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

[deggis]

http://lemansprototypes.over-blog.it/

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by JoestAEG

Olympics and Euro 2012 to answer your other question, media blackout for everything else in Europe.

I agree with that, scheduling anything against the Olympics is rather daft, if not suicidal.

[gwyllion]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

The front fenders are more blunt and much more drawn back towards the front wheels and form more of a Lola-esque shape to them. That, and those much larger dive planes, make more downforce. I think that Toyota added those extensions to the endplates to produce more downforce to balance out the changes to the nose without cranking tons of rear wing into the car.

It is no mystery that Toyota's new aero package produces more downforce that the Le Mans version.

What can you tell us on the new aero package?
Nicolas Lapierre: “It’s not the same philosophy as at Le Mans, and that’s normal since the tracks are different. We tested the evolution at MotorLand and the first impressions were positive. The Silverstone circuit, and the rest of the WEC circuits, require more downforce and that’s what we have. I hope we will be competitive, knowing that we can count on our hybrid technology, which we saw performed well at Le Mans.”

[TF110]

I wonder if the 'outboard wings' attach to the rear fender?

[MulsanneMike]

Originally Posted by TF110

I wonder if the 'outboard wings' attach to the rear fender?

Yes. The "shadow" endplate is probably interpreted as an extension of the bodywork (and it is attached to the rear fender, hence the freedom to make it as big as they like) and I would imagine the aero device that extends out of it is attached to that shadow endplate.

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by Victor_RO

I agree with that, scheduling anything against the Olympics is rather daft, if not suicidal.

They didnt exactly have full grandstands , did they .

Olympics on TV is fine , but not on every bloody channel !!!

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by MulsanneMike

Yes. The "shadow" endplate is probably interpreted as an extension of the bodywork (and it is attached to the rear fender, hence the freedom to make it as big as they like) and I would imagine the aero device that extends out of it is attached to that shadow endplate.

Is that a double endplate by any chance ?

[Japanese Samurai]

High mount rear fender?
https://p.twimg.com/A1D5DGWCMAAfxXa.jpg:large

[deggis]

http://www.dailysportscar.com/viewAr...AD86C048DE5E98

[The Badger]

Ok , now I really like that , I think .......

[CTD]

I'm surprised that Toyota got this through scrutineering, but i like the design, and hope Audi will make a similar design, which will lead us back to 200cm rear wings. (in the way that ACO drops the 160cm rear wing rule)

[deggis]

Originally Posted by CTD

I'm surprised that Toyota got this through scrutineering

Of course they must have asked for an OK beforehand.

which will lead us back to 200cm rear wings.

Need to see pics from the track or the car in action first, but I'm not sure it is visuallly that much better looking.

[gwyllion]

Toyota must have found a loophole in the rule book, because they are trying to make the rear wing wider than the allowed 160 cm. It will be interesting to see whether the loophole will be closed and/or whether Audi will copy the idea.

BTW The solution reminds a bit of the Audi R8 rear wing from 2004. See http://www.mulsannescorner.com/audir8-01-6.html

[Victor_RO]

It's slightly more reminiscent of the "additional" rear wings that F1 cars ran between mid-1983 and the end of 1984.

[gwyllion]

I just looked the timing data from the first practice session (available here).

Toyota is way down on top speed compared to Audi. Yet still they set similar lap times.

• Audi #2: 272 km/h
• Audi #1: 270.7 km/h
• Strakka #21: 265.4 km/h
• JRM #22: 265.4 km/h
• Rebellion #13: 263.4 km/h
• Toyota #7: 261.5 km/h
• Rebellion #12: 260.9 km/h

The sector times show the strengths of each car.

The R18 ultra was the fastest in sector 2, which contains the very fast corner sequence (Maggots, Becketts, Chapel).

Toyota dominates sector 3, where the hybrid system is activated twice (after turn 15 and turn 16). The R18 ultra loses almost 0.4 sec because it lacks a hybrid system.

[Rennen]

Originally Posted by The Badger

Was Davidsons car written off at Le Mans ?

Are you serious? After flipping in mid-air at over 150mph, then a 35G landing on it's left rear corner that prior to lift off had had it's wheel and suspension torn out!!!

[Rennen]

Originally Posted by Dead-Eye

He did drive a Toyota in F1 tyre testing for Pirelli, but I don't think that counts

What LMP teams require are ex F1 drivers who can deliver consistant fast lappery.

[TF110]

Originally Posted by gwyllion

I just looked the timing data from the first practice session (available here).

Toyota is way down on top speed compared to Audi. Yet still they set similar lap times.

• Audi #2: 272 km/h
• Audi #1: 270.7 km/h
• Strakka #21: 265.4 km/h
• JRM #22: 265.4 km/h
• Rebellion #13: 263.4 km/h
• Toyota #7: 261.5 km/h
• Rebellion #12: 260.9 km/h

The sector times show the strengths of each car.

The R18 ultra was the fastest in sector 2, which contains the very fast corner sequence (Maggots, Becketts, Chapel).

Toyota dominates sector 3, where the hybrid system is activated twice (after turn 15 and turn 16). The R18 ultra loses almost 0.4 sec because it lacks a hybrid system.

Lapierre had a 32.450 in S1- Audi's best was 32.326 (E-Tron)
Lapierre had a 44.286 in S2- Audi's best was 44.103 (Ultra)
Lapierre had a 29.117 in S3- Audi's best was 29.299 (E-Tron)

Toyota's combined best sectors would result in a 1:45.853
Audi's combined best sectors (for the E-tron) result a 1:45.763

.090 seconds between them in terms of ultimate lap time (from P1).

[TF110]

Originally Posted by Rennen

Are you serious? After flipping in mid-air at over 150mph, then a 35G landing on it's left rear corner that prior to lift off had had it's wheel and suspension torn out!!!

They rebuilt it and sent it to Japan as a museum piece for Toyota The chassis was still intact.

Originally Posted by TF110

Lapierre had a 32.450 in S1- Audi's best was 32.326 (E-Tron)
Lapierre had a 44.286 in S2- Audi's best was 44.103 (Ultra)
Lapierre had a 29.117 in S3- Audi's best was 29.299 (E-Tron)

Toyota's combined best sectors would result in a 1:45.853
Audi's combined best sectors (for the E-tron) result a 1:45.763

.090 seconds between them in terms of ultimate lap time (from P1).

Practice 2 best times were

Nakajima S1- 32.353 (TS030) Fassler S1- 31.884 (E-Tron) Kristensen S1- 32.118 (Ultra)
Alex Wurz S2- 44.506 (TS030) Fassler S2- 44.004 (E-Tron) Kristensen S2- 43.841 (Ultra)
Nakajima S3- 29.228 (TS030) Fassler S3- 29.328 (E-Tron) Kristensen S3- 29.363 (Ultra)

Toyota's combined best sectors would result in a 1:46.087
Audi's combined best sectors (for the E-tron) result a 1:45.216
Audi's combined best sectors (for the Ultra) result a 1:45.322

Taking Toyota's best sectors from the morning practice and Audi's best from the afternoon .637 seconds between the E-Tron and Toyota, and .531 seconds between the Ultra and Toyota.

[Articus]

Whatever sand bags and ECU limits Audi is running I hope they keep them for the race! The Privateer HPD's are close! An the Toyota will be right there or even quicker.

[deggis]

Originally Posted by TF110

They rebuilt it and sent it to Japan as a museum piece for Toyota The chassis was still intact.

According to...? => http://tentenths.com/forum/showpost....postcount=3937

12-03 must Le Mans #8 and according to above, it's still in Cologne.

[gwyllion]

The times from practice 2 are not that useful because Toyota's hybrid system was not working properly.

BTW Some more pictures of the TS030 double end plates can be found on http://www.toyotahybridracing.com/fa...m=1&gallery=47

[deggis]

^

Purely visually: cool but still weird (then again the old full sized wings look so weird too now).

[gwyllion]

Some more information about the Toyota rear wing:

Certainly, this was a surprising answer.
“It’s just, I would say, a clever understanding of the regulations. We must have openings on the wheels, so we have designed a wheel arch that means, when the hole is open, it looks like that. Simple. It is just doing things differently. When you open the wheelarch, it has the shape you see. The ‘winglets’ you see are the rearward part of the wheelarch. Nothing prevents you from adding a second endplate.”

Does the winglet touch the main rear wing’s endplate?
“Yes, they touch. The wheelarch is connected to the endplate. You have the rear wing, with its endplates, then the wheelarch, then a second endplate. It is one structure, all across the rear end of the car. We have just been playing with how wide the trailing gauge of the wheelarch is. It is unusual, but legal. A clever reading of the rule, doing things which are possible.”

source: http://lendurance.co.uk/2012/08/on-a...scal-vasselon/

[deggis]

2nd most interesting Q&A after that ^:

Will there be further testing this season?

“At the moment we just plan to race. We do not plan test anymore this year. We will run the same three drivers in #7.”

It is pretty tight schedule though...