Wednesday 4th November 2009

Video: Toyota F1 Exit Opens New Doors

New GT1, Le Mans and WRC challenges could all follow the exit from F1 - but where will Toyota go?

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As Toyota announced a painful withdrawal from F1 this morning, no attempt was made to suggest a future direction for its motorsport activity.

Toyota has unfinished business at Le Mans

Fortunately, PH is happy to step into the breach with a dose of timely speculation on a handful of intriguing possibilities - namely a return to the quest for outright victory at Le Mans, the new FIA GT world championship, and of course the new 'cost effective' S2000 category for the WRC.

Toyota has a long and illustrious motorsport history and, in spite of its withdrawal from F1, the company's new president Akio Toyoda (who has raced the Lexus LF-A at the Nurburgring) has confirmed an ongoing commitment to competition.

"I have been calling for product-focused management since I became president at Toyota this June," he said today in the press conference called to announce the departure from F1.

The Celica was unbeatable in Africa

"That priority mandates a fundamental shift in resource allocation. A sad result of that shift is that we have insufficient resources to maintain a viable commitment to F1 racing.

"Motor sports remain an important means of personalizing the automobile in the eyes of customers. Motor sports also remain an important means of cultivating human resources and our R&D operations.

"We will rethink our motor-sports activities with an eye to maximizing those benefits while addressing economic realities. And we will take what we learn on the racetrack and put it to work in ever-better vehicles that are aimed at meeting the highest of expectations."

Here at PH towers, we think 'product focused management' can only mean one thing - a return to forms of competition that showcase metal you can actually buy in the showroom.

It's no secret that Toyota top brass in Japan have fond memories of vintage WRC victories with cars like the Celica and Corolla, and they also speak wistfully of 'unfinished business' at Le Mans, where their best result was a second place finish in 1999 with the GT-One.

With the Lexus LFA supercar, and the FT-86 coupe coming on stream, it seems certain that Toyota products will appear in GT racing one way or another - but where will Toyota put its own money?

Clips like the fantastic video edit below should provide some inspiration...

[havard01]

Rallying is arguably what Toyota were most successful at, they should have pulled the plug on F1 years ago, saved themselves some money and won some more World Rally Championships instead.

Come on Toyota, build a new WRC car!!!

[havard01]

rypt said:

WRC of today not as production based really though, unlike when the Celica was raced.
I think it's a stupid move to go back into rally as things stand, not unless we get homologinated cars again.

All of the cars in the WRC have to be homologated before they can run in the WRC, i'm not sure what point you are trying to make. Also, Toyota used the Corolla model as a WRC rally car and narrowly missed out on both the drivers and constructors championships at the end of the 1990's.

I think going back to the WRC would be a good move, they could reduce their spending to under a tenth of their F1 budget and put some pressure on both Ford and Citroen.

[havard01]

TWIN TUBI said:

Dr G said:

Not 'if' Toyota return to competition, when:



"Tadashi Yamanashi, Chairman of Toyota Motorsport, sheds a tear during a press conference at Toyota's head office in Tokyo, to announce their withdrawal from Formula One racing"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/p...

LOL are you having a laugh?














Thank you Toyota F1 for your great era of Formula 1 racing.





2002-2009

[havard01]

TWIN TUBI said:

havard01 said:

LOL are you having a laugh?

No? Are you?

When you said "Thank you Toyota F1 for your great era of Formula 1 racing." did you mean all the races where they failed to win or the races when Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli acted like mobile chicanes?

I'm glad Toyota are out of F1, they should return to the fields where they were most successful.