TS040 HYBRID Race Car will challenge Audi and Porsche in the
FIA World Endurance Championship and at Le Mans
Paul Ricard, France
– on the 27th March, Toyota Racing has revealed the TS040 HYBRID car
and improved driver line-up to compete in the 2014 FIA World Endurance
Championship.
With 480PS (473 hp, 353 kW) of four
wheel-drive hybrid boost in addition to the 520 PS (513 hp, 383 kW) 3.7litre petrol engine, the TS040
HYBRID, launched today at Circut Paul Ricard, has maximum power of 1000PS (986 hp, 735 kW) and
represents the most advanced hybrid technology in racing.
The move to a four-wheel drive hybrid sees Toyota return to a concept
which has been part of its racing hybrid development since 2007, when the four
wheel drive Supra HV- R became the first hybrid to win an endurance race, the
Tokachi 24 Hours.
Working together
with official partner TOTAL, TOYOTA Racing’s engineers have found further
efficiencies and performance through the use of customized TOTAL lubricants.
The new, more open
regulations have allowed TOYOTA Racing to implement a major increase in hybrid
power, with an AISIN AW motor - generator on the front axle added to compliment
the DENSO unit on the rear.
Under deceleration,
the motor-generators apply braking force in combination with traditional
mechanical brakes to harvest energy, which is transferred via inverter (AISIN
AW at the front, DENSO at the rear) to the NISSHINBO super-capacitor. During
acceleration, the motor/generator reverses its function acting as a motor to
deliver a 480PS power boost.
That four-wheel drive hybrid power is allied to a normally – aspirated V8 engine, both having
been developed by Motor Sports Unit Development Division at the Higashifuji
technical centre, where next-generation TOYOTA road car technology is born.
The TS040 HYBRID chassis is designed, developed, manufactured, built and operated by TOYOTA Motorsport GmbH (TMG) in
Extensive development in TMG’s state-of-the-art wind
tunnels has resulted in an aerodynamically-efficient design which is also
incredibly lightweight thanks to advanced composite design and production
processes.
Intensive simulation and calculation work at TMG has
refined the TS040 HYBRID, utilising hardware-in-the-loop technology to test
individual components based on real track data and powerful calculation
computers to optimise designs.
Such cutting-edge techniques are significantly more
efficient than track testing, allowing TMG engineers to continue optimising all
aspects of the TS040 HYBRID chassis and lay-out for longer than rivals relying
on traditional methods.
A slight reshuffle of the driver line-up sees Alex
Wurz, Stéphane Sarrazin and Kazuki Nakajima share the #7 car while Anthony
Davidson, Nicolas Lapierre and Sébastien Buemi are in the #8.
The TS040 HYBRID made its track debut at Paul Ricard
on 21st January and has subsequently completed 12 days of testing across
Europe, covering around 18,000km.
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