Toyota is quitting F1

RPKESQ · 11-04-2009, 08:13 AM

Long rumored, finally confirmed. Toyota has withdrawn from Formula 1.

Toyota builds great automobiles but, despite massive effort and funding, have never been able to really compete on par with many lesser manufactures in racing.

TheMentat · TheMentat's Garage

Gotta feel bad for that Kobayashi kid. He made a fantastic debut.

tchanson · 11-04-2009, 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RPKESQ

Toyota builds great automobiles but, despite massive effort and funding, have never been able to really compete on par with many lesser manufactures in racing.

Really? You must be overlooking their 3 WRC titles in the '90's.

That said, it's hard to argue with their F1 decision, after 8 years and an estimated $2.4 billion spent without a single race win to show for it.

I think the die was cast when they threw buckets of long term money at the hapless Ralf Schumacher for years.

So, in the past 11 months, Honda is out, BMW is out, Toyota is out and this week Bridgestone announced they are out when their contract ends next year.

Yet the circus rolls along with Bernie and CVC continuing to collect ever higher fees from middle and far eastern potentates to schedule races where no one cares and teams don't wish to be. What a business model.

Tim

TheMentat · TheMentat's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by tchanson

I think the die was cast when they threw buckets of long term money at the hapless Ralf Schumacher for years.

No doubt!

RPKESQ · 11-04-2009, 09:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tchanson

Really? You must be overlooking their 3 WRC titles in the '90's.

Tim

No, I did not ignore any of their very limited success in racing. But when you look at bang for the buck spent, Toyota has an extremely poor track record in several racing venues that they have attempted to compete in.

Deschodt · 11-04-2009, 09:19 AM

And right now, today, the brass at Renault is having a "meeting" to discuss its future, following Toyota's departure...

Which is odd given they hired Kubica and supply engines... But I would not be surprised if they pulled out and just became an engine manufacturer... Next year for sure.. This year they may try to sell the team !

dd74 · 11-04-2009, 09:26 AM

Eh! At least we still have NASCAR. Kobayashi and Ralf should come drive a real race car.

Deschodt · 11-04-2009, 09:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dd74

Eh! At least we still have NASCAR. Kobayashi and Ralf should come drive a real race car.

EWWWW.... ;-) At least we still WRC back to keep us watching something over the long winter !

jluetjen · jluetjen's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by tchanson

Really? You must be overlooking their 3 WRC titles in the '90's.

The funny thing is that I'm not sure that many people remember that during that time that they were caught "caught with their hand in the cookie jar" in a far worse fashion then Flavio. They were caught with a cleverly engineered and disguised circumvention of the Toyota Celica's turbo intake restricter. It looked like a pipe going into the turbo, but when a vacuum was present inside the plenum, it would pull a concealed, spring-loaded cover back and something like another 10%-20% volume of air into the turbo. It resulted in the German based team being banned from WRC for a number of years and the key players were also banned.

For some reason the Germany based Toyota team always left me a little cold after that.

On the other hand, I'm sure that Peter Sauber is breathing a sigh of relief since this gives him a better chance of making the grid next year with the former BMW team.

legion · 11-04-2009, 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheMentat

Gotta feel bad for that Kobayashi kid. He made a fantastic debut.

That's the only tragedy in this IMO.

I hope he finds a ride.

Deschodt · 11-04-2009, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jluetjen

The funny thing is that I'm not sure that many people remember that during that time that they were caught "caught with their hand in the cookie jar" in a far worse fashion then Flavio. .

They did it again after that.. Was it 2003 ? Their F1 car looked suspiciously like a Ferrari, and Ferrari drawings were found at Toyota Germany, people got fired, Ove Anderson retired shortly thereafter... I'm fuzzy on the details, but it's not the first time !
Cheating is nothing new in F1 ;-)

herr_oberst · 11-04-2009, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deschodt

Cheating is nothing new ;-)

fixed it for ya

herr_oberst · 11-04-2009, 10:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tchanson

Yet the circus rolls along with Bernie and CVC continuing to collect ever higher fees from middle and far eastern potentates to schedule races where no one cares and teams don't wish to be. What a business model.
Tim

I read this and thought "I could have written this" and yet, I watched every race.

It's still way better than most other racing, just for the backstory alone.

HardDrive · 11-04-2009, 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dd74

Eh! At least we still have NASCAR. Kobayashi and Ralf should come drive a real race car.

They might find the 'only turn left' aspect of it perplexing. Fat guys in the stands with a giant shaved 3 shaved into their back hair could also be distracting.

teenerted1 · 11-04-2009, 02:39 PM

all the more room for cosworth to come back...didnt the new lotus team sign them up as their engine supplier?

legion · 11-04-2009, 02:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by teenerted1

all the more room for cosworth to come back...didnt the new lotus team sign them up as their engine supplier?

It was my understanding that all of the new teams were forced to accept Cosworth engines as a condition of their entry to F1 being accepted.