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2004 Toyota TF104 news, pictures, and information | ||
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The Panasonic Toyota Racing used the TF104 for the 2004 Formula One racing season. The racer was unveiled to the public at a media day in Cologne, its headquarters. It was designed by their Chief Designer, Gustav Brunner and his team. It was based on the TF103 and updated with knowledge, testing, and experience gained during the 2003 F1 season. Big changes occurred under the bodyskin where the cars internal components were significantly redesigned.
The car was powered by a ten-cylinder engine set at 90-degree's and estimated to produce around 900 horsepower. The engine was mated to a Toyota seven-speed semi-automatic titanium gearbox and large Brembo disc brakes were used for stopping power. Carbon fibre was used throughout the vehicle to retain structural rigidity while keeping the vehicle at the regulation, 600 kg weight limit.
Gustav Brunner said, 'The TF103 was a highly competitive package. Unfortunately, we couldn't get all of the performance out of it. Theoretically, the TF104 is an evolutionary step up from the TF103, but in fact, the TF104 shares not a single part that we used with the TF103. We improved every single inch of the chassis, and redesigned every important internal component. We achieved a great leap ahead aerodynamically, made the car lighter overall, and increased the rigidity of the chassis.'
The driver line-up was retained for 2004. Brazilian Cristiano da Matta had been signed for the 2003 season and had gained a reputation in the American ChampCar series. Former BAR driver Olivier Panis had taken over the racing duties for Salo and McNish in 2003. They finished the 2003 season with seven points.
The 2004 season got off to a poor start for the Toyota/Panasonic team as both cars were disqualified from the Canadian Grand Prix for running illegal parts. Cristiano da Matta stayed with the team for only a short time in 2004, leaving after the German Grand Prix. He was replaced by Brazilian Ricardo Zonto, who was the teams number three driver. Italian Jarno Trulli, who had left Renault, replaced Zonta after four rounds.
Panis also left prematurely, leaving just before the final race of the season in Brazil. This allowed Trulli to compete in his home race.
Toyota finished the season in eighth-place in the constructors' championship. Their best finish of the season was at the European Grand Prix where they finished fifth.
By Daniel Vaughan | Mar 2007
The car was powered by a ten-cylinder engine set at 90-degree's and estimated to produce around 900 horsepower. The engine was mated to a Toyota seven-speed semi-automatic titanium gearbox and large Brembo disc brakes were used for stopping power. Carbon fibre was used throughout the vehicle to retain structural rigidity while keeping the vehicle at the regulation, 600 kg weight limit.
Gustav Brunner said, 'The TF103 was a highly competitive package. Unfortunately, we couldn't get all of the performance out of it. Theoretically, the TF104 is an evolutionary step up from the TF103, but in fact, the TF104 shares not a single part that we used with the TF103. We improved every single inch of the chassis, and redesigned every important internal component. We achieved a great leap ahead aerodynamically, made the car lighter overall, and increased the rigidity of the chassis.'
The driver line-up was retained for 2004. Brazilian Cristiano da Matta had been signed for the 2003 season and had gained a reputation in the American ChampCar series. Former BAR driver Olivier Panis had taken over the racing duties for Salo and McNish in 2003. They finished the 2003 season with seven points.
The 2004 season got off to a poor start for the Toyota/Panasonic team as both cars were disqualified from the Canadian Grand Prix for running illegal parts. Cristiano da Matta stayed with the team for only a short time in 2004, leaving after the German Grand Prix. He was replaced by Brazilian Ricardo Zonto, who was the teams number three driver. Italian Jarno Trulli, who had left Renault, replaced Zonta after four rounds.
Panis also left prematurely, leaving just before the final race of the season in Brazil. This allowed Trulli to compete in his home race.
Toyota finished the season in eighth-place in the constructors' championship. Their best finish of the season was at the European Grand Prix where they finished fifth.
By Daniel Vaughan | Mar 2007
Introducing the TF-104, Toyota's F1 Car for the 2004 Season
The Gustav Brunner design group worked around the clock for nearly 10 months developing the new TF104, an evolved chassis design based on the TF103.Gustav Brunner said, 'The TF103 was a highly competitive package. Únfortunately, we couldn't get all of the performance out of it. Theoretically, the TF104 is an evolutionary step up from the TF103, but in fact, the TF104 shares not a single part that we used wîth the TF103. We improved every single inch of the chassis, and redesigned every important internal component. We achieved a great leap ahead aerodynamically, made the car lighter overall, and increased the rigidity of the chassis.'
Toyota also beefed up the team technical staff. First, TMG hired Mike Gascoyne, an F1 engineering specialist, as technical director of the chassis department to coordinate and organize the department. Meanwhile, Luca Marmorini was promoted to technical director of the engine department.
TMG chairman Tsutomu Tomita took over as the representative of Panasonic Toyota Racing, and the Ove Andersson, who turned 66 years of age, was reassigned as a TMG consultant.Both of the 2003 drivers, Olivier Panis and Cristiano da Matta, were held over to represent the team in the cockpit for the 2004 season, while Ricardo Zonta played the role of the third driver, driving the third car during Friday practice sessions.
Panasonic Toyota Racing won nine points for the season, finishing in eighth place in the constructor's championship.Source - Toyota
Toyota Motorsport Aligns its IT Systems with Race Track Targets
Single view of Toyota's IT infrastructure reduces car manufacture time from years to days, cuts system downtime, and saves millions through identification of unused IT resources BMC Software, Inc. NYSE: BMC, a leading provider of enterprise management solutions, today announced that Toyota Motorsport GmbH has fully aligned IT wîth its business objectives by adopting the BMC Software® Business Service Management (BSM) strategy, and is on track to achieve long-term success in Formula 1 (F1) from conception to the race track.
To achieve these improvements, Toyota Motorsport made the decision to introduce an IT management strategy to provide an overview of the many separate business systems on which its demanding, day-to-day operation depends. The company's vision for BSM is focused around the implementation of the BMC® Atrium Configuration Management Database (CMDB) and the solutions that leverage the BMC Atrium CMDB.
Every second that Toyota can improve its track performance counts, which was why it chose to adopt BSM, a dynamic method for linking key IT components to the goals of the business. BSM enables Toyota to fine tune its F1 manufacturing and reduce the time it takes from concept to track. It enables Toyota to understand and predict how technology impacts the business and how business impacts the IT infrastructure. BSM improves business performance and reduces cost and complexity of the IT infrastructure.
Toyota Motorsport is one of only two F1 teams that undertake the entire end-to-end design and manufacturing process in-house. It must have all the processes in place to build or modify a complete car within a short timeframe. Compared to the seven years it often takes manufacturers to bring a new car to market, at Toyota the same process is done virtually, from engine design and development to wind tunnel chassis research, construction and testing, and completed in a week during the race season.
Tom Bishop, chief technology officer at BMC Software, commented, 'The BMC Atrium CMDB is an intelligent data repository that provides a working model of an enterprise's IT infrastructure – a single source of truth. Implementing our BSM strategy, supported by the CMDB, allows Toyota to gain the IT control needed to support its business goals. By providing an accurate and consistent way for managing IT processes, the BMC Atrium CMDB enables Toyota to make better informed decisions and respond instantly to fast changing operational issues.'
Thomas Schiller, general manager of IT systems at Toyota Motorsport, notes, 'In the past, IT was concerned wîth servers. By allowing us to concentrate on services instead of servers, the BMC Atrium CMDB and integrated BMC Software BSM strategy places our focus firmly on the business.'
Schiller provides a compelling example, 'The BMC Software BSM strategy allows us to monitor the satellite link between Cologne and any racetrack at which we are competing. This link is essential to the entire team through each race weekend. It allows us to replicate the six to eight gigabytes of real time data, gathered by about 100 sensors on each F1 car, from the racetrack to our engineers in Cologne for immediate analysis. Without this live insight into the car's performance, we could not respond to changing conditions as the race progresses. By helping us guarantee the availability of these communications, the BSM strategy is making a key contribution to our race successes.'
Key benefits:
• Time cut from the usual seven years it often takes to manufacture a car to one week
• Reduced PC, notebook and workstation inventories by up to 20 percent
• Fifteen percent savings on server costs by identifying unnecessary resources
• No SAP environment downtime at all since implementing BSM, compared to eight hours' downtime the previous year.
Schiller concluded, 'Working wîth BMC Software, we have set up a process-driven and highly automated monitoring system, that has enabled us to achieve the efficiency wîth moderate resources and ultimately become more competitive. Toyota Motorsport will use BMC Software to have our IT resources in the right place at the right time to win the F1 World Championship.'
About Toyota Motorsport GmbHToyota Motorsport GmbH is a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation of Japan and is in charge of Panasonic Toyota Racing, the official name for Toyota's Formula 1 team. With over 600 staff from 32 different nations, Toyota Motorsport has built the entire Toyota Formula 1 car, the TF104, under one roof at its 30,000 square meter factory in Cologne, Germany. The 2004 F1 Championship is Toyota's third season in F1 – the pinnacle of motorsport – after previous motorsport successes at the World Rally Championship and the 24 hours of Le Mans. www.toyota-f1.com.
About Business Service Management
Business Service Management (BSM) is BMC Software's approach for enabling companies to manage their IT infrastructure and services from a business perspective. BSM enables companies to understand and predict the impact of technology changes on the business and conversely, how changes in business impact on IT, resulting in improved customer service and business performance. For additional information on BSM, visit www.bmc.com/bsm.Source - BMC Software / Toyota| Sebastian Vettel Becomes First Formula One Driver To Sample New Grand Prix Venue In Sochi, Russia | |
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Drivers:
Cristiano Monteiro da Matta
Olivier Panis
Jarno Trulli Ricardo Luiz ZontaTeam
Panasonic Toyota Racing2004 SeasonPoints: 9
Position: 8
Engine: Toyota RVX-04
2009 Entry: TF109
2008 Entry: TF108
2007 Entry: TF107
2006 Entry: TF106
2005 Entry: TF105
2003 Entry: TF103
2002 Entry: TF102
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| Toyota: 2001-2010 |
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2004 Formula One Season
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