Toyota unleashes hybrid LeMans racer

The TS303 Hybrid will take the fight to LeMans next year.

The TS303 Hybrid will take the fight to LeMans next year.

Published Jan 25, 2012

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On a quest to prove that hybrid doesn't only equate to boring but efficient motoring, Toyota has pulled the covers off its 2012 LeMans challenger, the TS303 Hybrid.

As a successor to the iconic TS010 and TS020 cars of the '90s, the TS303 will also be the first hybrid vehicle to enter the FIA World Endurance Championship.

The race car's powertrain is dubbed THS-R, which stands for Toyota Hybrid System - Racing, and it comprises an all new 3.4-litre normally aspirated V8 petrol motor mated to a capacitor storage system developed by team partner Nisshinbo.

Complementing it is a brand new carbon fibre LMP1 chassis, developed by TMG.

During an exclusive test session at Paul Ricard circuit in France, which included running in darkness, the TS030 Hybrid completed several hundred kilometres, and according to Toyota it showed an impressive level of reliability and performance for this very early stage in the car's testing programme.

Team president Yoshiaki Kinoshita is cautiously optimistic about the car's potential next year: "Of course we would love to win Le Mans; that is the dream for all competitors in this race. But we are realistic and we know we need to develop and to learn in order to compete with some very strong competition."

Technical director Pascal Vasselon said: "The two main performance drivers of our hybrid car are the aerodynamics and the hybrid system. The regulations for hybrid powertrains allow us to recover energy under braking and release this to improve acceleration out of a corner, delivering lap-time benefit.

"For any given performance level, a hybrid powertrain will achieve this with less fuel so it is an extremely relevant technology and one we are excited to be bringing to endurance racing."

The technology is reportedly capable of recovering up to 500kJ between braking events, energy which can be released via either front or rear motors to deliver a performance advantage.

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