The car Toyota would have raced in F1 this year has been driven by Kazuki Nakajima in Cologne.
The TF110 has been revealed and inspected by Racecar Engineering. and looks outwardly similar to the BMW Sauber C29 with a high, long nose.
Toyota’s 11th hour exit from Formula 1 at the end of 2009 means this car will never compete in F1.
Two examples of the TF110 were built despite the team’s decision at the end of last year not to contest the 2010 championship.
According to the magazine the design features “one of the most extreme diffusers seen yet” and a ride height adjustment system.
Who knows how competitive the TF110 would have been. It’s doubtful that, even if another team acquired the intellectual property rights to use the car in 2011, it could be suitably modified to be competitive following further changes to F1’s technical regulations.
The manner in which Toyota exited the sport within days of the 2009 season ending is a reminder of how close the former Honda team came to disappearing 12 months earlier.
As Ross Brawn explained afterwards, the company’s management hadn’t given any thought to passing the team on to another owner and had to be persuaded to accept Brawn’s management buy-out. It seems much the same happened at Toyota.
While BMW also, though with some difficulty, passed ownership of their team back to Peter Sauber, Toyota cut and run and there was no going back. Attempts by Zoran Stefanovich to use the cars to obtain an entry failed.
Recently former Toyota boss Tadashi Yamashina explained how the onset of the credit crunch hastened the team’s departure from Formula 1.
It’s a pity to see an F1 car, built at considerable expense, sat idle when it could be competing. Hopefully we’ll only have to wait until next year to see F1 get back to 26-car grids.
You can buy the new issue of Racecar Engineering from Zinio here.
Read more: Toyota quits F1 after eight winless years
Hallard
21st May 2010, 18:24
That thing does look pretty nice, especially in naked carbon fiber. A pretty radical nosecone too, especially compared to toyota’s previous designs which were all pretty conventional.
MigueLP
22nd May 2010, 1:48
i dont agree toyota in 2005 07 08 09 showed a lot of new designs and new concept like for instances the 09 rear wing which was very close to the ground as drivers complained toyota engine was lacking power and with wear it only got worse
Calum
21st May 2010, 18:28
So it should have been another Brawn story! But i guess we’ll never know!
Hare
23rd May 2010, 3:55
Agreed, Crying Shame, Really! Would love to have known what it could do..
Cube
21st May 2010, 18:35
It could have been so much more than a show car….
What a shame.. To be honest Toyota did build some good cars. Their 2009 car wasn’t a bad car. It scored multiple podiums & a pole position.
This could have been such a good car… I wish we could see a video..
Are there any more pictures Keith?
RandomChimp
21st May 2010, 19:46
Could also have been totally awful.
Hare
23rd May 2010, 3:45
Schrödinger’s cat anybody?
J.A. Summers
26th May 2010, 19:15
Moar liek Schrödinger’s car, m i rite?
Glenn
21st May 2010, 18:35
Nice design. Looks like it has an air opening similar to Ferrari’s F-Duct location. Same looks like it would have been a competitive car.
And had Stefan GP secured this car, they would have clearly been at the front of the new teams.
Damon
21st May 2010, 19:21
Those are actually engine air inlets, similar to those of Mercedes.
Even more similar are they to those of 1989 Ferrari:
http://www.retromobiliart.com/maranello-literature/images/photo-1989-ferrari-640-f1-nigel-mansell-jacarepagua.jpg
Mike
21st May 2010, 18:47
Somebody stick a Mercedes logo on it quick before it’s too late!
Oli
21st May 2010, 18:51
Stefan gp were going to use this car if they were allowed in. Mate they would have been quite compeitive
Ned Flanders
21st May 2010, 18:54
Strange. What’s in it for Toyota to give a magazine access to a car that will never race?
Also Keith aren’t Toyota going to keep developing the car throughout 2010 and try again to sell it to a customer in 2011? I heard ART would be interested
Cube
21st May 2010, 18:55
Toyota don’t own the car any more Ned. They sold the cars to StefanGP…
IDR
21st May 2010, 19:51
Stefan GP has no money even for paying just the steering wheel.
Ned Flanders
21st May 2010, 21:01
I’m pretty sure the cars still belong to Toyota. Stefan GP were only going to rent them, and when it emerged they bweren’t going to be on the grid this year Toyota took them back
BasCB
22nd May 2010, 9:50
I think Toyota severed ties with Stefan GP after more detials of the non existence of a solid base for that team came to light, and the FIA would not let them race.
The cars were never close to being shipped anywhere let alone raced by StepanGP. I suppose Toyota is now offering some work for HRT or for one of the teams taking the 13th grid spot.
Ed
21st May 2010, 19:08
So much for the theory that Lotus effectively used the TF110 as their chassis then.
Hallard
21st May 2010, 22:11
Pretty sure that theory was crap to begin with…
Patrickl
21st May 2010, 23:32
Nope, they used the Force India 2009 car. Or at least FI claimed that it was their windtunnel model.
Marc Connell
21st May 2010, 19:18
i wanna see it up against current cars :( or at least go around a circuit.
Glenn
21st May 2010, 19:22
Looking at the pics, it begs to wonder why a team is not running with black carbon fiber body panels with sponser stickers in white. I’d say that would be the best looking car on track.
Horacio
21st May 2010, 23:10
Exactly what I thought.
I have no clue if this car would have been competitive (probably yes; better than HRT in any case…) but this baby certainly looks absolutely AWESOME!!!!!!
StephenH
21st May 2010, 19:31
If I were Hispania I’d ditch the Dallara and snap this beauty up pretty damn quick !!
UneedAFinn2Win
21st May 2010, 21:43
They have no money to pay for development parts (or spares for that matter) for their Dallaras, where are they going to find money to switch chassis’s (chassises?, chassii?, chassi’s, chassi-i??
Calum
21st May 2010, 22:55
Plural is chassis, just the same as the singlar, :)
Hare
23rd May 2010, 3:42
I totally agree with you. Forger the Money, just hand the car over to HRT.. This has got to be the biggest heart break in F1, to see a car THAT good looking, and not raced..
Forget about Dallara :)
Icthyes
21st May 2010, 19:39
Pretty nice. Who knows how well it would have done this year? No offence, but if it was driven by Glock & Trulli, I doubt it’d have been any more competitive than Mercedes are.
DanThorn
22nd May 2010, 11:03
Glock and Trulli have gotta be better than Nakajima and Villeneuve surely!
JHunt123
21st May 2010, 19:42
Some more pics here, the front end looks extreme as well..
http://response.jp/article/2010/05/21/140687.html
http://response.jp/article/2010/05/21/140675.html
http://response.jp/article/2010/05/21/140692.html
Glenn
21st May 2010, 20:11
Sweet find. Found this pic too…
http://response.jp/imgs/zoom/264257.jpg
Closer look at the front end.
Glenn
21st May 2010, 20:15
The nose is sweet. Kinda follows the same shape as the Mclaren nose. Wide and Flat.
http://response.jp/imgs/zoom/264274.jpg
Glenn
21st May 2010, 20:25
http://response.jp/imgs/zoom/264254.jpg
Interesting shot of the lower rear wing end plate. It has shaped slots.. This is new? I have not seen any other team run this?
Cube
21st May 2010, 21:06
Toyota had them last year on the TF109
The front wing is a Gascgoyne design, similar to the Lotus front wing.
Scribe
22nd May 2010, 12:17
Meh, looks like a cross between the Sauber and the Williams, not a magnificent double diffuser either.
This looks like it would have been racing at the back with the other established teams, I wish HRT or someone had the funds to buy it though, Lotus?
Ah well, sad that it wasn’t raced, definatley wouldn’t have been with the new teams but I’m not devastated.
Cacarella
21st May 2010, 19:55
It looks like something that would take part in some sort of ‘Elitist’ racing series. I’m disappointed in Toyota for designing such a thing!
theRoswellite
21st May 2010, 20:47
…remember the Toyota karma….
..which means of course, that this car would have been a championship contender at the least. They abandoned ship just as it was coming in…(just never getting it right!)
At least the two Japanese car giants, as far as F1 goes of late, are still joined at the hip, or is that the funny bone, probably not, as I hear no laughter coming from that corner of the world.
Someone should ask King Adrian N. what he thinks.
Rob Gallagher
21st May 2010, 21:06
Keith which track was the car driven at? Did it use 2010 F1 tyres and if so are there any lap times?
Casanova
24th May 2010, 9:23
They wouldn’t have been allowed 2010 F1 tyres – remember that not being provided any tyres by Bridgestone (because of not having an entry) was what stopped Stefan testing with this car pre-season.
OEL
21st May 2010, 22:56
Had only Raikkönen or Kubica choosen to drive fo Toyota this year, I think the team would be saved and that car would have challenged for the title now. Or it would’ve been too slow, we’ll never know.
Fer no.65
21st May 2010, 23:21
Not really…
Had Toyota been a reasonably good team, it would’ve been racing this year, no matter its drivers. But it just wasn’t.
I really don’t miss them. They were pretty much hopeless…
OEL
22nd May 2010, 17:32
I think the Toyota bosses told the team they wantet to quit the sport because of no sucsess, and the team replied in a desperet atempt to save the team that the car was good enough to win but that they lacked winning drivers. Toyota would probably give the team another chance, if they got proven winners like Kubica or Räikkönen, so they openly said they wanted them. As none of them were interested, Toyota didn’t want to spend any more money and the team was shut down.
Of course, I’m only guessing.
Mike
24th May 2010, 5:54
Sounds like a very reasonable hypothesis.
JUGNU
22nd May 2010, 11:54
@OEL
agree absolutely. Also Trulli had two chances of scoring the badly needed win at Bahrain and Spa but he and team messed up. Toyota definitely lacked quality people like say Newey and Vettel combo, Brawn and Schumacher combo or just Hamilton or Alonso like drivers and they could have had much more success.
Seeing the TF110 like that makes me very sad. What it could have been only God knows but i just think it could have been Toyota’s best car yet and very competitive.
DanThorn
22nd May 2010, 14:41
In DC’s book (I think it’s DC) he mentioned that he approached Toyota about driving for them in 2005 after he left McLaren. Apparently the management were very dismissive and believed they already had the two best drivers on the grid in Ralf and Trulli. Kinda says it all…
Calum
21st May 2010, 22:58
To be honest I don’t think it would have been able to beat the RBRs but part of me is sad we don’t get to see it racing competatively, afterall it looks a cracker!
Johnny86
22nd May 2010, 0:57
The exhaust pipes looks to be at a lower position than the normal cars.looks like it’ll blow all the hot air into the tyres not the diffuser.may be it’ll heat up the tyres faster than normal
Rob Gallagher
22nd May 2010, 0:58
No, that would just blster the tyres and damage them.
Johnny86
22nd May 2010, 1:02
The front wing is quite good i think.it has a bent slot to deviate the turbulent air from the front tyres.i think the new teams can buy some parts of the car budget permitting i guess.
Johnny86
22nd May 2010, 1:05
@rob may be they have some integrated air cooling device bcoz the pipes look to be blowing the air straight into the rear tyres
the Sri Lankan
22nd May 2010, 1:50
what a shame! does anyone know if its still too late to use this car and possibly introduce it as a B-spec at some point in the season? i cant help but to think what would have happened if someone with a grid entry like virgin or lotus had snapped this baby up. instead the cars chances of being competed was ******** around by some dimwit from Serbia without even a grid entry and a website full of spelling mistakes.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
22nd May 2010, 9:20
I sure hope he isn’t talking about me…
the Sri Lankan
27th May 2010, 2:25
nah i was’nt talking about you Keith.
Patrickl
23rd May 2010, 9:05
So true and that con artist from Serbia had many fans riled up too. Frightening how easily people get manipulated.
Jonesracing82
22nd May 2010, 2:04
it’s a pity they’d have painted it in thier boring red/white color scheme
BasCB
22nd May 2010, 9:57
The Stefan GP red looks like a big mistake, no way Ferrari would have agreed with that.
Interesting keel below the very high and flat nose, it almost looks as if they have air inlets of some sort behind it. Shame they do not show much of the diffusor.
And look at the position of those camera mounts.
wasiF1
22nd May 2010, 10:36
I feel sad as Keith said those cars belongs on the race tracks not in a showroom. I think that car could have been competitive they did a great job with the car on the tail end of 2009.
HounslowBusGarage
22nd May 2010, 12:11
“and a ride height adjustment system . . .”
Hmmm. I wonder if that’s similar to what the Red Bulls seem to have? And is it legal?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
22nd May 2010, 22:20
Well, it’s not like this one is going to have to pass scrutineering!
Patrickl
23rd May 2010, 9:06
It’s claimed that Ferrari has a legal system too.
GST
22nd May 2010, 14:22
Remember, Jacques Villeneuve had a seat fitting for this car, and had already been in the car with the engine started up.
Imagine if this car had been legal, fully developed and quick, Jacques could have done a Button for 2010!
ccolanto
25th May 2010, 19:24
imagine that!! that would of been AMAAAZING!
Floyd
23rd May 2010, 8:52
Toyota should have sold their car to USF1. That way the could have exited the sport as a whole team and reduced cost but could have remained as Engine partners.
It would have been a win-win situation for both parties. As USF1 would get a full developed car and Toyota would get extra publicity in the highly attractive US market.
I still don’t understand why BMW & Toyota had to exit the sport fully. They could have still got the Marketing advantages of F1 by remaining on as engine partners. Especially if they stayed on with Sauber & Williams.
AB
23rd May 2010, 13:30
I think the problem with USF1 was a financial one. It was reported that the main sponsor-to-be bailed out after seeing the team had no hope of making the grid at Bahrain. If you read the current issue of F1-Racing, all the team had to show for was a half-finished nose cone.
As for Stefan-GP, I tend to agree with Max Mosley and Luca di Montezemolo. Stefan was not never a serious candidate. They had nothing but a letter from the Serbian tourism commission saying the team had their full support. Forgive me for saying this, but these Balkan were nothing but a bunch of con-artists. Their purchase of the Toyota F1 assets were contingent on them getting entry into F1.
I think someone should continue to talk with the Toyota F1 team (or what’s left of it). If their technical capabilities have not withered too much, then I think they are able to design a decent car for the 2011 season much like Honda did when they wrote off the 2008 season and focused on 2009.
BMW and Toyota had to quit F1 because they were not achieving any success and both companies were laying off staff en masse. For BMW, it was a choice of laying off 2,000 employees or save that money by quitting F1. Also, BMW had pinned its hopes on its KERS and it didn’t deliver.
BasCB
24th May 2010, 21:09
Well actually the team was more or less standing still in the development and manufacturing. That prompted the sponsors to back out and made it go under.
So if they would have jumped at the possibility immediately in January and snapped it up, USF1 might have had a chance.
Toyota could have been happy to help them, as it would be good for the american market!
Sri
25th May 2010, 12:08
I really hate to see people lapping up all the BS from teams about the financial uncertainty making them quit F1… Toyota is still competing in many series… The reason why some big ticket manufacturers cut and run was because of more privateers coming in, which is not a bad thing. However means to allow more teams/ privateers in were questionable at the very best. Things like forced cost cuts/ budgets, and regulations to restrict development work(for lack of a better expression) etc. to make it what is by and large becoming another spec series… this is what actually made manufacturers move away. Dr. Thiessen had once already said that whence F1 be dumbed down, BMW exits. The morons were discussing spec engines and gearboxes, and that’s when even Ferrari put their foot down and firmly.
The reason why they cited financial meltdown, all of the teams who exited F1 that is, because it was bleeding darned convenient. I fail to come to terms with why people can’t understand this… it was not the money, they are still spending it, somewhere or the other… Just not in F1, as it is not the same and is losing charm and marketing value.
AB
27th May 2010, 4:49
BMW was on the eighth year of their five year plan to win the F1 Championship. They were no closer to winning the Championship in 2009 and Munich was right to pull the plug on the F1 program.
Mario Theissen pinned all his hope on the KERS system and he went against all other team principals to press ahead with racing the KERS in 2009 and not delaying it. BMW rarely used its KERS system in 2009 and its system (along with the rest of the car) proved inferior and unreliable.
The Mosley-spec engine and gearbox would have made F1 far less attractive to BMW, Honda, Toyota, and other car manufacturers. But I am certain that BMW would still be no closer to winning in F1, no matter what rules are in place.
Yes, BMW is still racing in other categories, but they are in the lesser categories such as ALMS, the Hertz car series (sorry, the world touring car championship), and its only formula BMW series. All those activities don’t come close to the annual F1 budget of $200million.
VXR
28th May 2010, 1:42
None of which explains why FOTA are still commited to cutting costs in F1.
The sport is still far too expensive to compete in, for what is essentially putting two cars on a grid about 20 times a year.
Neither Honda, Toyota or BMW are likely to enter F1 again until costs are brought down even more.
Mercedes will be reconsidering their participation in F1 with regard to this seasons results. Rumour is that the ‘management’ were expecting to have won a couple of races by now.
Renault are basicly 80% someone elses.
Chaz
27th May 2010, 18:44
What a waste…
Nipuna Caldera
28th July 2011, 9:53
Jarno trulli and glock were the reason toyota didnt win races in 2009, the car was quick as qualifying times showed but they lacked the single minded commitment in the race. i was very dissapointed.