The TS040 Hybrid is looking mighty rapid this year, with a huge increase in stamina and budget for the Toyota Motorsports Group based in Cologne, Germany.

Training with past winners and local talent can only be considered a huge new asset in the Toyota WEC racing ambition for its LMP1 cars.

TS040 Hybrid running from ToyotaGB on Vimeo.

So, is the TS040 fast and powerful enough to outwit the Porsche 919 Hybrid and Audi R18 trio? Fast enough remains to be seen, but the Toyota effort in LMP1 has garnered five race victories since 2012, which is certainly nothing to write off.

Powerful enough? Oh yes. The TS040 runs a 3.7-liter V8 to  the back wheels and a giant AWD hybrid boost setup — for a total of 986-horsepower to the tracks of Silverstone, Fuji, Spa and the rest. Super-capacitors replace batteries altogether.

TS040 Hybrid — Stats Brief:

• Gasoline 3.7-liter V8 — Horsepower: 513

• Electric AWD system — Horsepower: 473

1992-1994 LMP1 Toyota  TS010

1998 LMP1 Toyota TS020

This 3.7-liter V8 is rather large versus the Nissan ZEOD RC’s 1.5-liter triple from Garage 57 (the green experimental class), and certainly versus the Porsche 919’s V-4 gasoline engine layout. V-4 from Porsche? Yes, you read that right.

The main way to make a V-4 is to cut a V8 down the middle, by the way. But as Toyota learned with its Prius Hybrid road cars — a smaller engine can actually increase overall fuel consumption because it must work harder to deliver any movement.

Toyota, therefore, appears to be hedging the V8’s higher fuel consumption with the fact that the much-larger engine will not need as much absolute caning to keep pace up when the batteries are depleted.

Visually, from many angles, the Porsche and Toyota cars are quite similar.

Stay tuned. LeMans proper is June 14th, but the action starts at Silverstone in just a few weeks. For American WEC fans, COTA in Austin will host one of the season’s final races on September 20th.

Official Details below from Toyota ahead of the first WEC race on April 20, 2014 at Silverstone, plus a look at some of Toyota Motorsport’s greatest hits on a run up Goodwood hill.

The Camry NASCAR must have been a loud and exciting treat for these posh Brits…!

TOYOTA RACING ENTER NEW ERA WITH THE TS040 HYBRID

Toyota Racing today took the wraps off the new TS040 Hybrid, the car which will take the team into the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship and a new era of hybrid powered motorsport.

The new car, revealed today at the Paul Ricard circuit in the South of France, represents the most advanced hybrid technology in modern racing. Tomorrow it will begin an official championship test session, prior to making its competition debut at the season-opening Six Hours of Silverstone race on 20 April.

Toyota will be taking on rival manufacturers Audi and Porsche with a car that benefits from 480PS (473bhp/353kW) of all-wheel drive hybrid boost in addition to the 520PS (513bhp/383kW) produced by its 3.7-litre V8 petrol engine, taking maximum power to 1,000PS (986bhp/736kW).

The new powertrain has been developed in line with revised WEC technical regulations, which put an emphasis on fuel economy. Teams are required to use 25 per cent less fuel than in 2013, with savings achieved through changes to powertrains, aerodynamics and driving style.

By adopting more road-relevant technology, the WEC will increase the possibilities for the transfer of Toyota’s race-bred technical know-how to its production cars, strengthening is status as the world’s leading manufacturer of hybrid vehicles.

Toyota Racing have made gains in efficiency and performance by using specialist lubricants they have developed with their 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 V8 engine has been engineered at the Higashfuji technical centre, the research base where Toyota’s next-generation road car technology is also developed.

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 10cm and the adoption of additional safety features.

Particular attention has been paid to managing airflow around the car, not only to reduce drag and improve fuel economy, but also to increase downforce and grip to compensate for the use of narrower tyres.

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.

The TS040 Hybrid has already completed 12 days of testing across Europe since January and it will undergo a further test following this week’s prologue event ahead of its first race.

Driver line-up

Toyota Racing have shuffled the pack of drivers for the new season, with Alex Wurz, Stéphane Sarrazin and Kazuki Nakajima sharing the No7 car and Anthony Davidson, Nicolas Lapierre and Sébastien Buemi piloting the No8 machine.

 

Looking ahead to the prospects for the 2014 season, including a return to the Le Mans 24 Hours, Davidson said: “It’s hard to know where our competition will be performance-wise. We are waiting to face them on track but you have to expect Audi will have done a good job and will probably be the one to beat despite Porsche’s heritage in this category. The target is clear for us: winning races and of course Le Mans, which remains the main goal and the race I want to win. We just have to make the final step forward after our 2013 result.”

He is confident the new car has what it takes: “When I first saw the car, I was most impressed with the level of detail. The aerodynamics are very advanced and you can immediately see how much effort the team has put into this when you look at the car. From the driving seat, the most impressive aspect is the four-wheel drive hybrid; the traction and the power really feel good when you come out of a corner.

2014 FIA World Endurance Championship Calendar:

20 Apr             Six Hours of Silverstone (GB)

3 May              Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (Bel)

14 Jun             Le Mans 24 Hours (Fra)

20 Sep             Six Hours of Circuit of the Americas (USA)

12 Oct              Six Hours of Fuji (Jpn)

2 Nov              Six Hours of Shanghai (Chi)

15 Nov            Six Hours of Bahrain

30 Nov           Six Hours of Sao Paulo (Bra)