Toyota TF104 gets redesigned.
Veyron
03-11-2004, 07:18 AM
Toyota Redesign Flawed TF104 - 11 March 2004
Cologne-based F1 stragglers Toyota are busy redesigning the unhurried TF104 car.
Millionaire-salaried technical director Mike Gascoyne did not design the twice-lapped racer but said a 'total repackaging' would surface by Imola (April 25).
'[And] we've got several new parts for Malaysia,' he told Motorsport News.
Gascoyne said one of the main defects of the car, built by a team with arguably the biggest budget in F1, is that the weight is not distributed low enough.
He told the British weekly: 'That's what we'll be addressing.'
VERY BIG GAP
An even bigger car-update is scheduled for Silverstone, according to sources.
Driving-veteran Olivier Panis put a brave-face on his double-lapping at Albert Park last Sunday and insisted the Aussie circuit is not a 'typical' race-track.
'Things conspired against us [last] weekend,' said the Frenchman.
'But the gap to the top teams is very big. Still, the season is long.'
As well as weight-distribution, Mike Gascoyne criticised TF104's poorly conceived aerodynamics but said programmes are already in place to rectify them.
'Everyone is working flat-out to get us where we should be,' he noted.
'And that's at the front of the grid.'
* Out-of-work former Jaguar ace Justin Wilson is in the final throes of negotiation for a drive in the rejuvenated Champ Car series of America.
'I am optimistic that I will be able to confirm that Justin will have a competitive drive within a couple of weeks,' said his manager Jonathan Palmer.
Cologne-based F1 stragglers Toyota are busy redesigning the unhurried TF104 car.
Millionaire-salaried technical director Mike Gascoyne did not design the twice-lapped racer but said a 'total repackaging' would surface by Imola (April 25).
'[And] we've got several new parts for Malaysia,' he told Motorsport News.
Gascoyne said one of the main defects of the car, built by a team with arguably the biggest budget in F1, is that the weight is not distributed low enough.
He told the British weekly: 'That's what we'll be addressing.'
VERY BIG GAP
An even bigger car-update is scheduled for Silverstone, according to sources.
Driving-veteran Olivier Panis put a brave-face on his double-lapping at Albert Park last Sunday and insisted the Aussie circuit is not a 'typical' race-track.
'Things conspired against us [last] weekend,' said the Frenchman.
'But the gap to the top teams is very big. Still, the season is long.'
As well as weight-distribution, Mike Gascoyne criticised TF104's poorly conceived aerodynamics but said programmes are already in place to rectify them.
'Everyone is working flat-out to get us where we should be,' he noted.
'And that's at the front of the grid.'
* Out-of-work former Jaguar ace Justin Wilson is in the final throes of negotiation for a drive in the rejuvenated Champ Car series of America.
'I am optimistic that I will be able to confirm that Justin will have a competitive drive within a couple of weeks,' said his manager Jonathan Palmer.
djmr2
03-11-2004, 10:06 AM
weeeee toyota better get their act together or i'm changing camps and cheering for BAR!
Layla's Keeper
03-15-2004, 02:29 PM
If anyone can get the Toyota up there, it's Gascoyne. The man is the Harvey Postlethwaite of the modern regs.
Only Rory Byrne is a superior aerodynamicist, and he's more about evolutionary design than Gascoyne.
Only Rory Byrne is a superior aerodynamicist, and he's more about evolutionary design than Gascoyne.
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