Yeah you know it, its the mac daddy of its time, the GT-one by Toyota. There's lots of story that is worth your time behind this, but no sorry, I have to keep it low and readable without getting tired of it, but I'll try to extend the most of point without breaking it apart, but damn its a long story.
So what do you know about this car? Do you actually even know what this car is? I bet you're not. But to be frank, I too did not know jack shit about this car... The only time I ever saw this car is when I was still a wee, do you guys remember the PlayStation 1 game called Gran Turismo? well they do include this car in it, it was in their second GT
Well that's the only thing I can remember about this car, but that's not it, for we haven't discussed it yet, with the power of other article (that I will provide in the end of this post) I will gather the most of point in it with my own skimming method.. Lets hope it won't suck :P
The Toyota 'TS020', or well know by the most of us and also in Europe as the Toyota GT-One, is a pure-bred specifically made car to contest in Le Mans, the worlds most Famous 24-hour race, with no compromising anything in the terms of design or engineering whatsoever.
The GT-One was built at Toyota Motorsports HQ in Cologne, the work of a team assembled specially for the task by Andre de Coranze, De Cortanze completed the chassis concept in January 1997 and within two months work was well in hand on the general design and details of the car's front , rear and fuel tank. By may the doors and the rear and side structures as well, were finished and the task was completed by September, Its actually considered as one of the most advanced project designing, There were no drawing boards were used at all, rather it is relying entirely on CAD systems.
The first very first chassis was delivered in October 1997, the sleek shape of the bodywork having it been refined using a wind tunnel in Italy, De Cortanze's design was characterised by minial air vents in the body. You literally can see how weird but works how it looks, but now in these times, its doesn't look that weird actually haha.
The first GT-One chassis then took its ran by December 1997, less than a year from the start of the project. Initial test and development was undertaken by Martin Brundle, but later then all nine, yeah there were 9 drivers who were given significant time at the wheel
The engine itself, had its heritage in the twin-turbo V8 which powered Toyota's Group C cars in the late 1980s. The TTE(Toyota Team Europe) engine division, let by Norbert Kreyer, completely revised the original design, reducing the height and wight improving fuel economy, boosting power and changing the rev range, so its like the upgraded version of the previous one, duh.
The car made then its first competition appearance in the 1998 Le Mans race, qualifying in second. The team of Thierry Boutsen, Emmanuel Collard and Eric Hélary held second place in the race until the final hour, when the Toyota was forced into retirement through transmission failur. Team-mates Ukyo Katayama, Thiosio Suzuki, who also the pilots of the car once again at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, and Keiichi Tsuchiya took the chequered flag in ninth position.
Toyota returned to Le Mans the following year and swept all competition aside in qualifying to claim first, second and the third place on the grid in qualifying. But in the race, number 1 and 2 cars which driven by Brundly/Collard/Sospiri and other one which had Boutsen/Kellners/McNish on the the wheels, were sidelined by separate accidents. The third car who had Katayama/Suzuki/Tsuchiya as the pilots, made a rapid progress in the second half of the race and posted a new lap record of 3m 35.032s on its way to the second place finish, well its actually not so bad at all.
Well those were the few history of this magnifique car, which some of Ya'll may dreamed of
Source of the article can be seen here, with the supportive article from SpeedHunters is here
