Toyota announces WRC plans

[Munkvy]

To attempt to change the approach of this topic a little, I will ask about the design of the car...

What do people think of the frontal area? I assume the two small holes under headlights are for sensors only? But what about the entry point in the middle of the high pressure area and the corresponding vent centre of the bonnet? Could this be for cooling airflow over the turbo/intercooler? Bit different from other WRC designs, but I wonder how that will look in an unmasked car and compared to the factory car look?

What are peoples thoughts on the aero? The wing is obviously a little different and seems to be taking advantage of the more relaxed wing rules. The wheel arches and the "running boards" (Sorry don't know technical name) seem reminiscent of WTCC and seem a logical way to further smooth airflow. To my rather limited knowledge of aero this all looks quite logical, but keen to hear more knowledgeable opinion?

[mohit]

I am not an expert or an engineer but i do feel that yaris might be able to do what peugeot 208 did back in the days with marcus as driver.

yaris seems quite small in front of the VW and Citroen C3 but seems pretty stable.

in testing videos of yaris there is continuous release of throttle by tommi or who ever was testing it so true speed is not yet evident but car surely looks and sounds pretty good initially.

[Rallyper]

Yet, the F1 project wasn't successful and the latest R3 and R1 attemps ended as a disaster even in the lowest rally category...

Was Tommi involved?

[Mirek]

Why do You mention Tommi when the sentence I reacted to was about Toyota? Don't You agree that those three mentioned Toyota projects were failures?

[Lundefaret]

To attempt to change the approach of this topic a little, I will ask about the design of the car...

What do people think of the frontal area? I assume the two small holes under headlights are for sensors only? But what about the entry point in the middle of the high pressure area and the corresponding vent centre of the bonnet? Could this be for cooling airflow over the turbo/intercooler? Bit different from other WRC designs, but I wonder how that will look in an unmasked car and compared to the factory car look?

What are peoples thoughts on the aero? The wing is obviously a little different and seems to be taking advantage of the more relaxed wing rules. The wheel arches and the "running boards" (Sorry don't know technical name) seem reminiscent of WTCC and seem a logical way to further smooth airflow. To my rather limited knowledge of aero this all looks quite logical, but keen to hear more knowledgeable opinion?

I personally find the car very interesting, but also see it as quite differentiated compared to the "regular" WRC cars, which means that it can go either way.

Aerodynamics: In regards to the aerodynamics, there have obviously been a lot of work going on, and from the outset I think they are pushing boundaries that others will have to follow.
They have a clear splitter, an extreme running board design, rear view mirrors that I think are made to direct the airflow, and probably have something to do both with the wheel arches and the winglets on the rear wing, all to control air flow.

Rear wing: The rear wing in itself is obviously quite different to the "WRC Standard". It has no rounded edges, and is in this case square as a wing from the older Subaru WRC (sedans) (but with out the plates in the high pressure area), and also similar to the MINI WRC. The rounding of I believe (in lack of better understanding) is made both because of airflow, but also because a rally wing also needs to work at an angle because of sliding. So to me this looks like a wing made to work when the car is straight, which also should give some clue about the general philosophy behind the car.

Ride hight: The rear wing off course has a main job of extracting air from beneath the car, so it will work in direct correlation with the splitter and the underside. To maximise effect they are running the car VERY low. If they can keep it like this, it will be some kind of revolution in the WRC, and again its all about the aero (mostly.)
On surfaces like in Finland, and off course on tarmac, you can do this, no problem. But for me it will be interesting to see how it can work in the rough. From what I have seen from the early footage, there is already some problems. Both in regards to general ground clearance, but also in regards to the low ride hight creating jumps where other cars would just run straight over. So this will be interesting to follow.

Driving: From the outside - but this is off course just VERY early testing - it looks like a very straight line car, which I think can be good. But it will also require the driver to adapt to the car in a bigger extent than for example a very rounded of M- Sport Ford.

If you compare this car to the TMG one, even tough that was built to 2016 specs, its clearly a more aggressive strategy and tactics, which shows that you dont need the biggest team or the biggest budget to be the smartest. And I think especially in the aero departement this car already has made for some extra pondering by the competitors. Way to early and way to little info to really judge performance, but I think it looks interesting in a positive way.

[Rallyper]

Why do You mention Tommi when the sentence I reacted to was about Toyota? Don't You agree that those three mentioned Toyota projects were failures?

Calm down. I was just kidding you a bit.

[RAS007]

Please pardon my ignorance, but where does the "Gazoo" in the team name come from? Surely not the Flintstones character, the Great Gazoo…..

[Sulland]

Please pardon my ignorance, but where does the "Gazoo" in the team name come from? Surely not the Flintstones character, the Great Gazoo…..

Gazoo.jpg
Here is Tommi Gazoo for you!

[dimviii]

Jason Craig ‏@JournoJason

The Toyota Yaris #WRC test car has reportedly gone through four engines already. One managed just thirty miles...

https://twitter.com/JournoJason?lang=el

[Franky]

And they've been testing over a month now?