FIA WEC 2015

The test day was a bit of a washout but it looks a bit ominous for Toyota being 4 seconds off the pace, and really bad for Nissan at 20+ seconds back and beaten by a lot of the P2s :(.
 
Ryan-3 said:
Not sure what's wrong with Toyota. Their aero package doesn't seem as good as Audi or Porsche and then they don't seem to have the power they do.
Click to expand...

I suspect that it is a combination of insufficient engine power compared to the Audi, insufficient hybrid power (and the inability to harvest enough) compared to the Porsche and lack of budget overall compared to both.
 
Given that Toyota's budget appears to be around $50M compared to a combined $500M for Audi / Porsche they certainly aren't taking it as seriously.

A re-evaluation of the BoP may help them later this season though.
 
That is quite a gap in budget. :eek:

They're involved in a few different motorsports, under Lexus in Super GT and they're soon to be in the WRC. Would be a shame - and stupid in my view - to just leave WEC as it starts to become interesting. But it also wouldn't be surprising if they do leave.
 
Porsche were in their first year and Audi got their calculations regarding the impact of BoP wrong.

Toyota also failed to make the jump up to the 8MJ class this year, which was one of their intentions, as they couldn't harvest enough energy through recovery systems that only used kinetic energy to make it worthwhile.
 
A wet sunday according to the weather reports, as well as a damp track in FP1. This year might just be extra special. :cool:

The flashing tail lights are off-putting but they are doing the job. The cars are far easier to spot, so driver visibility in bad conditions should hopefully stop another incident like Nakajima's.
 
So Toyota have looked at their poor start to 2015, sat down and evaluated their position in WEC, and decided to....

Stay in it and go for a new engine! Woot!

Toyota will swap to a new engine for its assault on next year's World Endurance Championship.

The Japanese manufacturer has announced that it will abandon its existing 3.7-litre normally-aspirated V8 powerplant for an engine of undisclosed configuration at the same time as confirming that it will switch from a super-capacitor to a battery energy-storage system.

Toyota Motorsport GmbH team director Rob Leupen told AUTOSPORT: "We will switch to a new engine and Japan is working hard on it already, but all we can say is that it will be petrol powered."

The team refused to confirm that the new motor will be a small-capacity turbo similar in concept to Porsche's two-litre V4.

TMG technical director Pascal Vasselon has previously explained that a turbo unit offers more consistency of performance over a range of conditions than a normally-aspirated engine.

Toyota will retain the twin-axle kinetic energy-retrieval systems of its existing TS040 HYBRID but move to battery storage to allow it to move into the highest subclass of hybrid power that allows for eight megajoules to be deployed over the Le Mans lap.

"We feel we have to be in the 8MJ class; you can do that with a super-capacitor, but there is a downside on weight," explained Leupen.

Toyota had planned to introduce battery storage next year and the new engine in 2017, but its performances in the opening two rounds of the WEC led to a decision to take the two steps at once.

"Now we have decided that we don't want two years of development and that we put everything together," said Leupen.

The 2016 Toyota, to be known as the TS050, is in the advanced stages of design and the first drawings will be released shortly to allow manufacturing to begin.

The new car will run for the first time in January, as the TS040 did this year.
Click to expand...

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/119439

I hope that whatever they do go for remains different to anything else out there. The diversity of the power units is one of the main attractions of WEC.

I wonder if they would consider a 1.6 litre V6 turbo... ;)
 
Skeeter said:
I hope that whatever they do go for remains different to anything else out there. The diversity of the power units is one of the main attractions of WEC.

I wonder if they would consider a 1.6 litre V6 turbo... ;)
Click to expand...


Good stuff :)

Yea definitely hope they come up with something different, love the idea of the different ways to achieve the same.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom