Toyota is planning a return to endurance racing at the Le Mans 24 hour race - in a hybrid.
According to a report in the Japanese paper Yomiuri Shimbun, the world's leading seller of hybrid vehicles wants to boost its eco-cred by showcasing its green technology at Le Mans in 2010. Toyota started developing hybrid race cars in 2006 and has dozens of employees in its racing and hybrid development divisions building a racer for Le Mans.
The big challenge, according to an unidentified Toyota official quoted by Yomiuri Shimbun, is paring weight from the hybrid drivetrain and building a transmission stout enough to do the job.
Toyota has enjoyed some success with hybrid racing, having handily won the Tokachi 24-hour endurance race in a Supra HV-R hybrid. Toyota stopped competing at Le Mans in 1999, when it placed second, to focus on Formula 1 racing. Although F1 will adopt regenerative braking in 2009, Le Mans is becoming a showcase for alternative fuels and technologies. Audi dominated the field in 2006 and 2007 with its diesel R10 TDI, and Panoz entered its Q9 hybrid racer in the 1998 Le Mans race but was eliminated in qualifying.
Photo by Jan Magnussen.
