Don't know how I managed to miss this when it was announced a couple of weeks ago. The ACO announced this by rolling out the Toyota 94CV from their museum (see above)

Toyota are fielding a petrol/hybrid LMP1 Sports Prototype in next years Le Mans 24 Hour race. They have enlisted the aid of the highly respected Hughes de Chaunac's ORECA race team to run the car. Its not an ORECA chassis but one which has been designed and built by Toyota's TMG organisation in Cologne, Germany.

Must be the year to take my GT-Four to Le Mans to celebrate the return of Toyota, although realistically its probably a learning year for them.

_________________
Don
GT4DC Chairman
1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205WRC JDM 269bhp @ 0.9bar
1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four Special GT 590bhp @ 1.8bar
1989 Van Diemen RF88/89 Formula Ford 1600
2008 Nissan Patrol GU 3.0L ZD30DDTi 154bhp

That museum piece still looks like a better aero proposition than the Aston

Lol Steve

_________________
GT4DC Events Co-ordinator
1996 ST205 UK

Edited for accuracy
According to Steve every car looks like a focus

_________________
JP
GT4DC Treasurer

Grey St185 RC
Silver BMW E46 M3
Multicolour yawn Honda VFR400
Silver Honda Civic Type-R

I'll have to try and make sure my car is all finished and back on the road by June then.

_________________
GT4DC Events Co-ordinator
1996 ST205 UK

First spy shots of Le Mans Toyota LMP1 Hybrid running at Paul Ricard courtesy of Toyota GB. Apologies for the quality. I guess they were taken through a hedge with a long lens. Hopefully we will get some better ones next week when the official photos are released.

Very sad to hear Peugeot have pulled out of Le Mans and the World Endurance Championship with immediate effect allegedly to concentrate on car sales

_________________
Don
GT4DC Chairman
1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205WRC JDM 269bhp @ 0.9bar
1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four Special GT 590bhp @ 1.8bar
1989 Van Diemen RF88/89 Formula Ford 1600
2008 Nissan Patrol GU 3.0L ZD30DDTi 154bhp

Can't work out how to post it so here's a link to one of the articles at least:

http://www.racedepartment.com/?attachment_id=3717

source - racedepartment.com

Looks nice, although at this angle it looks slightly ducknosed. But a second entry? Bravo!

Still smarting somewhat from Puegeout's departure, but hopefully by the time Porsche get involved again the Toyota Hybrid's will be at least challenging Audi. Might actually make it over there myself by then too.

Loads more info and pics/videos available at the new Toyota web site here: http://www.toyotahybridracing.com

It's great to see Toyota do something different rather than another diesel. Super Capacitors on all four wheels even although the regulations say you can't deploy the regenerative power to all four wheels at the same time. Deploying the power at different points on the circuit via front or rear wheels left or right bias could 'help' the handling quite a bit. Torsion bars instead of springs etc. The petrol engine is a brand new engine not the Super GT derived unit which won the unofficial LMP1 petrol race last year in the Rebellion Lola/Toyota.

I wonder if ORECA have picked up a number of ex-Peugeot 908 people after Pug announced their shock withdrawal from Le Mans last week? This might partly explain why they can run a second car now

Technical Specifications
Designation: TS030 HYBRID
Type: Le Mans Prototype (LMP1)
Bodywork: Carbon fibre composite
Windscreen: Polycarbonate
Gearbox: Transversal with 6 gears sequential
Gearbox casing: Aluminium
Driveshafts: Constant velocity tripod plunge-joint driveshafts
Clutch: Multidisc
Differential: Viscous mechanical locking differential
Suspension: Independent front and rear double wishbone, pushrod-system
Springs: Torsion bars
Anti roll bars: Front and rear
Steering: Hydraulically assisted
Brakes: Dual circuit hydraulic braking system, mono-block light-alloy brake calipers front and rear
Discs: Ventilated front and rear in carbon
Rims: Magnesium forged wheels
Front rims: 14.5 x 18 inch
Rear rims: 14.5 x 18 inch
Tyres: Michelin radial
Fuel capacity: 73 litres
Powertrain: TOYOTA HYBRID System – Racing (THS-R)
Engine: 90° V8 normally aspirated engine
Fuel: Petrol
Engine Capacity: 3.4l
Valves: 4
Air restrictors: 1 x 43.3mm
Capacitor: Nisshinbo
Front Hybrid Motor: Aisin AW
Rear Hybrid Motor: DENSO

_________________
Don
GT4DC Chairman
1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205WRC JDM 269bhp @ 0.9bar
1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four Special GT 590bhp @ 1.8bar
1989 Van Diemen RF88/89 Formula Ford 1600
2008 Nissan Patrol GU 3.0L ZD30DDTi 154bhp

One of the Toyota TS030 Hybrid Sports Prototypes crashed last week while testing at Paul Ricard circuit in the south of France. Good news is that the driver (Nicolas Lapierre) escaped without injury. Apparently the accident was not due to driver error but no other details were provided other than they were testing some new aero configuration.

This incident follows an earlier one that befell the Audi R18 Ultra Hybrid during testing at Sebring. Fortunately the driver, Timo Bernhard, escaped injury. Audi say the crash was caused by a 'technical failure'.

The carbon tub of the Toyota was not repairable so the car was a write-off. The loss of one of only two TS030's meant that Toyota decided to withdraw from the Spa 6 Hours round of the World Endurance Championship in May 2012. They are busy constructing a new chassis and focussing on Le Mans 2012 for the cars race debut.

Sounds like these hybrids are really on the 'bleeding edge' of technology Lets hope they have better run at Le Mans.

_________________
Don
GT4DC Chairman
1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205WRC JDM 269bhp @ 0.9bar
1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four Special GT 590bhp @ 1.8bar
1989 Van Diemen RF88/89 Formula Ford 1600
2008 Nissan Patrol GU 3.0L ZD30DDTi 154bhp

I still think they need to find a driver called Ernie for maximum Benny Hill comedy points

as in fastest milk float in the West

_________________
Don
GT4DC Chairman
1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205WRC JDM 269bhp @ 0.9bar
1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four Special GT 590bhp @ 1.8bar
1989 Van Diemen RF88/89 Formula Ford 1600
2008 Nissan Patrol GU 3.0L ZD30DDTi 154bhp

_________________
If at first you don't suck seed, try drier grain.

First pic of the redesigned Le Mans Toyota TS030 LMP1 car seen yesterday at Spa for testing immediately after the running of the World Endurance Championship 6 Hour race at the weekend.

The front of the car is notably different to the version which first appeared in testing a few months ago. Looks very similar to the Wirth designed Honda ARX03 LMP1. Not very pretty, unless it wins of course!

Apparently Toyota have built a completely new carbon tub which doesn't have the holes for the front drive shafts driven by the hybrid super-capacitors. They have decided to let the supercaps drive the rear axle. Suspicion is that the testing crash at Paul Ricard was caused by the 'part time' hybrid on the front axle malfunctioning.

Even the Audi 'E-Tron' R18 hybrid had a bit of trouble during the race at Spa. They run a so-called 'Quattro' (marketing branding!) four wheel drive system similar to the Toyota system on the car which crashed. Anyway, apparently if the on-board computer detects that there's an 'over-volt' condition i.e. overcharging of the hybrid batteries) it declutches the hybrid drive thereby upsetting the brake balance. Normally this is controlled by computer but a couple of times it glitched and caught out the driver who had to straight-line the chicane. The Quattro was four seconds a lap faster than the diesel-only Audi R18 in the wet at the begining of the race but then fell off the pace due to understeer problems on the drying track.

Looking forward to the final showdown at Le Mans next month

_________________
Don
GT4DC Chairman
1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205WRC JDM 269bhp @ 0.9bar
1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four Special GT 590bhp @ 1.8bar
1989 Van Diemen RF88/89 Formula Ford 1600
2008 Nissan Patrol GU 3.0L ZD30DDTi 154bhp

Can't help but notice neither seems to have followed the Aston route of Peckham Heights + 4 wheels = aero package
Hope they haven't missed a trick there

Not very pretty I agree, it does look purposeful at least though.

_________________
GT4DC Events Co-ordinator
1996 ST205 UK