Toyota To Race Hybrid Car at Le Mans Next Year

Rybold · Oct 15, 2011

The competition between Toyota and Porsche Hybrids will drive innovations in hybrid technology that will end up in consumer cars - and also inspire race fans.

Toyota Motor Corp. says its racing arm, Toyota Motorsport GmbH or TMG, will campaign a gasoline-electric hybrid prototype sports car next year in several races of the FIA World Endurance Championship, including the Le Mans 24 Hour race.

For Toyota, the move is part of an effort to assert its leadership in hybrid technology beyond its well-known Prius sedan. For racing at large, the coming prototype signals big changes to come in the way racing is conducted. Over the years small racing teams have tried hybrid power with limited success. But in the past two Porsche have made a splash with a hybrid racers and elements of hybrid systems have even turned up in the Formula One series.
Toyota’s race car will be based on a chassis from the premier LMP1 class and will have a hybrid powertrain built by Toyota in Japan. Details of the team’s participation and the name of the car will be released at a later date. TMG says its technical center in Cologne, Germany, will be the team’s base of operations.
TMG says it plans to roll out the car early next year before putting it through an extensive testing program in advance of the competition season and the Le Mans race in the summer. Le Mans is the most prestigious race by far for sports cars.
“Toyota Motor Corporation has entered Le Mans before but by using our hybrid technology this time will be a completely new challenge,” said Tadashi Yamashina, senior managing officer at Toyota and chairman of TMG. “We want to write a new page in the history of the Le Mans 24 Hours, as well as in the FIA World Endurance Championship, through our use of hybrid technology.”
Yamashina also said lessons learned on the track will help in the further development of Toyota’s hybrid systems for the street. TMG has also done a lot of work on pure electric power. During the summer the group’s electric prototype set a new electric-car lap record of 7 minutes, 48 seconds at the 13-mile Nurburgring track in Germany.
Click to expand...

http://blogs.wsj.com/drivers-seat/2...ar-at-le-mans-next-year/?mod=google_news_blog

Tideland Prius · Oct 16, 2011

Toyota will take on Audi and Peugeot at next yearâ€™s Le Mans 24 Hours with a new petrol-hybrid prototype.

The Japanese manufacturer will participate in several races in the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship, with the main focus on the twice-round-the-clock French enduro.
Click to expand...

Toyota back to Le Mans - Autocar.co.uk

Toyota To Race Hybrid Car at Le Mans Next Year

Rybold globally warmed member

Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
Staff Member

About PriusChat

Quick Navigation

Like us on Facebook

Buy us a beer!

Useful Searches

Toyota To Race Hybrid Car at Le Mans Next Year

Rybold globally warmed member

Tideland Prius Moderator of the North Staff Member

Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
Staff Member