Siyonara Toyota?

[wedge]

Now for those who are a bit more Realistic...

We may be seeing a new Golden Age for Sports Cars.

With all the new sportscar models scheduled to arrive in the next year or two:

Nissan's... GT-R with twin turbo V-6
Honda's... NSX with a new V-10
Toyota's.. F-1 super car also with a V-10(if Bernie allows the use of F-1)
Aston Martin's latest V-12
Corvette's C-6 now entering ALMS GT2
Audi's R-8 with a V-10
BMW's... M3 with V-8 power
Porsche and Ferrari are sure to be competitive

The Mazda Furai recently seen at Detroit is hot. Fingers crossed we'll see this on a the race track!

[Osella]

I thought that when I saw it
However, it already has been...the chassis and engine are the Courage-Madza seen in the ALMS a couple of years ago

[Azumanga Davo]

What's the story of the ACO and rotaries these days?

[Hotlavaaaa]

What's the story of the ACO and rotaries these days?

Not sure, but Mazda abandoned their 3 rotor for a turbo 4 cylinder in P2 because the rotary wasn't making enough power. Doesn't Mazda have some sort of hydrogen rotary? I wonder if the ACO would allow that.

[Azumanga Davo]

Hmmm, they might, as long as they refrain from naming it 'Hindenburg Prototype'...

"Oh, the humanity..."

[MAX_THRUST]

Did JPM win the CART title in a Honda engined car or a Toyota, my memory is fading, like Champ cars.......

I think Toyota do a better job of supplying Williams with an engine than building there own car. If they go- bye then.....Some one else will take over.

the bigger picture should be, here we go again, manufacturers come in to F1 then change their minds when the sucess does not come, leaving the series struggling. Hopefully this won't happen the way it has in the past

[MAX_THRUST]

JPM won in a HONDA sorry not a Toyota.

So your right what has Toyota won????? Most of the CART series races they just blew up, think they got it right in 2000 though.

JPM won in a HONDA sorry not a Toyota.

So your right what has Toyota won????? Most of the CART series races they just blew up, think they got it right in 2000 though.

Actually it was neither a Honda or Toyota. They were both engine suppliers in CART at the time. Montoya won at Indy in a G-Force chassis and an Oldsmobile-Aurora engine.

Toyota won the 2002 Cart championship with NHR/Da Matta, the IRL in 2003 with Ganassi/Dixon and the Indy 500 in 2003 with Penske/de Ferran

"In 2003, Toyota moved its open-wheel racing operation to the Indy Racing League (IRL) where Dixon won Toyota's inaugural IndyCar race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, as well as the series Driver's Championship that same year. The victory was one of 11 for Toyota as it captured the IRL's Manufacturer's Championship. Over three seasons, Toyota-powered entries won 17 IndyCar Series races and 22 IndyCar Series pole positions.

In addition to winning the Indy 500, Toyota-powered cars won 38 races and 44 pole positions in open-wheel competition from 1996 to 2005"

http://www.toyota.com/motorsports/history.html

[Osella]

Hmmm, and just how many of those were in CART, before they and Honda upped sticks to the IRL...? They won diddly-squat in CART really, so much for 'always winning...' I'd love to see those stats from 1996-2001, compared to the 2002-05 figures.

Toyota have taken on NASCAR in the right way, humble and slow. They are pretty much the truck of choice in the Craftsman series, but in F1 they are no good at all. NASCAR is a pretty stable bunch of series, with closely regulated engines and cars/trucks. The COT wasn't really an issue for them, and helps them out a lot as it makes all the bodies the same. This is not going to be the case in F1 and they truly are clueless in forms of motorsport where they have to make racing-speed decisions, not maketing-strategy-speed decisions. The best thing they could do would be to pay David Richards and Prodrive or someone similar to take over the project and give them free reign under the Toyota name

Renault didn't win the F1 title, Benetton did; Madza didn't win Le Mans, DAMS and Lola did, but Mazda still get the credit.
Audi won Le Mans with a huuuge amount of help from Joest Racing (particularly the quick-change rear end), Toyota really should have gone that route as they are just too utterly useless on their own.

[woody2goody]

It's a shame they haven't been able to produce a race-winning car so far, and it all looked so promising for them in 2005 as well. 88 points was nothing to sneeze at; I bet Ralf and Jarno were rubbing their hands together at the prospect of wins in 2006 but they were never competitive enough to deliver that.

The new car seems ok, but it's looking like just another mediocre effort that may yield a podium or two. However they could end up anywhere between 4th in the championship and 10th the way it looks in the midfield this year.

I too am impressed by the way they have tackled NASCAR. I was a new NASCAR fan in 2007 and Toyota certainly added something to the show. I hope Brian Vickers can win some races in 2008 for RBR and I think he is my outside bet for a top 12 position at the end of the season.