Toyota seems promising

[NDR008]

I was amazed last Sunday at how Panis, didn't chicken out as usual, and kept taking an ever further inside line for the 1st corner, I was almost sure he wouldn't make it. Pitty the tires didn't serve him well.
But I THINK, by the end of this year they would have found their edge.

Their engine seems to be reliable and performance wise good enough. The chassis is the main problem (we all know that). But the fact that Toyota decided to delay the B revision chassis till the next German GP, leads me to think that they are preparing something decent. And best of all, it seems like the B revision's advancments are going to be purely weight concerned. Aerodynamic aspects are to follow shortly. So we are not meant to see 1 improvement this year, but 2.....

Quote from http://www.f1-live.com:

B-spec car to debut in July
New Toyota TF104B will be lighter
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Tomita has high hopes for TF104B

Toyota's heavily-revised Formula One car should debut in July.

Team Principal Tsutomu Tomita said the TF104B is to start testing earlier in the month and be ready to race in the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim (July 25).

It requires a 're-homologation by the FIA,' the Japanese confirmed.

Technical Director Mike Gascoyne, meanwhile, clarified at the Nurburgring that the new car will be ready for Hockenheim but it won't wear a new aero package.

"That'll come shortly after," said the Briton. "The chassis is about reducing the weight."

Source GMM / CAPSIS International
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What you guys reckon?

[Guest]

honestly I ´m quite sure it will not bring that giant step this year...New car again so you have to learn new ....what the car wants in terms of setup.ok you can guess allways on that but there´s no place for revolutions in F1 these days,you just have to know the animal you put on the track at the weekend inside out and know what it needs under every circumstances,sorrry but there might be an occasional highlight ,luck permitting..but nothing more than a monaco like thing.Poor olivier ...he diserves better.

[Monstrobolaxa]

promosing......

[West]

I don't know why the TF104 is a step backwards for Toyota. I mean yeah its modeled after the FW25 but doesn't even come close in terms of performance. I swear they should get rid of Brunner; his time at Minardi didn't help that much.

[Guest]

the toyotas were blunt copies of Ferraris designs and there´s much risk in copying otherpeoples work...you don´t know why they did what they did ,and you will not understand the car in depth.
Brunner had a time at ferrari ,sure...but then it was different days....in the last years he had to make do with nothing in terms of money in his hands..so CFD and advanced composite technics where theory at best for him,if he even had time to look at these things.If Ballast was a big issue at minardi...well it´s up to ones guess.
So Brunner came to Toyota with endless ressources to his work but no current experience of applying it...a very conservative approach followed,and he relied heavily on the Ferrari Infos wich found their way to the company....
This year they build a new car ,but as they did not understand the ferrari thinking in full depth ...their development went into directions not as fruitful ,as it seems..and with Gascoyne coming ,again bringing different philosophy from Benneton/Renault this Melange just does not perform.
What I Really and honestly do not understand :
Why do the Toyotas not produce the same blinding starts as Renault,Gascoyne was Tech Director there ,wasn´t he?He should sure know how it is done,or mayit be he was not that involved in all programmes????Instead Toyota again and again struggles with electric/tronic gremlins......strange...strange.Lets wait for the new chassis with CG height under road surface.....

[Guest]

Everyone knows you can't just copy a car and make it go fast.
Even if Ferrari gave Toyota their race car, Toyota would still only be fighting for maybe 5th place...look at Sauber! Put Ross Brawn and a few on the Sauber team, and they'd be fighting for 4th and 5th every race.

Toyota don't have the experience and depth of knowledge to fully exploit a car's potentially perfect setup like Ferrari. They don't have an experience race team with masterful race strategies.

They'll come around. Mike Gascoyne certainly brings in huge knowledge and if Toyota can line hook and sink a few more peeps like him, they'll be winning for sure

[Monstrobolaxa]

Toyota don't have the experience and depth of knowledge to fully exploit a car's potentially perfect setup like Ferrari

Well they might have copied the car aerodynamicly....but there is always a small detail that seems to be hard to copy! Another thing is suspension...this is also very hard to copy....the geometry, the precise positioning of the pick-up points, wishbone lengths, torsion bar parametres.....so when we say copy it isn't a real copy! there are always things that you can't copy without the original plans in your hands.

[Irvingthien]

I missed the European GP but I don't think Toyota looks promisimg this year.Performance have gone down even though Gasgoyne was hired.Probably doing some restructuring within the team have caused the dip.