The never ending Toyota return to Le Mans (LMP1) Saga

[nobster]

Good to see them with two cars, they can use both cars to gather data on track.
The more info they will have the better.

[TF110]

I don't see a reason not to contest the rest of the WEC with both cars. I'll be disappointed if that's not the case. I hope for a great showing in the coming days.

[gwyllion]

Toyota is expected to run two TS030 Hybrids and will use the opportunity to reveal a new major sponsor. The Japanese team’s driver line-ups are Wurz/Lapierrre/Nakajima in the N°7 prototype and Davidson/Buemi/Sarrazin in the N°8 sister car.

source: http://www.lemanslive.com/en/2012/05...mans-test-day/

Let me ruin the surprise. Total and Matmut are mentioned on the TMG motorhome

[Acid09]

Looks like Toyota has snatched up Total's Peugeot budget then

[gwyllion]

That should be a big help for the development of the car. Hopeful this will enable them to run 2 cars in the WEC.

Remember that Total used to fund the PSA motorsport program (Citroen WRC and Peugeot 908) with 30 million euro. See http://tentenths.com/forum/showthrea...14#post3015014

BTW Total is also the main sponsor of the Sebastian Loeb Oreca Nissan:

[Articus]

Don't count Toyota out.Honda pulled a fast one at the Indy 500. Didn't qualify but a single car in the 10. We didnt know that they had something dastardly in mind. They were using older engines in qualy only to release a new spec dynamite engine on race weekend that boasted superior power AND fuel mileage to the Chevy's. We all know the Japanese motor companies think alike!! Im not saying Toyota will be doing word fo word what Honda did but the essence is capable of being there.

I think they will surprise us.

[deggis]

Total: I suppose this is also a partnership... or was it with Peugeot?

The total logos on the Peugeots were surprisingly small compared to the amount of money involved (if correct information).

I'm hoping a revised livery.

[Acid09]

Well, remember that Peugeot was official called Team Peugeot Total...so they were the headline sponsor.

[chernaudi]

Originally Posted by Articus

Don't count Toyota out.Honda pulled a fast one at the Indy 500. Didn't qualify but a single car in the 10. We didnt know that they had something dastardly in mind. They were using older engines in qualy only to release a new spec dynamite engine on race weekend that boasted superior power AND fuel mileage to the Chevy's. We all know the Japanese motor companies think alike!! Im not saying Toyota will be doing word fo word what Honda did but the essence is capable of being there.

I think they will surprise us.

Performance balancing also helped Honda out with their newer spec engines with the turbocharger ruling that Indy Car officials made before the 500. Toyota won't get any BoP benefits heading into Le Mans, in part due to them not participating at Sebring or Spa, and in part because the ACO and FIA made no major changes after Spa.

Either Toyota has really been sandbagging in testing or they don't have the pace to challenge Audi right now. Of course, all we have is what they did in their first Paul Ricard test (a bit faster than what Rebellion did in Q there in '11), and the fact that with a "race" engine in their car at Aragon they were only about .5 of a second faster than the Dome S102.

As I said, either TMG have really been sandbagging in private testing (doubtful), or they're just not there yet in terms of performance. I think that we'll get some serious answers in a couple of days' time on where they really stand.

[Articus]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

Performance balancing also helped Honda out with their newer spec engines with the turbocharger ruling that Indy Car officials made before the 500. Toyota won't get any BoP benefits heading into Le Mans, in part due to them not participating at Sebring or Spa, and in part because the ACO and FIA made no major changes after Spa.

Performance balancing had nothing to do with Honda's performance. Honda had the new turbochargers on the cars during qualy and were thoroughly out motored.

They had been planning this engine upgrade for a while according to a speed article.

To sandbag is to actively detune the engine electronically etc...What they are doing could simply be running an old engine...That probably has more than 24 hours on it to test the engine durability. That could explain this engine issue they had recently. For sure they will bring the latest spec engine to LE Mans weekend similar to what Honda has done with Indy.

They'res no reason to bring new engines to the test day because most teams swap them out before the race again anyway.. Im not saying theyll dominate but they're looking good when suddenly they are bringing two cars to the test day.

[deggis]

Originally Posted by Acid09

Well, remember that Peugeot was official called Team Peugeot Total...so they were the headline sponsor.

Forgot that

[tyronnezx]

Originally Posted by Acid09

Looks like Toyota has snatched up Total's Peugeot budget then

i was hoping for Panasonic

[deggis]

A bit more blue on the other equipment so maybe the Total-featured livery will reflect this.

[Holt]

Originally Posted by Articus

Don't count Toyota out.Honda pulled a fast one at the Indy 500. Didn't qualify but a single car in the 10. We didnt know that they had something dastardly in mind. They were using older engines in qualy only to release a new spec dynamite engine on race weekend that boasted superior power AND fuel mileage to the Chevy's. We all know the Japanese motor companies think alike!! Im not saying Toyota will be doing word fo word what Honda did but the essence is capable of being there.

I think they will surprise us.

Honda's performance increase from qualifying to the race was indeed breathtaking.

Toyota may have a similar wild card up their sleeve. How so? We've seen Audi's hybrids and outisde of being reliable, they were pretty slow compared to the other R18s. Drivers complained about them.

Now its very possible Toyota has a better hybrid system for various reasons that those more mechanically knowledgeable then me can explain better.

So if Audi's hybrid system actually slows the car down, but Toyota's speeds them up...it could be interesting.

[TF110]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

Either Toyota has really been sandbagging in testing or they don't have the pace to challenge Audi right now. Of course, all we have is what they did in their first Paul Ricard test (a bit faster than what Rebellion did in Q there in '11), and the fact that with a "race" engine in their car at Aragon they were only about .5 of a second faster than the Dome S102.

They went a second faster than Rebellion's pole time from last year, with their interim car. At Aragon perhaps they weren't trying to set fast times as it's their first endurance test out in the new car? On another forum they speculated that they 'took it easy' because the walls were close, and keep in mind Peugeot crashed there before. A repeat of that would ruin their chances of fielding a car at LeMans.

About the Toyota though, the car was always a hybrid. So it's whole concept is around the hybrid. It's 'apart' of the car. Not saying the E-Tron isn't. But it is basically the same car as the Ultra. The Toyota is one car, all of the development was towards it with the hybrid being the big part of it. That might be a difference maker.

[gwyllion]

Originally Posted by Holt

So if Audi's hybrid system actually slows the car down, but Toyota's speeds them up...it could be interesting.

In http://www.86400.fr/articles/222-ral...ntage-au-mansq Ralf Jüttner explained that this was down to the track characteristics of Spa. Audi's simulations suggest that the hybrid R18 will have a much bigger performance advantage at Le Mans.

[nobster]

Looking at the blue colours on the trucks, might we see a red and a blue Toyota?
After all in 1992 they used different liveries as well.

[TF110]

Maybe different mirror colors, probably not different colored cars I'd think.

[deggis]

Well well:



This link was already in the test day thread: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...2.291763622911

[Javi]

Livery looks veeeery nice

[The Badger]

Oh well , thats massivily improved over the red one ..... like that .

Now they need this on it too !!!

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qLZCK7dYhV...nese_flag1.gif

[nobster]

Nice, indeed just as in the old days!

[the.cosmic.pope]

They really need to get rid of the lightning bolts in the blue/red. It looks so tacky.

[Acid09]

I like the Peugeot-style silver roof

[Peugeot908]

Originally Posted by Acid09

I like the Peugeot-style silver roof

Me to I am glad to see Sarrazin with Toyota even if it is only for Le Mans. Now they need to get Montagny. I was at least hoping Montagny would get in at Audi but Dr. Ullrich stated at PLM Montagny would never drive for him.

Montagny is one of the quickest drivers on the circuit and deserves better than an LMP2 ride.