Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Unveiled: The fastest Toyota Hybrid in the world

Toyota haven't released any power or performance figures but we do suspect the TS030 HYBRID may be a bit faster than your Prius...

Toyota Racing has announced details of its participation in the FIA World Endurance Championship and the new team, based at Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG) in Cologne, Germany, will make its race debut in May this year, at the Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

At the Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps and the subsequent Le Mans 24 Hours, the Japanese company will enter two TS030 HYBRID cars – perhaps the fastest Toyotas ever built. Indeed, the TS030 HYBRID (TS is an acronym for ToyotaSport) is the spiritual successor to the TS010 and TS020 cars, which participated at Le Mans in the 1990s.

Having sold more than 3.5 million hybrid vehicles worldwide, Toyota is the first car manufacturer to confirm its participation in the FIA World Endurance Championship using a hybrid system. The TS030’s THS-R (Toyota Hybrid System – Racing) powertrain uses an all-new 3.4-litre normally-aspirated petrol V8 that works in tandem with a hybrid system with capacitor storage developed by official team partner, Nisshinbo. The front and rear electric motors are from Aisin AW and DENSO, respectively, and the car’s monocoque chassis/bodywork is made of carbonfibre.

‘Our target this year is to show the performance level of our car and particularly the THS-R powertrain. Hybrid is a core technology of Toyota so it is important to demonstrate this in a motorsport arena and we want to prove it can bring a performance advantage, both in terms of lap time and fuel efficiency,’ says Yoshiaki Kinoshita, Team President. ‘For any given performance level, a hybrid powertrain will achieve this with less fuel so it is an extremely relevant technology and one we are excited to be bringing to endurance racing,’ adds Pascal Vasselon, Technical Director.