Toyota 2005 F1 car first to show

[FourWheelDrift]

www.grandprix.com/ns/ns14066.html

Grand Prix.com said:

Mika Gascoyne's first complete car at Toyota was unveiled in Barcelona on Saturday with the team hoping that the new chassis will move the team up the Formula 1 grid. Gascoyne said that the team compromised the development of the TF104B in order to try to gain an advantage for 2005. The team is happy that the result will start the new season with the same level of downforce as the old car had, which is an illustration of just how poor the 2004 car was at the start of last year.

This facinates me though.

The new engine:
Designation: RVX-05
Number of cylinders: 10
Capacity: 2998cc
Horsepower: More than 900bhp
Revolutions: Approximately 19,000rpm

I know Honda have been talking about 1000bhp and the BMW revved to 19,500 last year but these figures are amazing, perhaps even more so that they have rather bullishly (brinkmanship maybe) quoted them at the launch.

[TimW]

when the season start again?

[FourWheelDrift]

er....Australian GP - March 6th

[docevi1]

itv-f1.com said:

Toyota became the first F1 team to unveil their 2005 car in Barcelona on Saturday. The eagerly awaited TF105 chassis was launched at the historic Estación de França railway station – and the team is hoping it will be full steam ahead next season. However, team boss Tsutomu Tomita admitted it would be unrealistic to expect the car to transform them into frontrunners overnight. He said: “Our ultimate goal is to win in F1 but we know it takes time. Our target with the TF105 is to make an important step on our way to victory.” The TF105 is the first Toyota chassis that has been overseen from beginning to end by technical director Mike Gascoyne. The team is hoping that the man they call the Rottweiler will be able to repeat the success he had at Renault and Jordan. Gascoyne said it had been a challenge designing the car given that the sport’s new regulations were only confirmed towards the end of the season. He said: “As soon as we began to get an indication of the likely regulation changes for 2005, we started to set our targets accordingly. “We compromised the development of our TF104B car in the final races of last season in order to try and gain a competitive advantage in 2005.” If Toyota’s chassis have been disappointing in past years, their power units are generally regarded as being among the best in F1. Engine boss Luca Marmorini said that the team had endured no difficulty switching to the new regulations, which specify that each unit must last for two full race weekends. He said: “We have enjoyed quite a smooth transition to the new engine rules. We started at a very early stage to develop an engine that was increasingly reliable. “Creating an engine to last somewhere in the region of 1,500 kilometres was an enjoyable and interesting technical challenge. I am confident that the RVX-05 will reflect our excellent in-house technical capabilities.”

[PiB]

There was an article on itv-f1.com where a top Toyota man said they would consider pulling out of F1( "reevaluate their investment in F1") if they do not get a podium this year. It was last week and I can't find it now. I almost posted a comment on it.

[FourWheelDrift]

It was executive vice president Akihiko Saito who said the Japanese Toyota bosses had admitted that grand prix racing is "harder than we expected". He then said "However, we can't afford to keep going without getting better results, we have invested too much money in the project for that."

They have the biggest-budget but finished eighth in 2004, only just ahead only of Jordan and Minardi.

Funny thing is at a media conference in Japan in 2004 Saito said their goal was:- "We are aiming for a podium position."

Deja-vu?

[toppstuff]

So who thinks Jordan might embarrass Toyota this year now that they are using their engines?

Or will Toyota insist on saving face by only letting Eddie get hold of slower ponies ?

[FourWheelDrift]

I think it would be in Toyota's best interest to give Jordan as much help and power as they give themselves. This will give them twice the engine feedback than anyone else....well apart from Ferrari (&Sauber) and they've done quite well recently. I mean how many engine failures has Schumacher had at GP's in 2004. In fact can anyone remember the last engine failure during a race that Schumacher had?

Plus if Jordan end up quicker it'll give the Toyota boys more motivation to go quicker too.

>> Edited by FourWheelDrift on Sunday 9th January 22:52

[anonymous-user]

FourWheelDrift said:

www.grandprix.com/ns/ns14066.html Grand Prix.com said: Mika Gascoyne's first complete car at Toyota was unveiled in Barcelona on Saturday with the team hoping that the new chassis will move the team up the Formula 1 grid. Gascoyne said that the team compromised the development of the TF104B in order to try to gain an advantage for 2005. The team is happy that the result will start the new season with the same level of downforce as the old car had, which is an illustration of just how poor the 2004 car was at the start of last year. This facinates me though. The new engine: Designation: RVX-05 Number of cylinders: 10 Capacity: 2998cc Horsepower: More than 900bhp Revolutions: Approximately 19,000rpm I know Honda have been talking about 1000bhp and the BMW revved to 19,500 last year but these figures are amazing, perhaps even more so that they have rather bullishly (brinkmanship maybe) quoted them at the launch.

whilst the figures make for interesting reading, they are going to need a lot more than horsepower before they are challenging for the podium. Two drivers and a car that can turn corners would be a good start....