Panasonic Toyota Racing unveils the TF108
http://www.toyota-f1.com/public/images/news/080110_tf108/l_05.jpg
Panasonic Toyota Racing today unveiled the TF108, its entry for the 2008 FIA Formula 1 World Championship and the car it expects to challenge at the front next season.
At the team's technical centre in Cologne, Germany, key figures from Panasonic Toyota Racing joined drivers Jarno Trulli, Timo Glock and Kamui Kobayashi to take the wraps off the TF108 in front of the worldwide media and thousands of fans live on www.toyota-f1.com (http://www.toyota-f1.com).
Toyota's challenging spirit and determination to meet ambitious targets has played a key part in the evolution of the TF108, with key features of the new car being a longer wheelbase, a major aerodynamic upgrade, revised suspension and a new gearbox. Wind tunnel tests and simulations show the TF108 is a marked improvement on its predecessor and the team expects to move closer to its long-term aim of winning races and fighting for the World Championship.
http://www.toyota-f1.com/public/images/news/080110_tf108/20080110_01.jpg (http://javascript<b></b>:;)http://www.toyota-f1.com/public/images/common/spacer.gifhttp://www.toyota-f1.com/public/images/common/spacer.gif
Chairman and Team Principal Tadashi Yamashina says: "Of course, our ultimate target is the middle step of the podium - we are in Formula 1 to win and we want to do that soon. Our clear target in 2008 is to make a big improvement in our results because we were not satisfied with our performance last year. We expect to have a truly competitive car so our drivers should be aiming to finish in the points regularly and challenging for the podium."
Using the renowned Toyota Way principles to encourage innovation and a spirit of challenge, the team have worked tirelessly to finalise the TF108 concept and put their innovative thinking into practice, as Yamashina-san adds: "At the factory everyone is motivated and pushing as hard as possible, always aiming for kaizen, continuous improvement.
"The team work is very impressive and communication is very good between all departments which has definitely helped in the development of the TF108. Everybody is working together as one unit so I am very happy with that. We have real team spirit.
"We have great potential in this team - we have the right people in place and the right resources so we have every reason to be optimistic."
Since making its Formula 1 debut in 2002, Panasonic Toyota Racing has strengthened and learnt from experience. The challenge of building the entire car - chassis and engine - under one roof, with a new team is significant but everyone at the Cologne technical centre is impatient to succeed and great strides continue to be made towards the ultimate goal.
President John Howett says: "We look in good shape for 2008, there is no question about that. The hard work continues all the time. We started the TF108 in earnest more or less the day the TF107 hit the track and the development has been remorseless, which it has to be because of the competitive pressure of Formula 1.
"The key issue has been to identify the major elements which contribute to performance enhancement and put more resources into those areas. Clearly the car is improving, I think, dramatically and continually, but so are the other cars. It is therefore the relative rate of performance gain that is absolutely critical. We have to work harder and smarter than our competitors."
http://www.toyota-f1.com/public/images/news/080110_tf108/20080110_02.jpg (http://javascript<b></b>:;)http://www.toyota-f1.com/public/images/common/spacer.gif
The TF108 is significantly different to its predecessor, on the outside and the inside, as a result of the team's continuous search for improvement, as well as regulation changes.
Formula 1 technology is constantly evolving and the team's designers have kept pace, resulting in noticeable changes for the TF108. A key change is that increase in wheelbase, the distance between front and rear axles.
Senior General Manager Chassis Pascal Vasselon explains: "The main reason for making the wheelbase longer is to achieve more stability, but secondly we also expect greater aerodynamic development potential, giving our aerodynamicists wider surfaces and more space to play with."
As well as a longer wheelbase, the TF108 boasts a distinctive new aerodynamic concept and advanced suspension lay-outs.
"The aerodynamic concept of this car has changed," adds Pascal. "The TF107 was an evolution of the TF106 but this time the new package is a departure from recent Toyotas. The primary aerodynamic design philosophy for the TF108 is geared towards optimising the entire package. In mechanical terms we felt we had a strong basis so we have focused on making a few refinements."
A key element of Toyota Way thinking is genchi genbutsu - going to the source - and in developing the TF108, Pascal and his team have analysed the TF107's characteristics to find performance solutions. He says: "In 2007, the performance overall was not where it had to be so there were obviously some weaknesses. The objectives for TF108 development are aerodynamic efficiency and drivability. For 2008, we want a car offering a wider operating window."
http://www.toyota-f1.com/public/images/news/080110_tf108/20080110_03.jpg (http://javascript<b></b>:;)http://www.toyota-f1.com/public/images/common/spacer.gifhttp://www.toyota-f1.com/public/images/common/spacer.gif
Improvement is not restricted to chassis development and under the skin of the TF108 lies a new gearbox and, importantly, a new electronic control unit (ECU) for the RVX-08 engine.
In 2008, all teams must use the same ECU while electronic driver aids such as traction control and engine braking have been banned. The change to a standard ECU represented a major challenge, as Senior General Manager Engine Luca Marmorini explains: "On a Formula 1 engine, or indeed any modern car engine, even the mechanical parts are controlled by electronics so this is a big, big change.
"For a high revving engine, like in a Formula 1 car, the engine will definitely change a lot from a dynamic point of view due to a change in the control system. It is a big investment from a development point of view to adapt it."
Once again, engine development is frozen so only minor modifications have been allowed in the interests of reliability. However, the development effort from Luca and his team has not lessened; the focus has merely shifted. This has meant concentrating on how the engine is used, dragging every last bit of performance from the package as well as constantly improving the elements around the engine where development is allowed - all this while optimising engine performance with a new ECU and the traction control ban.
http://www.toyota-f1.com/public/images/news/080110_tf108/20080110_04.jpg (http://javascript<b></b>:;)http://www.toyota-f1.com/public/images/common/spacer.gif
"That work does have a positive effect on performance and lap time but we are not speaking about big changes because we do not have the freedom," Luca says. "We can only work within this very strict framework but we have done some interesting development and we expect to see positive results in 2008."
Of course, the launch of a new car is only the first step. Panasonic Toyota Racing has set ambitious targets for its latest car and intense development will continue up to and beyond the first race of the season in Australia on March 16, when the final aerodynamic package will be available.
The team is ready for the challenge ahead, as Pascal says: "Everyone has worked very hard to get to this stage but really the work is far from being complete. Now we will focus first on understanding the characteristics of the car on the track in order to steer set-up and development directions. There is a lot of work to do to get the most out of the car before the season starts so there will be no let-up in our efforts."
That work resumes immediately with the TF108 roll out on 13 January followed by its first official test a day later, also at Jerez. There are a further five tests before the start of a season which Panasonic Toyota Racing hopes to be its best yet.

***information provided by http://www.toyota-f1.com/public/en/newslist/2008/20080110.html (http://www.toyota-f1.com/public/en/newslist/2008/20080110.html).

Yay, someone heeded my request!

It certainly quite different to the TF107, but I fear perhaps that a lot of features have simply been borrowed from other teams, and they have tried to make them work together.

Anyway, they've implemented a bridge wing, but to do so they've had to lower the front nose cone. The nose cones is also a bit wider, kind of like from the Ferrari school of nose cones, but is about the height f the nose cone of the FW29. The endplates have been reworked, although they may change.

The front suspension has been developed aerodynamically, and the barge boards are now black (for some reason). They have also implemented Renault style mirrors, featured at the extremities of the car's width on the sidepod winglets. They've also implemented full rims sheilds on both front and rear wheels.

The cockpit protection devices are, of course, changed as per the regulations, and the engine cover seems to be the same as the one used in 2007 although perhaps slightly modified. The rear wing endplates have also been reworked, with the furthest edge now being rounded quite significantly.

The news of a lengthened wheelbase maybe something that will work for the team. Ferrari went for it, and it worked for them, but will Toyota be able to pull off wins with such a different car?

Toyota, to me, have been quite stagnant when it has come to car development, in that they haven't exactly developed any interesting ways of solving their aerodynamic problems. It's quite refreshing to see them make such large changes to their car for 08.

^^ Yea, it's a whole new step for Toyota.

The looks sounds quite interesting and it looks like Toyota did spend alot of time with aerodynamics. Would be cool to see it on a track, but the performance may not be as good because it's engine's not as reliable.

I know theyve put a lot of effort and tried really hard with this but i really dont see them challenging for the championship. Or for race wins, i just dont see them being able to make that big of a jump this quickly.

I think Toyota will a force in 2008. Just my prediction.

If you ask me, the TF108 looks alot cleaner in terms in aero parts. I get the feeling Toyota have really worked at and perfected their aerodynamics.

It's quite refreshing to see them make such large changes to their car for 08.

Yup, I agree. Normally their cars have been 'evolutions' of the cars from the year before and let's face it, they haven't been working. The TF107 was off the boil from the word go, but it's good to see they have made some radical changes for the TF108 for this year's championship. It certainly looks different, and for the driver's sake I hope it's pretty quick because Toyota have revealed that they have given their team principal until 2010 to get some results otherwise they will seriously consider pulling out of F1.

^^ They were thinking in 2010 to pull out because they used the most money out of all the teams and yet managed to be last? lol

^They thought that their investment might not be worthwhile. Basically Toyota need to pull up their socks this season or they won't have the momentum in 2009 to get good in 2010, which could mean they might pull out. Hopefully they don't.

Their drivers have also got the hurry up aswell, as let's just say it, Trulli and Schumacher weren't the best two drivers last year were they.

well Trulli was only 13 out of 26 in the final standings which isn't too bad and if toyota has made good improvements on the '08 car i'm guess Jarno and Ralf could easily get higher up the table this year.