Winless Toyota Formula 1 Chief Calls It Quits

[big blue]

"Winless Toyota Formula 1 Chief Calls It Quits

LONDON — Toyota Motorsport Vice Chairman Tadashi Yamashina will take the reins of Toyota's Formula 1 effort from current chief Tsutomu Tomita, the company has announced.

Tomita plans to leave the team at the end of June and will move to another, as yet unnamed, post within the Toyota corporate structure. He had offered a public apology at the end of the 2006 racing season when the Toyota F1 effort failed to notch a victory. Toyota is the best-funded team in F1 and has run through hundreds of millions of dollars in a fruitless search for victory since its entry into F1 in 2002.

Tomita said, "In fact the detailed preparation for entry into Formula 1 started more than four years before we entered our first race. I would like to thank all of those involved in Toyota, F1, at our sponsors and of course at Toyota Motorsport who have welcomed, helped and encouraged me as I have faced this challenge."

New team executive Yamashina faces a substantial challenge, as the Toyota F1 program has been plagued with problems from the start, including high-profile dismissals of drivers and designers, charges of industrial espionage and the much-debated departure last year of team technical chief Mike Gasgoyne. Micromanagement by corporate executives in Japan has been blamed for the misadventures.

So far this season, the Williams team has been running quicker with its own chassis and a custom Toyota V8 than the factory Toyota F1 combination.

What this means to you: No racing team in F1 history has ever spent so much and achieved so little as the Toyota effort."

Original Article

As much as I hate being one of those people who jumps on anything anti-Toyota, this article did make me smile a bit. I didn't know they were winless in F1. Then again I don't follow the F1 races at all. Still, it shows money can't win ya everything :AH-HA_wink:

[Z-06]

Original Article

As much as I hate being one of those people who jumps on anything anti-Toyota, this article did make me smile a bit. I didn't know they were winless in F1. Then again I don't follow the F1 races at all. Still, it shows money can't win ya everything :AH-HA_wink:

Forget being winless, they had pole like twice and podiums like less than 10 times. They are yet to set a fastest lap of the race. And they have been in the sports for six years. I.e. about 100 Races. I am sure a company with that much capability and innovation and technology (sarcasm) should at least win ONE race.

When Toy announced in 2000, I had actually welcomed the move, saying that it will create a fourth competitor to then strong Williams, Ferrari and Mclaren. But it created strong competition for Minardi and Jordan the teams which were renowned for finishing last.

The same is happening with NASCAR. Toy lacks innovation in the mechanics of a car. They may be good in logistics and marketing. But when it comes to innovation in motor vehicles Toy is just sophisticated Chinese, someone adept at reverse Engineering.

Tell me one thing what vehicle is innovative in Toy's lineup? Nothing. Don't say Prydust, because Ferdinand Porsche was first to create the idea of a hybrid, Toy just copied it, after almost 100 years.

Toy's F1 saga reminds me of a new advertisement of Saturn, regarding the Aura that I saw today. "Sometimes good guys do finish first." In this case, sometimes not so good guys do finish last.

[Intrepidation]

Toyota is the best-funded team in F1 and has run through hundreds of millions of dollars in a fruitless search for victory since its entry into F1 in 2002.

[Camino LS6]

Thanks for the smile.

[balthazar]

>>"Ferdinand Porsche was first to create the idea of a hybrid"<<

??

[Z-06]

>>"Ferdinand Porsche was first to create the idea of a hybrid"<<

??

In 1898 Ferdinand Porsche designed the Lohner-Porsche carriage, a series-hybrid vehicle that broke several Austrian speed records, and also won the Exelberg Rally in 1901 with Porsche himself driving. Over 300 of the Lohner-Porsche carriages were sold to the public. As a series-hybrid, a gasoline engine powers a generator, which powered electric wheel motors. A large and heavy battery pack acted as an intermediate load-leveling device.

[toyoguy]

Still, it shows money can't win ya everything :AH-HA_wink:

actually that was already know as Ferrari had the largest F1 budget for a decade without a win.

and Toyota wasn't the biggest spender for 2006, that was McLaren-Mercedes who also produced no wins.

[Intrepidation]

actually that was already know as Ferrari had the largest F1 budget for a decade without a win.

and Toyota wasn't the biggest spender for 2006, that was McLaren-Mercedes who also produced no wins.

Always an excuse.

[toyoguy]

Always an excuse.

oh I'm sorry Chrysler must be perfect.

what's the reasoning behind why Chrysler is now selling 48.5% fleet?

:AH-HA_wink:

[regfootball]

can't even win anything...LOL

[Intrepidation]

oh I'm sorry Chrysler must be perfect.

what's the reasoning behind why Chrysler is now selling 48.5% fleet?

:AH-HA_wink:

I never said was perfect and at least I can admit when they make stupid mistakes or otherwise show "imperfection" When was the last time you ackknowledged Toyota did something stupid and/or made a mistake?

Toyota's perfect of course...which is why the Fusion has a better interior and why half a million Tundras were recalled...or how about the newer, bigger, slow selling Tundra?

[toyoguy]

I never said was perfect and at least I can admit when they make stupid mistakes or otherwise show "imperfection" When was the last time you ackknowledged Toyota did something stupid and/or made a mistake?

I did nothing more then point out Toyota doesn't have the largest budget as stated in the article. In reality there are four other teams who spend as much if not more.

If Toyota wanted they could easily have gone the route of purchasing a racing chassis manufacture like BMW and Honda did. They didn't rather they created an open wheel chassis with little prior experience. No &#036;h&#33; they initially outspent competiting teams.

[Z-06]

They didn't rather they created an open wheel chassis with little prior experience.

>>> Hoping to steal some technology from other teams to match them.

[stefanmueller]

HAHAHAHAHA

I love when whatever the team is running on a toyota engine beats them!. I believe they have made the podium once in their history and that was a third place finish, where half the field wiped out.

It's hard for them to compete when you can't rip apart your rivals car and see what they do.

[siegen]

they could easily have gone the route of purchasing a racing chassis manufacture like BMW and Honda did.

Do you have links to some more information on this?

[regfootball]

HAHAHAHAHA

I love when whatever the team is running on a toyota engine beats them!. I believe they have made the podium once in their history and that was a third place finish, where half the field wiped out.

It's hard for them to compete when you can't rip apart your rivals car and see what they do.

[toyoguy]

Do you have links to some more information on this?

use google

honda bought bar

bmw bought sauber

[Z-06]

use google

honda bought bar

bmw bought sauber

British American Racing was started by started after taking over Tyrrell. They started with Honda Engine in their second year before Honda officially bought it in 2005.

BMW bought Sauber in 2006 after partnering with Williams after reentering F1 in almost two decades.

[Polish_Kris]

It's also not the car but the driver.

[stefanmueller]

It's also not the car but the driver.

You can only argue that to a certain extent. Williams Toyota often does better than Toyota should really be faster than those cars. Toyota sits fifth in constructors with 5 points, when points pay up to the 8th position each race. They can't match the pace of Ferrari, McLaren , BMW, and renault even in a straight line. They have the biggest budget out of any F1 team, and while they don't have any Drivers that Ferrari or Mclaren have made famous, there''s nothing good to say about a team who finishes a lap behind virtually every race. Trulli is considered to be a good driver and given the right car would be able to keep up with some of the front runners. I guess you don;t watch F1 and listen to what their drivers have to say about the performance of their car, because it is never good.