Can Toyota turn it around?

[vyselegend]

Probably Not. Isn't this the same team that threw a ton of money at the LeMans project only to fall short of that goal. Nice looking cars, but????

I wouldn't make too much comparisons between their F1 program and the Le Mans attempt. The GTone had clearly a winner potential, and performed well directly from the begining, yet it was created from scratch. That LM car wasn't a failure at all. Quite the contrary IMO.

But the TF106, like its predecessors, clearly misses something to reach the top, and, more worrying, doesn't seem to progress years after years.
Some decisions just doesn't make sense, like changing the keel/suspention design choice in the middle of the season twice. 2005 was maybe a sacrifice, ok, but why making the same again in 2006, while they had a good opportunity to integrate the new concept, since the car was a new one...
I've no knowlege in aero, but I'd dare to say that their aero package sucks, also. It's so obvious, with all those aero bits hurting the flow here and there, not to mention the rudeness of the front design, with the large nose and the huge bulges.
That's the part I really fail to understand. I thought aero developpement was precisely the area where money brings the result, since you need to run highly expensives tunnels and computers, etc. If there is a domain where they should excell, it have to be aero design,but even Super Aguri's seems smoother!

OT, but speaking of the GTone, who was in charge of the project at that time?

[geoclassic]

Ove Anderson was Director of TTE and Andre de Cortanze was in charge of the project. This is according to the race progam from 1998.

[vyselegend]

I was wondering if the names would ring a bell, but honnestly I don't know them. Not peoples in F1 as far as I know.
Anyway thank you for the info Geoclassic.

[West]

The TS020 pretty much set the standard for Le Mans prototypes, even if it didn't win. It was blindingly fast and BMW and Mercedes were aware of that.

I think Ove Anderson ran Toyota F1 till 2004.

[gogglesp]

Unfortunately a car company that makes very reliable (boring) cars cannot possible win in F1. Porsche said the best race cars fall apart after crossing the finish line. This concept is completely alien to Toyota.
It is one thing to make cars that appeal to the lowest common denominator and therefore makes tones of money for the company, it is completely different to make winning, exciting race cars.

[bhall]

That's not at all true, about manufacturers who make reliable road cars not being able to win in F1.

Honda makes deadly-reliable machines. Granted their win in Hungary wasn't all due to their own efforts, but they won nonetheless. And they're consistently far more competitive than Toyota.

Mercedes actually has a decent record of reliability in their road cars, provided they're maintained properly. If they could only put that to work in F1...

Ironically, Ferrari probably makes the most unreliable road cars of any manufacturer in F1, relatively speaking. But their F1 cars almost never retire due to mechanical problems.

What I'm trying to say is that a manufacturer's road car business has little if nothing to do with potential success in Formula 1. I mean, would you ever race a Renault versus a Ferrari in real life?

[DaveKillens]

Totota had had successful racing programs, my favorite was the IMSA GTP run by Dan Gurney.
Personally, the corporate mentality has impeded the quick progress of the Toyota race car. For instance, when they introduced the new chassis, it was backward compatible. In case the new zero keel system didn't work, the old suspension pickup points were still there so that they could literally unbolt the new and re-install the tried and true older system.
This ultra-conservative belts and suspenders mentality may work great when you are manufaturing millions of Camry's, but in the fast paced world of Formula One, they were crippling themselves in the ability to respond quickly to changes. And sometimes you just have to take risks. McLaren dove off the deep end when they comitted to zero keel, and it took a lot of money and time to finally have a quick car. But when it does keep itself from blowing up, it's definitely one of the quickest cars on the track.
Sometimes Toyota appear to have caught up with the pace of development, but almost always, after two or three races, they languish mid pack, or even worse.