Toyota TS030 Le Mans racer revealed

Posted 35 minutes ago in Miscellaneous News

Uses Hybrid tech on the race track…

Toyota has officially unveiled the TS030 HYBRID race car.

Set to compete in the LMP1 class, the TS030 was created by Toyota Motorsport GmbH and features a carbon fibre chassis and bodywork housing a naturally-aspirated 3.4-litre V8 engine which is backed up by a hybrid system with capacitor storage dubbed Toyota Hybrid System – Racing.

Little is known about THS-R, but the company is evaluating a front motor system produced by Aisin AW as well as a rear motor system developed by DENSO. Regardless, regulations limit the hybrid system to recovering a maximum of 500kJ between braking zones whilst restricting deployment to only two wheels.

As far as the looks go, it’s standard LMP1 fare, with an enclosed cockpit large integrated rear wing and a low aerodynamic body. We think it looks great, but these types of car always do.

Besides releasing specifications, Toyota announced two cars will compete in Le Mans. The first model will be driven by Alex Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre and Kazuki Nakajima. The other team is currently being assembled, but should be confirmed shortly.

In the meantime, Toyota will continue to test the car leading up to its racing debut at the Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps on May 5th.

We’re just glad that it will have a petrol engine which can make a proper racing car noise. With the popularity of diesel power in the marketplace there was a worry that Audi and Peugeot’s choice of diesel power for their Le Mans racers would rub off on others but it looks like that won’ t be the case. Hybrid or not, this Toyota racer is still a V8…

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