have finally come back to the Nürburgring with the new Supra." Damn near shed a tear. Amazing story and I hope the GR brand continues.

I can respect a company where the CEO himself is out in the heat, winning races with the cars they develop.

"Naruse-san we have finally come back to the Nürburgring with the new Supra." - Akio Toyoda I felt that..

“Little bigger, little fatter. But so are we” I felt that.

I work at a Toyota plant and was always curious about the "GR" badge. Now I have a more profound respect for the GR lineup and for the CEO of my company. Great story can't wait to see what he has in store for the world.

I'm a lifelong fan of Honda and former employee at one of their factories, but even I wholeheartedly support Gazoo Racing.

Never in my life would I admire an executive at a car company. We need more people like Akio Toyoda-San

I was wondering why Toyota was all of a sudden producing amazing sports cars, after decades of boring cars. This video’s explanation is amazing!

After watching this video I don’t care what anyone says, Toyota is a legendary company with an amazing CEO that is there for us enthusiasts. Thanks Donut!

this was an absolute masterpiece of an episode. Thank you guys for all that you do. in a state that hates cars so much, you bring joy with car history and entertainment

this episode was a lot more emotional than I thought it’d be- Toyota has quite a history!

James is a good storyteller, i didn't know anything about GR's history, Akio-san, and Naruse-san, but after this video, both amazing men are heroes to me. I even have a hole in my heart now knowing such legendary driver was no longer in this world.

Can we just appreciate the sheer level of research these guys do

Man, the Gazoo Racing story is anime af. It’s awesome seeing Toyota get back into the swing of things and it’s great seeing the insight into their recent direction. As a previous Celica GT4 owner, I’m pumped for the new Corolla GR.

i actually think this episode is wholesome especially when you see president of a company that actually care and try to make great car and all the effort that he went through with his mentor

To this day I still use Morizo as my name in certain sim races 😂 loving all this Japanese inspired content

This dude is like a real life car super hero. Rips off his business suit to have a racing suit under it, jumps out of his century right into his LFA

Honestly, I had a beige 2001 toyota avalon and that shit was amazing. Loved the soft seats and extremely comfortable to drive. We got it when I was in third grade and I ended up driving it for my first 3 years of college up to 240k miles. What a car.

That quote after he won the race in the new Supra sent chills down my spine. I can’t imagine how he felt after that. 😭

I think James wiped away a tear at the end there. Honestly such a great storyteller and so passionate. Love what you guys are doing!!

I'm so happy to know that the history behind GR is filled with so much love and dedication, I am even more proud to own my 2020 Supra. ❤️

this was really well produced, amazing job guys. Proud to support y'all

This is why I love Toyota more than any other car brands nowadays, the heritage, the commitment and the passion of a person behind it, even the CEO. Well done toyota, you deserve to having a book called 'A Toyota Way'

A person with a 'nurmeister' title, and its given by other drivers from other company,, is no joke... Hats off to u Naruse san.. 🙏

James is so passionate in this video. NGL, I got teary eyed. I can feel his excitement over the fact that Toyota is coming back with a vengeance. RIP Naruse-san.

You can totally hear James getting a little choked up while telling the story. Which makes this so much more authentic. Awesome job

Gotta love the honor in their culture. Carrying on his tutors name and image in a badge on their cars. Its amazing the dedication and effort that they out into their vehicles and on top of that, they're cheap enough for everyone to own and the craftsmanship makes them last forever as well. Amazing.

I love it when James talks about japanese people he says 'san' after their name. The details are exquisite.

Quality video, really interesting, never knew there was such a back story! What legend’s both these guys are! Love the vids here in the UK mate! 👍

Anyone who says Up to Speed videos are too long is an attention-span-of-a-goldfish-having pleb who knows nothing about creative automotive content. Don't be afraid to go big, Donut. Your fans are behind you.

This will be my favourite Donut Episode ever. What a masterpiece

This was such a heart warming and inspirational story. Absolutely nailed this one James (and writers).

Is it not weird this story almost made me cry. That was fucking flame broskii. Felt like you were tearing up delivering it. Definitely would love to see a donut movie on Naruse and Akio, what with the kickass delivery you guys have come up with? Why not?

That was great. Super informative. You should get awards for this series. So in-depth!

Honestly an executive that races professionally and makes cute webcomics under an alter ego named after a sustainability mascot is absolutely amazing.

As someone who works for Toyota I get an odd sense of pride hearing the term "Toyota Way" being used in a positive light. Thank you James.

Damn... I am looking at my IS500 and LC500 soooo differently now!!! Speechless and honored ❤❤❤

Props you you all, love your work. Great to see you spreading the knowledge and a broader world view.

Literally crying at work watching this episode, and I work in auto parts. Thanks for delivering this inspiring tale James

I already wanted a new Corolla GR before watching this video, but getting this history behind it made that desire grow by 100 fold. Thank you for this video.

I am lucky enough to own a GR Yaris and can say it is an absolutely brilliant car - the four wheel drive and wide wheel base gives it so much grip. Not sure how the GR Corolla will turn out because it is quite a bit larger and heavier but I am sure it will be a fantastic car. Everything in the GR Yaris is so well balanced...

The emotions James will evoke by just narrating a story are amazing I started to she'd tears at the end 😅😅😅😅

"It's a little bigger and a little fatter but so are we" had me rolling! Love the video guys! Great job!

Damn, that quote with the Supra at the end of the video got my eyes watering..r.I.p Hiromu Naruse 🙏🏻 #nurbomeister

I love that yall tell these emotional stories and have no fear sharing how you feel with a lil bit of tears. Real men show emotion!!!! It adds so much feeling to a heartfelt story ❤❤❤

been a long time since I enjoyed watching YT so much. thanks👊🏻 both you and Dan rock🤟🏻

Absolutely one of the the best Donut videos ever!! Whoever did the research and script get's a hat tip from me. If Toyota can bring a bit of Mazda or BMW fun to drive to their legendary quality they will truly be producing the best production vehicles.

Donut Media is the channel i dint know i needed untill i found it … and now as a creator the production quality is so inspirational as well … Much Love to the Donut Team 🔥💯❤️

Loved this video! Gained so much more respect for Toyota and Donut. And for real, this should definitely be a Movie!

Toyota is Gold. Glad that they have such a passionate team.

Damn, this really feels like one of the up to speed episodes from back in the old days, very good! Keep at it James!

Always been a toyota fan, but this has given me a deeper appreciation for them as a whole

This is by far the best video Donut Media has ever done! Even the story was perfect for this channel!

Love this video! and even looked like you got emotional at the end witch it made the video and the story even better.. thank you ❤️

I've always thought Gazoo Racing was dumb name for their "M" division, now i have newfound respect.

When you see passion in your work and someone passionate in that work, you become passionate. We all need bosses like Morizo. Period

Beautiful video. Thanks so much for a well put together video. You and your team has worked hard to remember a great man who was very influential to TOYOTA

Donut Media. The only channel makes me have tears in my eyes...love you guys. 🤗

I love how tomorrow we will see the GR Corolla, Toyota’s GR brand is on a roll and I’m loving every second of it

James is seriously the best part of this channel. Which says a lot since this channel is absolutely INCREDIBLE.

Alot of passion put into this. Nice work 👏

Great video, well researched, & very entertaining. Thanks and keep it up.

Fun fact: Mr. Toyota's philosophy of Genchi-genbutsu(現地現物) was so strong that at one point, he car-jacked Toyota trucks when he came across one at a crossing to ask about how the company could improve its logistics.

That was a much more heartwarming story than I had expected. Awesome to see Toyoda’s enthusiasm for racing/driving and love of cars, even as a CEO. Naruse-san would be incredibly proud of what they’ve accomplished and how far GR has come. This video makes me even more excited for the GRMN Supra.

This is my favorite Up To Speed yet. I love Donut!

DUDE.. Toyota and Lexus are hands down my favorite car manufacturers in the world. I have not been aware of the history of Gazoo but thank you so much dude for illustrating it so beautifully I literally shed tears at the end of the video. It's amazing how one small interaction between an enthusiast in the company and the president sparked a brand new generation of Toyota vehicles. Reigniting the passion and giving drivers all across the world a reason to dream on.

Damn, yet ANOTHER Donut video making me emotional about something I didn’t even know I cared about. Bravo James and the writers at Donut. 👏🏼

This is already my favorite Donut episode to date, superb job delivering the story James. R.I.P. Naruse-san (I've heard about his story in relation to Akio-san previously, but I never get tired of hearing it!).

I need you to know that I watched this on Snapchat, and loved the video so much that I had to come here to hit like, comment, and subscribe over on UKposts. I literally got a bit watery-eyed. What a great video. Thank you for sharing Naruso's story with us =)

"dont drive to win, drive to learn." thats one of the best quote i've ever heard in my entire life.

I own a GR Supra. The car truly has a special essence when you drive it! Now I have the full story as to why!

*_So glad Gazoo is still up. Legends never die._*

I picked up a GR Corolla back in January. I never really looked too deep into Gazoo Racing, but after watching this, I definitely have more respect for the GR team. Feels great knowing my daily driver was developed by a team of enthusiasts

Turned this on and then started doing an expense report for work and just listened to it. GREAT storytelling!

As part of Toyota’s effort to develop hydrogen technology and explore options to keep the internal combustion engine relevant, Toyota put together a team under the Rookie Racing banner (Rookie being the name of Akio’s pet dog) and raced with a Hydrogen engine powered Corolla Sport called the Corolla H2 Concept. It has a hydrogen fuel tank from the Mirai and a modified engine from the GR Yaris in the Corolla Hatchback chassis. They raced it along side a modified GR Supra the team entered as well for the first time in 2021 in Japan’s premier endurance race series, Super Taikyu. Akio was aware of the public’s fear about the perceived dangers of hydrogen. So to prove to them that hydrogen is safe and not as dangerous as people think they are, he (Morizo) personally raced the Corolla H2. At the 24 Hours of Fuji, Morizo in the Corolla H2 competing in the special non-homologation ST-Q class, crossed the finish line along side it’s GR Supra teammate. As a car enthusiast and Toyota fan, watching that moment live, I got teary eyed seeing how much Toyota and it’s badass CEO are so committed to making fun to drive, ever better cars and it definitely shows today with Toyota Gazoo Racing. I am so excited what future holds for the company and the brand.

The fact that Naruse-san has been known as the Meister of the Ring Possibly on the same reign as Stefan Bellof and Sabine Schmidt *He Definitely deserve a tribute to the highest degree. And that is to win the N24 with GR Supra*

Great showcase of the GR brand and the meaning behind. You guys did amazing putting this together and have gained a new follower. I tip my hat to Donut.

Phenomenal video. I have far more respect for Toyota and Gazoo racing now that I know a bit more about their history. I genuinely enjoyed and appreciate this video, Donut. Thanks Guys.

I will always hold out hope that one day Toyota returns to F1 given their experience with hybrid engines and being pretty good at other motorsports

Toyota a company that has their own philosophy. Imagine if all companies had ethics.

This is fantastic and it even made me get a little emotional at the end there. How exciting the Supra is back!!!! Also I just recently found this channel and I am already a huge fan!! Great content. Thank you all

Great comprehensive Video on the GR back ground!

This really came into a beautiful scene today at Formula Drift with Ryan Tuerck and that GR Corolla. And hey I cannot express enough how much of an experience not only being there was, but for meeting you guys as well. Jeremiah, Zach, yourself James, and your buddies. You are all incredible people. Thank you for giving us the chance to just chat it out. Good luck with your upcoming ventures Jeremiah, good luck to you Zach for all you do, good luck to you James on the success of the channel and for all of your friends, family, and partners! “Keep the MK3s alive!”

Super excited for the GR Corolla announcement - great timing btw 😉

Well-made video and very entertaining to watch. Much appreciated for the content! Learned a few things about GR lol should be used for schools in the automotive industry history lessons 😂

dude the production quality on these videos is insane!

This is straight up one of my favorite videos ever. I don't even know who Naruse is, but that his death hit me hard. I almost cried. Also, I hope what Toyota is doing right now would be a slap in the face for other Japanese Car Company to wake up. I can feel a new era of Japanese Sports Car to start.

With the new GR Corolla coming out, I finally figured out why it looked so cool from knowing the history behind Gazoo Racing. Loved this episode! My favorite episode as well!

OUTSTANDING video bro! You gotta have nothing but respect for a guy like that. Live on GR racing!!!! RIP Naruse

Why do you always bring me to tears?!?! Great job 👏

Dude we appreciate your passion for cars, driving and it’s history. Never thought I’d wipe away a couple tears watching one of your videos. Thanks for sharing this with us.

Im kinda sad that TRD is gonna be discontinued but GR looks pretty badass to be the replacement

That statement at the end gave me chills. So good!

Dude, you are fkn awesome. Your whole delivery of this story was incredibly inspiring and I'm going to "stay tuned" to whatever else you have to say. Peace.

Toyota is easily my favorite car company ever, thank you James for this great episode. Amazing story

I see a lot of the Yaris GR's here in Ireland where they've very much become the Glanza V of my youth, relatively cheap to insure as stock and relatively easy to mod to insane levels of performance.

I just bought the 2022 GR86 this past weekend. I am really proud learning this about the GR brand. have a great day!

Love you guys. Thanks for making videos!