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Currently, the most pathetic waste of money in racing has been Toyota. With the biggest budget, and failing to have a consistently competitive car, can they close out this season with any semblanceof respectability?
I got to think that they are done with this season and working hard on the 07 challenger!!! One thing that contribute to there downfall was the switch to bridgestone
Simon: Nils? You can close in now. Nils?
John McClane: [on the guard's phone] Attention! Attention! Nils is dead! I repeat, Nils is dead, ----head. So's his pal, and those four guys from the East German All-Stars, your boys at the bank? They're gonna be a little late.
Simon: [on the phone] John... in the back of the truck you're driving, there's $13 billon dollars worth in gold bullion. I wonder would a deal be out of the question?
John McClane: [on the phone] Yeah, I got a deal for you. Come out from that rock you're hiding under, and I'll drive this truck up your ass.
Was it at Magny-Cours where it looked like Toyota was finally waking up? I can't remember because it's been so long.
You can't argue against Toyota's success in business. They're absolutely thrashing the competition here in America. But they're treating F1 with the same committee-type business model; it just doesn't work and it never will.
SomeONE needs to be accountable for Toyota Racing. There has to be one philosophy, one goal and one method of reaching that goal. If you look at all of the successful teams in F1, there's at least one constant: a strong leader. Jean Todt, Flavio Briatore, Ron Dennis and the emerging Mario Theisson all come to mind. Ferrari, Renault, McLaren and BMW, respectively, follow their leads to the letter, in success and failure. And admittedly sometimes following one man does lead to failure, but if you've got a good one, more times than not it doesn't.
The most important part of being a winning race team is constistency. You want it from your engine, your chassis and definitely your tires. The same must be said of leadership. But that can never happen when you have more than one voice giving the orders.
Remember when Mika Salo was there? He used to say what sucks and what has to be improved. He was told you can't say that. In his own words of course, but that's my experience working with japanese people as well. Can't say that something doesn't work, or they'll ignore you. First you have to keep saying how good something is and only after some time you may humbly try to suggest how to make it better. And even then it's better to start along the lines of "I'm sorry, but...".
I hope they achieve results. I'm afraid it won't happen this year.
Formula 1, 57, died Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007
Born May 13, 1950, in Silverstone, United Kingdom
Will be held in the hearts of millions forever
Rest In Peace, we will not forget you
However, their supply to Williams next year could pave the way for an F1 exit. If Williams can start winning on a regular basis, they might as well just buy Williams and switch TTE (or TMG, what's the current name?) back to WRC or Le Mans.
People? No, not really. Some when they started, but even less these days.
Formula 1, 57, died Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007
Born May 13, 1950, in Silverstone, United Kingdom
Will be held in the hearts of millions forever
Rest In Peace, we will not forget you
In the few races where Toyota seemed to have awaken, I think Bridgestone had the upper hand on Michelin. Ferrari have a very strong package, and so are able to cope easyly with eventual disavantage of their tyres, but Toyota need the rubber to fit the conditions perfectly to show a decent pace.
So, sorry for the "cliché" answear, but I'm sure it will be all decided by Bridge's performance. Obviously both the team and their tyre manufacturer takes the japanese GP very seriously. It wouldn't be surprising they made some extra developpements efforts for this race.
With this in mind, I voted "they saved the best for japan", although sincerly I'm not sure at all about that...
Toyota will stay in F1 until they get results--2006 will see Toyota surpass GM to be the #1 car manufactery by volume--they won't give up easily--the pride of the corporation will probably not allow an exit--as they have a road car advantage over all others in hybrids--they are probably already planning to dominate F1 on this basis--if the musings of the FIA ever actually result in rule changes encompassing Eco-F1.
I think that if they have one more season like this, they will leave F1 for good. The main problem they had is not the people or the drivers. They had a engine problem. Toyota will not continue with this shame for to long.
Last edited by boban-mk on 03 Oct 2006, 15:01, edited 1 time in total.
Long term who knows - but short term/medium term. Wrong drivers (no offence Jarno - you are great, but not THAT great) and no sign of getting their act together in either producing the car or exploiting it over a weekend.
Sorry, Toyota is a mess that cannot be repaired without major surgery. They run the race team with a lot of oversight from japan, and according to corporate policy. Although this may be a great formula for success in world markets and production, it doesn't apply to the fast paced world of Grand Prix racing. Maybe now Gascoyne's departure starts to make sense, he obviously disagreed on policy.
pRo has a relevant point, that sometimes doing things the Japanese way may be the incorrect way to go racing. Many, many years ago the best motorcycle road racer in the world, Mike Hailwood was in Japan testing the Honda. The shocks and handling package just sucked. So without warning his intentions, he asked the mechanics to remove and hand him the rear shocks. They complied, and once he had them, heaved them into a pond beside the track. All the Japanese bigwigs and technicians were horrified, this kind of insult was never done in Japan. But he made his point, and they started to make decent shocks.
I think the same kind of cultural and corporate mental inertia is hindering Toyota from moving forward quick enough, to remain competitive with their competitors.
DaveKillens wrote:The shocks and handling package just sucked. So without warning his intentions, he asked the mechanics to remove and hand him the rear shocks. They complied, and once he had them, heaved them into a pond beside the track
