Featured Toyota TS050 Hybrids At LeMans

Whether you have cable or not, Radio Le Mans has rather excellent commentary on the race.

Their online stream is free at RadioLeMans.com, and they're simulcasted on Sirius 106 and XM 201.

Also, if you don't have cable, the FIA WEC stream is available at Follow the race | FIA WEC LIVE, on Android, or on iOS. Costs €9.99 for the event (note that the credit card transaction on the website goes directly to France, so your bank may trigger a fraud alert (my credit union did) - your best bet may be to do it as an in-app purchase on the mobile apps instead, if you want to avoid that).

If you don't want to pay, you can get just the live timing and scoring at FIA WEC LIVE.

 

Thank you!

We fired cable earlier this year and won't go back!

Bob Wilson

 

And #5 Toyota lost power in the penultimate lap, handing #2 Porsche the win. Looks like they're going to try getting home on hybrid power, which would at least ensure 2nd place (and 3rd place for #6, shutting out Audi from the podium for the first time in Audi's Le Mans history). If they're unable to do that, they won't be classified, and #8 Audi will be classified 3rd.

That was crushing as someone watching, I can't even imagine how it must have felt for the Toyota team.

Edit: They made it home, but were not classified due to a violation of sporting regulation 10.15 - presumably due to stopping on the track (10.15.2(a)) and then restarting under hybrid power after a while to take the flag. That is just brutal.

Edit 2: Nope, it's Le Mans-specific rule 10.15.2(e), for the last lap being over 6 minutes.

 

Yes, it was a great race - shame about #5

 

I watched it as well.
I heard one of the commentators say that in order to be classified the car had to complete the cool down lap, which it obviously didn't.

 

It wasn't the cool-down lap - the specific regulation cited was 10.15. The two things applicable are stopping on the track and restarting to take the flag, 10.15.2(a), which could be stretched to apply, but doesn't really fit here, and taking over 6 minutes in the last lap, 10.15.2(e), which definitely applied, although AFAIK this wasn't the reason that rule was put into place. (The real reason was things like what Toyota #5 did at Spa - send a broken car out of the pits really slowly - but 10.15.2(e) only applies at Le Mans.)

 

What a cruel cruel blow! Toyota is cursed at Le Mans for sure, can't believe victory was snatched 2 last lap of the race!

However, knowing that reliability may not be on their side this year, hopefully it will be better luck next year. But then again, like in 2014, something else will happen to them, like involving in an accident! The only consolation now is the take the WEC title for the year, which is pretty tough ask now they are at the bottom of the constructor's table.

Was hoping Toyota wins Le Mans, give us faithful a V6 turbo Prius, Le Mans spec! Oh well, that dream is evaporated away too...

 

There's always GT300 spec, with a 3.4 liter V8 in the middle and a sequential manual driving the rear wheels...

(Yet they still call the GT300 Prius a Hybrid Synergy Drive system. And it's in a class that changed the rules to forbid FWD cars being converted to mid-engine RWD, yet somehow they actually are still mid-engine RWD.)

 

What's the fuel consumption like?

Was hoping they will build something like... with 0-62mph (0-100kph) in 5 seconds, 50MPG (4.7l/100km)... Any takers?

We know they already have a V6 HSD, they just need to turbo charge it.

 

Looks like, at round 2 of the Super GT season at Fuji, a Prius pitted at laps 39 and 79, although it could be two different Priuses that were being referred to (they both would've likely needed to pit there). The one that pitted at 39, I think is the one that went 98 laps, and another went 100 laps.

100 liters is the maximum allowed in the class, and a lap of Fuji is 4.563 km - assuming full fuel tanks, that means 1.78 km/l for the first stint, and 1.83 km/l for the second stint. (The third stint is too short to get meaningful numbers.) That would be 4.19 mpg or 56.2 l/100 km, and 4.30 mpg or 54.6 l/100 km, respectively.

Not sure how that compares, or if I'm even working off of accurate numbers. And, for all I know, they get less fuel, too, which would make my numbers less accurate. (The rules say that the maximum fuel can be lowered.)

 

Toyota's released their postmortem of the #5's failure: Post LE MANS 24 HOURS – POST-RACE UPDATE 2 • TOYOTA GAZOO Racing - FIA World Endurance Championship Team

Looks like a boost hose fitting came off. The loss of turbocharger control would have likely been an overspeed of the turbine due to the computer commanding more boost in response to seeing zero boost on the MAP sensor.

That'll also explain where they stopped the car - the closer to the engineers and their transmitting equipment, the better the odds of successfully reflashing the affected ECU over the air.

 

Interesting... was wondering if they keep driving at a much reduced speed knowing they are at least 1 minute in the lead, whether it would be OK without the turbo boost... I think not.

Still can't get over this happening right at the death, possibly the cruelest thing could've happen.