Toyota GT-One
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The Toyota GT-One, also known as the TS020, was designed and developed in Cologne by TTE (Team Toyota Europe) and raced in the 1998 and the 1999 Le Mans by Toyota in the GT1 (1998) and GTP (1999) category.
When the GT-One was introduced, the car became embroiled in a row concerning the car's appearance as it had a resemblance to a Group C racecar from earlier in the decade. It was also responsible for the FIA to revise the regulation which concerns homologation, as Toyota had already built one road registered production car, which meant that manufacturers are no longer required to build a minimum of 25 roadgoing examples as enforced two years earlier. The category would be renamed GTP (Grand Touring Prototype, which had no relations to the 80/90's IMSA category).
Toyota entered three GT-Ones in the 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans. Only one managed to finish the race, capturing ninth place overall and seventh in its GT1 class.
Toyota fared much better in the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans after the car was tested thoroughly, even in a snowy Spa-Francorchamps. Competition was tough, from the Mercedes-Benz CLR, the improved BMW V12 LMR that had won the 12 Hours of Sebring, and the new Audi R8 Roadster and Coupés.
After having scored pole position, only one GT-One finished (out of three entered). This car had the potential to score an overall win, until a tyre blew out during the last hour whilst attempting to overtake a privateer BMW V12 LMP, forcing the car to pit in for new tyres. It was forced to settle for second place overall and was the only car in its LM-GTP class to finish the race (with two crashed Toyotas, one crashed and one retired CLR, and two unreliable Audi R8Cs).
The car was raced once more, later in the year at the Fuji 1000KM. It finished second behind the open-topped Nissan R391, a car it faced earlier at Le Mans.
The GT-One has been Toyota's last foray in sports car racing (with the exception of Super GT) before moving onto Formula One racing.
[edit] Technical Data
- Engine
- Toyota R36V, 3.6 Litre Twin-Turbo V8 (600 HP @ 6000 RPM, 479 lbf-ft @ 6000 RPM)
- Gearbox
- TTE Six Speed Unsynchronized Sequential Manual transmission
- Suspension
- Four-wheel independent, double wishbones front and rear
- Dimensions
- 484 cm overall length, 200 cm overall width, 900 kg weight
