|
I went to TAS Friday. From what I understand, the Prius is largely based on the Corolla and there are big TRD stickers on it. Per regulations, GT300 does not accommodate works outfits so apr is the shop front, much as R&D Sports is the Subaru entrant. I expect Toyota to be heavily involved in that project. The shared parts with the road going Prius are related to the hybrid system. And Panasonic, who builds batteries for Toyota hybrid cars, is the main sponsor. If it looks like a works effort and sounds like a works effort...
The driver pair is Morio Nitta and Koki Saga. They were each on one of the apr cars last year. As Yuji Kunimoto looks like he will be drafted to GT500, this leaves 2 seats for new TDP guys on the #74 while Nitta and Saga will do the grueling development work on the Prius. This hybrid setup is a huge endeavor and the car is bound to have a difficult start. I hope they don't end having to give it up as Subaru did with the 4WD on the Legacy.
I wonder how much feedback on the hybrid system there will be between that project and the LMP1 car, presumably a completely different setup. I also wonder why they did not try to go with the KERS system tested by GTA at the end of 2010. Because they wanted to stay within Toyota's own tech, probably, to be able to use it as marketing.
It was cool to the the Endless livery on a Super GT car back, as it was, on a different note, to see the multicolored HKS livery back on a racing car, alas a D1GP drift machine. Generally speaking, I felt there was an upbeat mood throughout the TAS, like a gradual return to the better times of the car industry in Japan, with many big names back again on their own, Mugen, HKS, Trust...
The driver of the HKS Hachiroku will be NOB Taniguchi, returning to D1GP. I was surprised that his name did not pop up during the december testing in GT500, because he is definitely worth a GT500 drive, but that may be the reason. It would be difficult to do both probably. It might be less involving to do it in GT300, as Max Orido proved last season.
|