Toyota Racing's new endurance racer unveiled

Toyota Racing has unveiled the new TS040 Hybrid, the car which will take the team into a new era of hybrid powered motorsport.
The new TS040 Hybrid represents the most advanced hybrid technology in modern racing and will make its competition debut at the upcoming Six Hours of Silverstone race.

Toyota will be taking on rival manufacturers Audi and Porsche with a car that benefits from 473bhp of all-wheel drive hybrid boost in addition to the 513bhp produced by its 3.7-litre V8 petrol engine, taking maximum power to 986bhp.

The new powertrain has been developed in line with revised WEC technical regulations, which put an emphasis on fuel economy. Toyota Racing has made gains in efficiency and performance by using specialist lubricants it has developed with its official partner, Total.

The more open regulations have also allowed the team to engineer a major increase in hybrid power, using a new motor-generator on the front axle in addition to the unit at the rear.

Under deceleration, these motor generators apply braking force in combination with the traditional mechanical brakes to harvest energy, which is then transferred via an inverter to a super-capacitor. When the car accelerates, the motor-generators reverse their function, delivering a power boost to all four wheels.

The TS040 Hybrid's chassis is designed, developed and manufactured by Toyota Motorsport (TMG) in Cologne, Germany. It marks a major evolution of last year's TS030 Hybrid, incorporating design changes dictated by the new championship regulations, including a maximum width reduced by 100mm and the adoption of additional safety features.

The final design has been honed in TMG's wind tunnels and rendered exceptionally lightweight thanks to the use of advanced composite technologies and production processes. Individual components have been put through intensive computer simulations using real track data to ensure optimum performance in race conditions.