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Toyota TS030


Both Audi (above) and Toyota mount the energy storage systems in the passenger seat area of the cockpit


World Championship saw the team double up its effort for the 24 Hours. However, a major crash in testing put that in jeopardy. It also means Toyota will arrive at Le Mans having never raced the TS030. Despite this fairly major setback, it allowed the TMG engineers to run a rear-mounted hybrid system, instead of a front- mounted system. Whilst some may think this would call for a complete new chassis, in fact this is not the case.


‘It was impossible to re-


develop the monocoque we had. There was absolutely no time to do that as we had to rush the


manufacture of the third tub as it was. It is touch and go if we will make it to the test day with both cars,’ admits Vasselon. Mounting the hybrid system


at the rear of the Toyota does create another challenge, as Vasselon explains: ‘The rear brakes are interesting because when we are running the hybrid system it takes a lot of energy from the rear, so brake cooling at that end is blanked out. But if there was a system failure, or similar, the brakes will be hotter because of the normal load going through them. We would then have to open up the cooling


Toyota has heavily revised the front of its TS030, with an F1-inspired nose. LED headlights have also been added to increase brightness


ducts on the bodywork so they do not overheat.’


TOUGH OPPOSITION Toyota has set itself the target of being the fastest hybrid at Le Mans, and that will mean that it will have to see off some tough opposition from the new Audi R18 e-tron Quattro. Despite being based heavily on the 2011 Le Mans-winning Audi R18, the 2012 car is in fact a new car. The German marque had to substantially reduce the base weight of the R18 to accommodate an electro- mechanical hybrid system, which


has a motor mounted in the front, along with the flywheel storage in the cockpit alongside the driver. With this system fitted, the car is known as the R18 e-tron Quattro, though two of its four cars will race at Le Mans without a hybrid system installed and will be known as R18 Ultras. Essentially, though, there is no difference between the two base cars. ‘The chassis on the R18 Quattro and Ultra are exactly the same. We can run the same chassis as an R18 Quattro one day and as an Ultra the next,’ explains Christopher Reinke, technical project leader


July 2012 • www.racecar-engineering.com 81


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