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[December 20, 2001]
Toyota's F1 effort
by Erik C. Nielsen
There will be a couple of new changes in the look of F1 in 2002, but probably the most visible will be the
inclusion of red and white racers representing the addition of one more team to the grid.
Toyota has teamed with Japanese electronics giant Panasonic to dive head first into F1 by not
only building a chassis to compete in next seasons championship, but , in a rare move, also
committing to building its own engine. Can this be seen as a direct attack on Ferrari? Or,
is the Japanese team to follow a proven approach (find a formula that works, then refine and
exploit it as much as possible)? If it is the latter, as they have done with Lexus, it may be
only a matter of time before Toyota runs at the top.
The Car
From an engineering standpoint, starting with a clean sheet of paper is not always a bad thing. You are not limited to one way of doing things, there is no legacy built into the design, and the engineers are free to try new lines of thinking. But in practice, the engineers also have to test everything from scratch, and the rules of thumb come from many thumbs smashed in testing.
For 2001, the team constructed several testing mules to not only try new ideas, but also to develop reliability data on all of the components. While the rulebook for F1 is quite specific, it is the details that separate the top teams from the also-rans. The V-10 engine, designated RVX-01 during testing, was bench-tested for the first time in 2000 and has spent thousands of hours having various components tested for performance and reliability. Tremendous amounts of information can be gained from the engine lab, but drivability results can only be gained from on-track trials.
The test car came with the initial designation of TF101 and looked to be shaped very similarly to the current crop from the other teams, which is no surprise if they obtained the same results in the wind tunnel as everyone else. A quick review of the chassis seems to indicate a "bitsa" approach (bits of this and bits of that). The car will make its debut in mid-December in show form, but none of the key details will be made public until the season opener.
[ The Car ]
The Drivers
The Team
Their Chances
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