Toyota Petrol Hybrid LMP1 to Lemans and WEC (Its Official)

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hawkeye122
It has been posted before.

Toyota *could* use it to their advantage, other than Audi has a similar system that has now been tested over a full race distance. So its pretty even...

And it doesnt "Turn into a V8". It uses boost from the electric motor to add power, and only the electric powers it in the pits.
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I though that the engine had a system designed to "turn on or off" when the racing fuel is low or if the car entering the pits to save fuel. Thanks for the correction.

Well this is a good concept from Toyota, and after hearing what Audi has in store for their LMP hybrid. It's going to be a interesting race this year.
 
RACECAR
Are you sure you don't mean the Prius? :odd:
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When I was testing at Fuji a few months ago. They were also testing this seasons Corolla. It was super quiet in the pits, like literally no sound. Then he would gun the gas, and it would get ridiculously loud. I asked my superiors why it does that. They said it runs hybrid at low speeds and rpms. Could have just been testing it for the prius. But why test it in the Corolla if it's going to be used in the prius.

*Edit*

Just checked the Super GT website. Looks like they are only running the Prius this year. So they probably were testing the Prius engine in the Corolla.
 
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Lets see the reaction to this ;)
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First thing I thought when I saw that was, "Wait, did they team up with Peugeot?" Interesting play by them. Is the 8 car still Red?
 
Besides the FJ40, I hate Toyota, but this thing actually looks pretty good. Good luck to them in Le Mans, may they place best in class (Behind Audi!)
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So is Peugeot out then? Why? Butthurt over the last couple of years races? :lol:
 
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Antonisbob
I hate Toyota, but this thing actually looks pretty good. Good luck to them in Le Mans, may they place best in class (Behind Audi!) :P
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Knowing Toyota, they wouldn't have even entered if they didn't think they were going to be competitive. They may have something for Audi.
 
Kamuifanboy
First thing I thought when I saw that was, "Wait, did they team up with Peugeot?" Interesting play by them. Is the 8 car still Red?
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Yes, they hired ex Peugeot Factory drivers, such as Stephane Sarrazin, Anthony Davidson and Alex Wurz. Soon in the future Toyota may hire more of Peugeot's Squad, such as Frank Montagny, Nicolas Minassian, Sebastien Bourdais etc.

Just noticed that Toyota has new sponsors from TOTAL & MATMUT (ORECA).
 
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gtone339
Yes, they hired ex Peugeot Factory drivers, such as Stephanie Sarrazin, Anthony Davidson and Alex Wurz. Soon in the future Toyota may hire more of Peugeot's Squad, such as Frank Montagny, Nicolas Minassian, Sebastien Bourdais etc.

Just noticed that Toyota has new sponsors from TOTAL & MATMUT (ORECA).
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Yes, you'd have to be blind to know this information about the drivers.

I was talking more from a company standpoint. Only joking really...
 
Kamuifanboy
First thing I thought when I saw that was, "Wait, did they team up with Peugeot?" Interesting play by them. Is the 8 car still Red?
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I was going to say the same thing also. Toyota and Peugeot working together?! :eek:

They should work together espically hiring the top best drivers at Peugeot to the Toyota team and now getting sponsorships from Total and Matmut(Ocrea) which were the top official companies that were on several 908s. There's must be a connection.

prisonermonkeys
I didn't know Stephane had a sister ...
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:lol:👍
 
VspecZR1GT2RS89
I was going to say the same thing also. Toyota and Peugeot working together?! :eek:

They should work together espically hiring the top best drivers at Peugeot to the Toyota team and now getting sponsorships from Total and Matmut(Ocrea) which were the top official companies that were on several 908s. There's must be a connection.
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Er yes - Oreca. Oreca is the team running the cars. Oreca is a french team. Oreca has run in the past with red, white and blue.

Not to mention that its particular obvious with the branding that the blue is to highlight the "hybrid" element of the car, seeing as the "Toyota Hybrid" text is in red/blue.

Look guys, its not even the same shade of blue. I understand obviously it looks a lot like the Peugeot livery but there really is no connection beyond that.
 
Ardius
Er yes - Oreca. Oreca is the team running the cars. Oreca is a french team. Oreca has run in the past with red, white and blue.

Not to mention that its particular obvious with the branding that the blue is to highlight the "hybrid" element of the car, seeing as the "Toyota Hybrid" text is in red/blue.

Look guys, its not even the same shade of blue. I understand obviously it looks a lot like the Peugeot livery but there really is no connection beyond that.
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Ahh, Team Ocrea, never changing the beautiful colors of the French flag. I like their liveries since the GTS-R Viper in GT2.

Yeah I got a better look at the third photo from prisonermonkey. It brought the Toyota Hybrid logo on the LMPH to my attention.

At first when I saw the car, I thought it was a 908 Hybrid with TS030's technology:boggled::dunce:.
 
As I understand it (and it makes the most sense, otherwise why bother hiring Oreca anyway), TMG builds and develops the car but Oreca is the race team running the operation. Basically Oreca are supplying the mechanics and logistics side of things.
Thats how it sounds here:
http://www.oreca-racing.com/en/2011/10/26/oreca-to-partner-toyota-motorsport-gmbh-le-mans-project/

But in any case, the point is that Oreca is quite involved with this and so it does have a French-twist to it. This is probably another reason why Total are involved too (other than it obviously being Le Mans and that there aren't many top LMP1 manufacturers to sponsor).

But most likely the blue is a reference to Hybrid. Its just that it fits in nicely with the Oreca connection and the french elements of the team as well as it being a french race.
 
Ardius
As I understand it (and it makes the most sense, otherwise why bother hiring Oreca anyway), TMG builds and develops the car but Oreca is the race team running the operation. Basically Oreca are supplying the mechanics and logistics side of things.
Thats how it sounds here:
http://www.oreca-racing.com/en/2011/10/26/oreca-to-partner-toyota-motorsport-gmbh-le-mans-project/
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That announcement definitely made it sound a bit more like what you're saying, but from my link:

“We can say that that it will look a little like Joest's [involvement] at Audi,” de Chaunac said. “The way Joest is integrated in the Audi organization, it will be the same for ORECA. There will be around 20 people [including] engineers, mechanics, technicians that are going to be integrated with TMG."

Oreca is not in the official team name obviously, and I don't think I've even seen it on the cars or other equipment (TMG stickers everywhere though) and key personnel seems to come from TMG.
 
That depends on the agreement. Some teams in motorsport seem to completely lose their identity except in legal terms. Take for example the Arena team currently in WTCC. For ages they were referred to as "Team Aon" in BTCC. Many manufacturer teams are simply racing teams carrying the manufacturer's name, e.g. RML (as Chevrolet), Team Dynamics (as Honda), 888 (as MG), etc.

Joest Racing even ran a couple of times simply as "Porsche AG".

Presumably Oreca are operating it more as paid work for them, rather than a sponsorship arrangement. Hence they aren't making a big deal of putting their name on the cars, equipment or whatever.

I don't see why Oreca would get involved at all if all it meant was supplying a couple of mechanics or something. I would have thought they are supplying people and running the cars as a racing team..as that is what they are and what they specialise in.
I'd presume TMG provide engineers to setup, develop and organise the cars and I'd guess the pit-wall and senior management would be mainly TMG staff complimented by strategists and race engineers from Oreca.
 
Ardius
Presumably Oreca are operating it more as paid work for them, rather than a sponsorship arrangement. Hence they aren't making a big deal of putting their name on the cars, equipment or whatever.
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Probably, but I still don't think it's correct to say that Oreca is "running" the cars. Helping with the running, sure.

Still expecting to see Hugues de Chaunac at some point in the Toyota garage though, or even at the pitwall. :D
 
Paulie Walnuts
Probably, but I still don't think it's correct to say that Oreca is "running" the cars. Helping with the running, sure.

Still expecting to see Hugues de Chaunac at some point in the Toyota garage though, or even at the pitwall. :D
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Nice, so Team Oreca is allying with Toyota. Big thumbs up for them to support Toyota for the 24 hours of Le Mans and the FIA WEC.👍
 
Pretty successful opening practice day. Within 2 seconds of Audis best time. Considering Audi will already have a stellar setup to start with, the Toyota's can only get quicker I think. Shaping up to hopefully be a good race this year. :)
 

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