Need a Formula One car design? 2010 Toyota racer reportedly for sale
Toyota only made the decision to abandon its Formula One program a few weeks ago, but the lead time for developing a new car is a much longer than that. The engineering team at Toyota's Cologne F1 headquarters had been working on the 2010 car for most of 2009, and the actual design is already complete and ready for construction.
Given that a number of new teams are entering F1 for the first time in 2010, they'll be trying to develop new designs from the ground up. Interestingly, has Toyota evidently has decided not to sell the team and its existing infrastructure. However, it is offering up the designs that have been developed for the now abandoned new car. Teams could potentially buy all the necessary CAD data needed to build a car from an established team. Given the relative lack of success that Toyota has had during its F1 tenure in spite of the cubic dollars it has spent, teams might want to look elsewhere, but who knows? The price tag is likely to be cheaper than designing a whole new car from scratch.
[Source: Autocar]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mike7 5:39PM (11/13/2009)
Another case of autoblog not reading itself?
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/11/12/how-much-is-that-f1-in-the-window-toyota-reportedly-looking-to
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jjpg2000 5:46PM (11/13/2009)
yep
Tourian 5:56PM (11/13/2009)
How much could it be worth from a company that had very little success at the series? I'm thinking last year's Mercedes would be more desirable to run. I've heard of budget teams running 1 year old cars before to get their feet wet, I'm just sayin'.
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PumaGTO 6:30PM (11/13/2009)
"Thy shall not judge a design based on the company success."
Remember: Brawn GP was fundamentaly based on Honda´s design, wich was a long-run loser on the F1.
Tourian 6:40PM (11/13/2009)
But the Brawn car was modified, and had Mercedes power right? So it wasn't like they just ran the same old loser Honda car and suddenly won. Or are you suggesting that this is just a design that some fledgling team would then radically modify and be successful with? I was under the impression it was being sold as a completed car and would then be run with very little changes. IF the former is true then I completely understand what you are saying.
PumaGTO 8:16PM (11/13/2009)
As far as my interpretation of the text says, they´re selling the car´s design, not the material thing, so it would be changeble in any way the buying team desires.
I don´t know about the engine though... In other post i read that all new teams in F1 would use the Cosworth engine, so despite the obvious quality of the Mercedes engine, it seems nobody´s buying it.
Sam 11:55AM (11/14/2009)
Its not just that no one wants the Mercedes engine its just that they can't as they use it in their own team. There is a limit to how many customer engines you can supply. Mercedes were actually given special dispensation to supply Brawn having already reached their quota.
Cosworth however could theoretically supply the whole grid because they don't have a team so don't have the 3 team quota.
hashiryu 12:09PM (11/14/2009)
I also recall this years Toyota being a heck of a lot faster than the Mercedes-McLaren most of this season. Guess you don't actually follow the sport huh?
Venom 5:58PM (11/13/2009)
I 'll give them 50 bucks for it.
"In Philadelphia it's worth 50 bucks"
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John H. 6:57PM (11/13/2009)
tree-fiddy!
Matt 7:20AM (11/15/2009)
If it didn't have "design" in the title I'd enter a bidding war with you, good sir
RacingLord 8:23PM (11/13/2009)
Okay,I'm right now very,very confused.What are the F1 teams for next year?Please someone tell me!!Is it official yet?
What i think i know.There are going to be THREE new teams(maybe a fourth)which are
Team US F1
Campos Grand Prix
Manor Grand Prix
All of which are using Cosworth engines.
What happen to Lotus?I remember reading somewhere that they were for sure given a spot.Of the Original 10,BMW,Toyota and Renault are leaving.Does that mean toyota and Reanult will still supply engines????
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The Hit 12:03AM (11/14/2009)
Lotus is in; also using Cosworth engines.
Sauber is now owned by QADBAK, but they're looking for a spot since BMW was voluntarily left out of F1, possibly by obtaining it from Toyota, who was supposed to have guaranteed participation but backed off.
ufgrat 1:15AM (11/15/2009)
At the time the three new teams were approved (USF1, Campos, Manor), the FOTA (teams association), including Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault, BMW and Toyota, was threatening a walkout. Since that would in theory include their engines, the FIA only considered applicants that were planning on using Cosworth.
Then BMW/Sauber dropped out, and Lotus/Proton came in-- also planning on running Cosworth. It's not really Team Lotus any more, as it's a Malaysian concern that wants to be a "Malaysian team run by Malaysians with Malaysian drivers" eventually (and with a Malaysian sponsor-- Petronas), but they don't have the drivers or the sponsor yet. Interestingly, in the Malaysian news, they're "A Lotus-powered racing team, to be called the 1Malaysia F1 team".
Red Bull (Renault engines) would like to run Mercedes next year, but Williams (switching from Toyota engine to Cosworth) said No.
With Toyota dropping out, it's probable that Sauber will be back in, but no one knows who the Qadbak folks are, and there's an open question as to what engine Sauber will run, with BMW pulling out.
Renault seems to be staying, as they haven't announced they're leaving, although I suspect that depends on them finding sponsorship for next year.
razrrick13 3:16AM (11/23/2009)
I think this would be a good opportunity if they decide to let another team in. Remember, Toyota had 2 consecutive 2nd places at Singapore and Suzuka. They also sweeped the front row at Bahrain and Jarno was set to do well at Belgium until he damaged his front wing or something. So overall, they did pretty well.
*In my opinion next year you're going to see teams with multiple noses: 1 with less downforce and better airflow (Force India VJM02 alike, great at Belgium and Monza) and a wider nose that will be used more often (like Red Bull's RB5's). The only excpetion might be the Brawn because they have a nice, neutral nose and their car already has a good, low center of gravity. Even in the last few rounds it proved to be very competitve against the Red Bull's.
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