[WEC] Toyota LMP1 Discussion

[TF110]

Looks like the high downforce package has the LM-spec front end, unless thats not the bodywork theyre running.
http://twitter.com/Toyota_Hybrid/sta...41208111161346

[chernaudi]

Don't know if they plan on actually using it yet, but Toyota have their LM noses on hand:



Interesting to see that they're using the splitter feet to hold the nose onto it's dolly.

Also, Mulsanne Mike says that Toyota are running a front end tuning vane on the front hub/brake duct area that's quite a bit different from how Audi and Porsche have approached it.

As for the nose assembly, it seems to me that Toyota are possibly pulling a 2011 Peugeot--run the full sprint package once, sprint nose goes into a dark corner, and front aero focuses on a minor variation of the LM nose.

[MyNameIsNigel]

Any noticeable change at the back ?

[TF110]

Like the motor fan illustrated story alluded to, racer.com has a write up on Toyota's 2015 car.

[TF110]

Toyota's PR. Interesting to hear how good the car was in the wet. Should be a great race from them.

Mike Conway may be racing more this season it seems. And possibly full time next year? Another thing to keep in mind, Wurz and Lapierre haven't driven this track before.

[Acid09]

Conway being hinted at possibly becoming a full-time driver in 2015 and a third car apparently being somewhat unlikely points at one of the drivers may leave for Nissan as rumored.

[TF110]

If they let someone go, itd be sad. I cant think of any driver they would drop. So I dont believe that rumor. If it does happen, Id say Sarrazin. But hes still useful as a test driver for their rally project.

[Simmi]

Someone needs to remind Toyota how much money they have. More signs the third Le Mans entry maybe won't happen:

Toyota’s Pascal Vasselon revealed that a third Toyota TS040 Hybrid entry for next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans is currently unlikely due to budget issues. He said it’s not an option to divert budget for the development of the car. “No one is interested by three slow cars,” he said.

http://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/c...race-notebook/

Also a bit in there about Toyota drivers being approached by Nissan.

[Gingers4Justice]

Originally Posted by Simmi

Someone needs to remind Toyota how much money they have. More signs the third Le Mans entry maybe won't happen:



http://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/c...race-notebook/

Also a bit in there about Toyota drivers being approached by Nissan.

Someone might also remind Vasselon that they were beaten by slower cars at Le Mans.

What's that one about the tortoise and the hare again?

[J Jay]

Isn't this about the time where we're reminded how Toyota were clearly the harder/better/faster/stronger car, their drivers are obviously the best around and that the loss was only down to extraordinarily unfortunate circumstance and in no way the fault of TMG?

Well I'd agree with the last part at least - but sportscar racing isn't purely an RoI exercise. I bet Ulrich is pretty interested in three slow cars when one of them almost always wins...

[TF110]

Theres no excuse for Toyota to not have a bigger budget but for the head company not wanting to expand it. Its almost like they should approach other areas within Toyota for budget help. If it were that easy theyd have three cars. But obviously there are people within TMC that dont agree the need to have another car. That happens within any company. They need to win the championship, that may nod more heads instead of shake them.

[Japanese Samurai]

According to Nikkei channel,
Yoshiaki Kinosh!ta (TMG) says that they did not need to equip the sensor broken in 2014 LM24.
Although the sensor on the front motor broke down, FIA said that they did not need to equip this sensor after the race.
(However, FIA had said before the race that they had to equip this sensor.)
http://channel.nikkei.co.jp/wec/tops...9wec_us02/756/

[TF110]

Whoa, thats bad. Must have been a miscommunication or something, right?

[Japanese Samurai]

Toyota was presuppose three sensors must be equipped.
However, only two sensors were duty.
The excessive sensor broke down to the ironic thing.

[TF110]

That truly is unfortunate. Of anything to fail it was a sensor they didnt need.

[Gingers4Justice]

It's really creepy watching the on-board of the moment it happened. The car came out of Arnage, flashed its lights to tell the GT car ahead that it was coming up, and then the engine dies - and then a few seconds later, so does the camera.

[Simmi]

Like something out of the Blair Witch Project.

[deggis]

In Racer.com interview Vasselon said no further development on 2014 car (I guess he means that besides the parts that have been already designed/made/planned):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvPNboUDco4

[deggis]

Originally Posted by Simmi

Someone needs to remind Toyota how much money they have. More signs the third Le Mans entry maybe won't happen:



http://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/c...race-notebook/

Also a bit in there about Toyota drivers being approached by Nissan.

This budget issue is becoming such a deja vu. For Vasselon, TMG and the racing team itself, it is a perfectly good excuse, but it is inexcusable how 2nd largest manufacturer in the world can not match its competitors in investment for the fourth year in a row despite good results. Or maybe the results have been too good.

It is becoming easier to imagine an upcoming boardroom meeting where they pull the plug because of their own cheapskateness.

[deggis]

Originally Posted by Chiana

The fact that they were only able to run 1 car in quite few of the 12-13 races while team like Rebellion had the cabability to run cars both in the WEC and ALMS simultaneously goes to tell you how poor their budget really was. And if it's two cars for LM next year again when everyone else ups their game, still is...

That's a bit flawed comparison. I don't think it was ever question of "not being able to run" two cars in WEC or three this year at LM, but how well prepared they could run them... clearly not well enough. If you constantly lack spare parts and personnel then you drop to the level of a privateer, and wouldn't a single car that is 100% prepared.

[divxx]

Wow, the season's only half over, the competition is intense, and they've stopped working on this year's car. I wonder if it's like Indycar (specifically with Honda), where the higher ups only want to hear about the one big race, with the season championship being of low importance.

It's such a shame for the team who have put together the best car for this year. Though I suppose there's some sense in that from a marketing --if not sporting, perspective. After all, the 500 and 24hrs have and will always be the same and the winner can make a bunch of full-page ads the next day, while series built around them can change names, number of races, points system, quality/quantity of competition, cease to exist for a few years, etc...

[chernaudi]

It also has to be remembered that Audi and now Porsche probably are largely in development freeze mode for the 2014 cars unless it's something they want to use on the 2015 cars, but a lot of that too is done in private testing. That's nothing unusual, even for Toyota to a degree.

Now if Audi and Porsche were likely to bring new stuff with them every race, especially if the new items are an improvement over the old, then I'd worry. The #8 Toyota at COTA for sure was competitive and should've been fighting for the win if not for the messed up tire deal and the rainstorm.

I'd be more worried about the #7--that car seems to be a bit wishy washy in terms of performance, because when they've been fast, they've gotten worse tire wear and probably fuel mileage than the #8, and at COTA, they were really no where after both Audis got by it, and it just fell off the radar.

[TF110]

That can be attributed to setup, different driving styles etc. Not a car issue. Theyre probably like for like, but the #8 crew may have more cohesive setup directions with the feedback of the drivers.

I doubt stopping development on the current car is a huge deal. Its still plenty fast enough and they just came with a new high downforce package. Looking at the stats and performance from the #8, it had the fastest lap of the race/ pole, fastest stint and highest top speed of the weekend! Should bode well for Fuji.

[Maelochs]

In a way it is good that the teams stop developing the current car halfway through. With budgets being so much more important nowadays, it seems, the ongoing and expensive development wars are the chief obstacle to having more factory teams.

I can see some tweaks and such, but running basically the same car for half a season doesn't seem like such a bad idea—particularly if the car is pretty good already. Audi seems to have solved its snap-oversteer issue and is winning races; Toyota is obviously fast ... only Porsche really needs more work, and as bad as they have been, focusing everything on the all-new 2015 car makes the most sense.

Audi and Toyota have every expectation of winning if their cars and drivers hold up and stay lucky. Why not focus on preparation and let development focus on next season? These teams have built good cars, now they can race them.

[TF110]

Teams press release with driver quotes. Not much joy from this race but some positives looking forward!