Toyota to CTS

[JamesJimmy]

Check it out. Can Busch/Winston Cup be far behind? What I don't understand is it sounds like they will be running a Tundra based V8. But this is an overhead cam engine, while NASCAR mandates pushrods, no? Also, you'd think it would be a bit small. Perhaps the rules are changing, or maybe they are just modifying it enough to fit. :confused:

[Speeddemon555]

TRD is working on the development of the pushrod engine to fit into the Nascar templates. It will be interesting how many teams will be going to the Tundra for next year.

[muggle not]

A crew guy for DEI told me that Toyota is scheduled to come to Winston Cup in 2006/07.

The Body Looks good it will be interesting to see the horsepower that the toyota will make.I think it will be VERY GOOD

[Speeddemon555]

Yes, Muggle Toyota will come into the Winston Cup series in '07. The Camry body style will be the preferred choice. Remember Dodge started the truck program in '95 and then elevated to Winston Cup in '01? Toyota is heading that way starting next year.

[Russfeld]

Im confused. They issued it the other day like it was 'news' but I remember a story about it in Autoweek months ago.

[rustyfan]

Toyota's entry into the CTS has been an ill-kept secret for years now, but it wasn't until this recent announcement that it became official.

[Russfeld]

ah okay, so we're about as surprised as if God issues a press release tomorrow that the sun is rising in the east

[muggle not]

Not actually, there are many things that can prevent it from happening until it becomes official and only then do the odds improve significantly.

[Missouri Mule]

I hope not. Toyota is not an American auto manufacturer.
I don't care if they are "assembled" here or not. It is still a foreign owned company.

[Russfeld]

So do you want NASCAR to be about the best drivers teams and manufacturers in the world, or just from one country out of 200?

[double00]

What in the hell is so "wrong" about Toyota being in NASCAR?
I didn't b**** & complain when they went to the Indy Racing League this year, or CART in'95. NASCAR just acts like they have the best drivers, teams, & manufacturers in the world. I say bring on the imports!

[Lee Janotta]

Uhm, guys, this isn't the Tundra motor... This is a brand new 358 ci PUSHROD V8 that TRD designed from a clean sheet of paper.

CTS will be their chance to get acquainted with NASCAR and work out the bugs in the car, then moving to Busch will allow them to bring teams onboard for the long haul and start getting some real performance out of the car, then they'll go into Winston Cup.

TRD is also building the chassis and bodies themselves, so they're viewing this more like sports cars, where they will build a complete car and sell it to privateer teams to campaign.

Toyota really are like a plague of locusts upon motorsport. They move from one series to another, driving up the cost of competing, eventually crushing the competition simply by outspending them, then they suddenly pack up and go home, or move onto another series. They did it to the World Rally Championship, to CART, and they're going to do it to the IRL and NASCAR.

[Russfeld]

Itll be interesting to see how Toyota deal with NASCAR's rules modification inseason and sometimes inweek

Considering how flustered they got in CART and how flakey they seem in IRL, will they even be around in 2007 for Cup?

[Missouri Mule]

Could be I need to find soemthing else to watch on Sundays.
As far as I am concerned NASCAR is an American Sport.
Whats next Peugeot and Porsche?

[gttouring]

Um hello- Fukuyama- drove for "ford" in winston cup- and a few winston west races- The motor was a ford at the instonwest venues- Toyota decided to test their later on- Fukuyama was a toyota driver in the jgtc in 98 (i believe) regardless he drove a factory Supra and he drove a toyota research motor in Winston cup-man o man Toyota is coming in a big way. NASCAR racing is an american sport but racing isn't-

[Buckshot Swede]

I vote NO imports in NASCAR.

[BootsOntheSide]

NASCAR fans should be worried about this. Not because Toyota is foreign, but because of the way it conducts itself in racing. They make massive investments that can't be matched, and pull out if the rules don't go their way. Their attempt at killing CART looks doomed to failure, but they have done some real damage.

[Russfeld]

I think they should be more worried about Toyota's budget, application to racing as an engineering exercise and not a marketing one, results, and technology.

[BSchneiderFan]

In what sense, precisely, did Toyota a) crush all opposition in the World Rally Championship, or b) escalate costs to an unsustainable level? WRC seems healthy enough to me.

I don't usually contribute to this thread because NASCAR isn't really my thing, but I have to say that I think Toyota's participation in the Winston Cup (which might not be the 'Winston' Cup by 2007) will be a breath of fresh air. Come on, boys - pushrod engines? You might as well have chariot racing. And so what if Toyota isn't American? Why should only American companies participate in NASCAR? (By the way, Dodge? Owned by the Germans.)

I accept NASCAR's immense popularity in the States and confess myself baffled by it. But I think more manufacturers in ANY series is a good thing, and if, perhaps, Toyota can drag NASCAR out of its Luddite, anti-technology mindset, then all the better. Roll on 2007.

[muggle not]

My worry is that Toyota will raise the cost of racing so that only a few teams are left. The smaller independents have been good for Nascar. Even the bigger teams will find it difficult to compete. Current sponsorships, I believe, range from about $8 million to $16 million and one at $20 million. It would not surprise me to see toyota raise the bar so that even the $16 million level teams could not compete. Are we looking at F1 style Nascar?

[Russfeld]

When you consider the kind of $$$ Toyota threw at Ganassi and Newman-Haas just to use their engines in CART, on top of the free engines they were giving them, on top of the sponsorship they were giving them; and then consider how they applied themselves to Le Mans and F1, the only competition Toyota would realistically have is NASCAR itself. Heck theyre building a new factory in NC *just* for their NASCAR operations.

[double00]

Good point about Dodge. Nobody was b****in & complaining when the Germans came in. BTW, didnt the *ahem* 'American' Series have races in Japan, a few years ago, Maybe giving 'domestic' manufacturers ideas?

[Russfeld]

NASCAR's very interested in getting an international foothold, they need Toyota almost as much as Toyota needs them

[double00]

They need that foothold because NASCAR's loosing its grip. If anyone saw the Rockingham race yesterday, the seats weren't sold out as usual (guess all the bandwagon fans found something else to watch) Also, not everybody buys a monte carlo, or tarus. Toyotas are sold in built & sold in america. The irony is GM/Ford/Daimler-Chrysler builds cars and parts in Mexico & Canada, and sells in america, care to explain?