Lola-Toyota Wins Europe's Le Mans Series Manufacturers' Championship

REBELLION Racing's Lola-Toyota cars feature chassis technology from Lola and a 3.4litre petrol engine supplied by Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG), the Toyota RV8KLM. Image Credit: REBELLION Racing

Lola-Toyota Wins Europe's Le Mans Series Manufacturers' Championship

With a back to back win at the 6 Hours of Silverstone on 11th September, following their victory at Imola in July, REBELLION Racing have scored enough points to secure victory in the Le Mans Series Manufacturers’ Championship for Lola-Toyota with one race still to go.

This first Manufacturer win for Lola-Toyota has been achieved less than 12 months since the team’s Lola-Toyota test car completed its first evaluation tests in Spain and Portugal.

The team’s Lola-Toyota LMP1 cars have secured two wins, at Imola and Silverstone, and five podium finishes in just eight Le Mans Series starts this season.

At the Le Mans 24 Hours this year one of the team’s Lola-Toyotas won the unofficial LMP1 petrol classification, with sixth place overall.

The team will be in action again this week at Estoril in Portugal for the finale of the Le Mans Series, with the target of winning both the Teams’ and Drivers’ championships.

What is best for ALMS fans here in America ... REBELLION Racing will have this championship car competing at the 14th annual Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda, Sept. 28 - Oct. 1, 11:30 a.m. ET. This race is held near Atlanta, Georgia.

Image Credit: lemans.org

Alexandre Pesci, REBELLION Racing Team Principal:

"I am very pleased for all the Rebellion Racing members and fans to achieve such an incredible result. Winning the Manufacturers' Championship in the first year of our relationship with TMG, and also for the last year of LMP1 cars in the Le Mans Series, is a great reward for all parties involved. I am extremely happy for what Bart and the whole team have achieved this year thanks to their dedication, professionalism and efforts. I am sure that Hugh would be proud of them. I would like also to thank the drivers; Nico, Neel, Jean-Christophe and Andrea for the wonderful job they have done this year in the LMS. Now we have to stay focused on the last leg of the LMS where Teams’ and Drivers’ titles are still to be settled and battling against the immense Pescarolo team is no small job".

Bart Hayden, REBELLION Racing Team Manager:

"We are delighted that we have won the LMS Manufacturers’ Championship for Lola-Toyota in the first year of our collaboration. This achievement is the best way to establish a strong and long term relationship. I would like to include Michelin in the Manufacturers’ Championship win, they have provided us a first class service all year with quick, consistent and durable tyres."

Martin Birrane, Executive Chairman and Owner of Lola Group:

"The Le Mans Series LMP1 Manufacturers title is just reward for the skill and dedication of every Lola, TMG and REBELLION engineer and team member. It is especially rewarding to work with professional customer teams such as REBELLION Racing and engine suppliers such as TMG, who like Lola have a meticulous approach to the LMP1 programme."

Yoshiaki Kinoshita, President of Toyota Motorsport GmbH:

“Congratulations to the REBELLION Racing team on this great achievement. We are proud to share the Le Mans Series Manufacturers’ Championship title with Lola. From the beginning, our cooperation with REBELLION and Lola has been very fruitful and a great experience for everyone involved. Now we will keep our fingers crossed for the last race in Estoril where hopefully REBELLION can finish the season by securing both the Teams’ and Drivers’ Championship titles.”
(ht: Toyota Motorsport GmbH)

... notes from The EDJE

[Article first published as Lola-Toyota Wins Europe's Le Mans Series Manufacturers' Championship on Technorati]

Toyota Motorsport GmbH Successful At Electric Vehicle Timed Speed Record

The TMG EV P001 electric vehicle next to its new electric lap record time at the Nürburgring Nordschleife [ctrl-click image to launch video of speed record run]. Image Credit: Toyota Motorsport GmbH

Toyota Motorsport GmbH Successful At Electric Vehicle Timed Speed Record

Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG) has set a new lap record for an electric vehicle (EV) at the legendary 20.8km Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit in Germany.

The TMG EV P001, with 100% electric powertrain and Jochen Krumbach at the wheel, set a new lap record of 7mins 47.794secs to beat the previous lap record, which stood at 9mins 1.338secs, by a very substantial margin.

The TMG EV P001 electric vehicle on its way to setting a new lap record for electric vehicles at the Nürburgring Nordschleife. Image Credit: Toyota Motorsport GmbH

Using two electric motors, the TMG electric powertrain has a top speed of 260km/h (161.556509981707 miles per hour) which combined with 800Nm of torque to achieve impressive speeds on the extremely challenging Nordschleife track, which includes significant elevation changes and lengthy flat-out sections.

TMG’s target, prior to the 29 August record run, was to become the first electric vehicle break the eight-minute barrier and this was achieved comfortably on a day when the notoriously changeable Nürburgring weather stayed fine, although track temperatures were relatively low.

The TMG EV P001 electric vehicle photo shot before its lap record attempt at the Nürburgring Nordschleife. Image Credit: Toyota Motorsport GmbH

Such performance shows TMG’s electric powertrain is ideal to power any future single-make electric motorsport series and TMG will begin commercial sales of this technology in 2012. TMG continues to advance its electric vehicle capability for motorsport applications with in-house development of the electric powertrain and ongoing investigations into alternative chassis solutions.

The future of alternative powertrain racing (non-petro/non-liquid fuel) is at hand ... but, to what end?

... notes from The EDJE

Toyota leaves Formula 1 with departing email

Panasonic Toyota Racing’s last Formula 1 car, the TF109. The end of Panasonic Toyota Racing's Formula 1 program is not the end of activity on www.toyota-f1.com - far from it. Image Credit: Toyota Motor Corporation

Toyota leaves Formula 1 with departing email

This morning, those who had been following the exploits of the Toyota Formula racing effort throughout the last couple of seasons, woke up to an email communique outlining the last efforts Toyota Motorsport GmbH will be doing to close the final chapter of their effort.

Jarno Trulli and former Champ Car World Series driver, Timo Glock have moved on, both have signed to drive with newly formed teams for the 2010 F1 season. Jarno was confirmed as one of the newly-formed Lotus F1 Racing's team drivers, joining former McLaren driver Heikki Kovalainen. Timo chose an option where he will be guaranteed a drive, although the car might be less competitive, at the newly formed Virgin Racing. Virgin's car for 2010 will be the first F1 car designed entirely using CFD computer simulation technology and will be powered with Cosworth engines. Timo will be teamed with long-time Brazilian GP2 regular Lucas di Grassi.

Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli take the front row at the Bahrain Grand Prix 2009. Image Credit: Bahrain International Circuit

A visit to the farewell website is a wonderful mix of photography, technology, and past F1 memories.

This excerpted and edited from Toyota's departing email -

A virtual goodbye to Formula 1
Monday 25 January 2010

Toyota Motorsport GmbH bids farewell to Formula 1 with an offering to all those who supported it during eight emotional seasons at the pinnacle of motorsport.

Fans, media and sponsors alike can relive memories from the team in the form of exclusive photos and videos, including an eight-minute video retrospective featuring exclusive footage of moments which variously made us laugh, smile or shed a tear.

Simply visit http://ms.toyota.co.jp/en/ and click on the banner ‘A Virtual Goodbye to Formula 1' to look back on our time Formula 1.

Since our first season competing in Formula 1, in 2002, we have experienced a whole spectrum of emotions but through the highs and the lows, we have been fortunate to enjoy the valued support of partners, media and fans.

There have been so many sponsorship campaigns, media collaborations and distributor initiatives it is impossible mention individual cases but we would like to sincerely thank all those partners, media and fans who have been part of our Formula 1 adventure.

This special website represents the final act for the marketing and communications department, which has ceased normal operations.

Until further notice, all media enquiries regarding Toyota's motorsport programmes should be directed to Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan on bl-pr@mail.toyota.co.jp while only specific requests relating to Toyota Motorsport GmbH in Cologne should be directed to pr@toyota-motorsport.com.

Our media website www.toyota-f1-world.com will continue to function until the end of the year to provide an archive of photography and information from the team's time in Formula 1.
Reference Here>>

Funny, it would be nice to have the same type of departure website attention given to other automobile-culture departures that have happened over this last full year ... and not necessarily departures in motorsport.

Let's see websites devoted to the history and legacy of Pontiac, Saturn, Dodge Aspen, Hummer ... heck, lets just add General Motors and Chrysler, in general, since they were once proud companies involved in the pursuit of free-enterprise and have departed from the annuals of needs-satisfaction, profit-oriented American automobile manufacturers.

... notes from The EDJE