In the autumn of 1968, Team Toyota boss Kono and Yamaha general manager Yasukawa attended the 24 Hours of Le Mans as guests of Porsche. Their picture appeared in the local newspapers after the race, as the headline asked: "Will we see a Japanese manufacturer in next year's race?"

That wasn't just speculation. Over fifteen years before they ultimately made their first entry at Le Mans, the top men at Toyota's motorsports division in conjunction with Yamaha were developing a car built to FIA Group 6 Sports Prototype regulations, with the goal of entering it in the 1969 World Sportscar Championship. The three-litre Toyota V8 61E engine was already compliant with the new regulations for the category, and they looked to the Porsche 908 as a reference for their new car.

On 12 February 1969, Fukuzawa was taking part in a private test session, driving an undisclosed closed-cockpit prototype with the 61E engine installed. At 11:45 AM local time, Fukuzawa's car lost control at the end of a straightaway, swerved off to the right, and crashed into a metal signpost. The car then skidded off an embankment, rolled over, and caught fire. Fukuzawa died instantly of head injuries sustained upon impact with the iron signpost. He was 25 years old.

Toyota did not provide photographs of the accident vehicle to local authorities, citing confidential trade secrets. The accident vehicle's remains were disposed of after the accident, and photographs of a different car were given to local police for the investigation. Toyota then stated that the accident was caused by driver error. Fukuzawa's family would file a lawsuit against Toyota, to clear his son's name, charging them with negligence and obstructing the investigation into Fukuzawa's accident, while claiming that a design flaw on the accident vehicle was the cause of the accident. After a twelve-year legal battle, the Fukuzawa family were awarded ¥61,000,000 in damages in a 1981 settlement.

The cause of the accident was never revealed, and the accident vehicle was never identified. There are two long-standing theories that the prototype was either a redeveloped version of the original Toyota 7 415S/474S, or a reworked version of the BRE-developed JP6 prototype, which initially was meant to be Toyota's second entry for Le Mans, in the 2-liter class, using the inline-six from the 2000GT as its powerplant.

Toyota had also intended to enter the North American Can-Am series, but the deaths of works drivers Sachio Fukuzawa and Minoru Kawai - Kawai was killed on 26 August 1970 at Suzuka, the very day Toyota’s board approved the move into American racing - combined with the resulting negative publicity and ensuing scandal, ultimately brought the project to a premature end.