Toyota Reveals GR010 Le Mans Hypercar Contender

[GTPNewsWire]

This is the discussion thread for a recent post on GTPlanet:

Toyota Reveals GR010 Le Mans Hypercar Contender

This article was published by Andrew Evans (@Famine) on January 14th, 2021 in the Automotive News category.

 

[andrea]

A wild Brendon Hartley appears.

 

[Disco_Volante]

Oh man I am so in love with those cars and this class. When the ByKolles presented a mf road going wingless LMP I died. The Toyota is gorgeous, and when the road car gets presented, if it is the camouflaged prototype from September, I'll need it to be injected into my veins. The Glickenhaus is looking amazing too, I imagine it won't be too different from the renders. I won't be able to get off the screen in March 19, that's for sure.

Also, @Famine, what's the mystery car from ByKolles? They presented their Hypercar already, were you referring to that or did I miss something?

 

[GTP_Versatile]

Looking fantastic as always.

 

[Sabertooth]

 

[Stephen220378]

I remember I actually got excited when the Hypercar class was announced thinking of a modern GT1-like class but all it is really is LMP1 Lite.

Nice car though.

 

[05XR8]

Love the one design for the whole season. Just about a "run what you brung" grassroots level playing field.

 

[PSN offapple]

The new 670BHP limit is interesting given how they have to reduce the ICE power as they deploy the electric motors. Since it won't ever be allowed to max it out like the TS050 could it should make for a far closer battle between the Hybrids and Non-Hybrids (Provided it doesn't rain). Important as Toyota are looking to be the only Hybrid entry until Peugeot joins in 2022.

On a side note, I love the new livery! It works really well with it not being symmetrical.

 

[MisterWaffles]

This whole car is a big case of making minor things different for the sake of being different. First up of course is the name, skipping out on a legacy name like TS060 and going with GR010 instead. The one that bothers me more though is the new livery. They went with rectangles instead of the dynamic sharp shapes they had before just to be different. I think this is the worst iteration of the Gazoo livery so far. Looks like they slapped it together in an hour.

Also is it just me or is the new Hypercars class sticker one of the goofiest things you’ve ever seen? A simple LMH would have been fine but nah let’s try to cram as many characters into this small box as possible and make the font tiny.

 

[Silent Drifter]

It looks nice, but styling wise it looks like the TS050, with a nose and butt job.

 

[SlowGrayAudi]

Looks like **** to me.

They took a racecar, made it a road car, so that they could make it a race car again.

Its just a finessed LMP1 to suit the new regs.

I hooe the BOP ia strict af. A run away Toyota this year will surely be a failure on WECs part.

 

[Diehardracer]

I agree about the looks. A big departure from LMP1. Which is what the ACO needed. If it was too similar to LMP1 people could have been asking why change over from LMP1 to LMH when they could have just kept the chassis of the LMP1 car but changed the engine and maybe allowed the teams more aerodynamic control. The LMH needed to be totally different to the LMP1. And I think it is.

But as a long time fan of Touring Cars I am used to big and varied grids and it worries me that it's debut at Sebring will only consist of 3 cars. I mean literally as one article I read said "A whimper not a bang". I know Alpine, SCG and Porsche are on the way. But, it's a shame the last LMP1 grid was so poor because I would like to have seen perhaps LMP1 being grandfathered I think is the right term. A slow retiring of the class before the new one comes in to replace it.

The Sebring round is 24hrs before the IMSA WSCC round there and I just am concerned that the Wethertech Sportscars will perhaps show just how small the WEC grid is.

 

[Epic B]

This whole car is a big case of making minor things different for the sake of being different. First up of course is the name, skipping out on a legacy name like TS060 and going with GR010 instead. The one that bothers me more though is the new livery. They went with rectangles instead of the dynamic sharp shapes they had before just to be different. I think this is the worst iteration of the Gazoo livery so far. Looks like they slapped it together in an hour.

Also is it just me or is the new Hypercars class sticker one of the goofiest things you’ve ever seen? A simple LMH would have been fine but nah let’s try to cram as many characters into this small box as possible and make the font tiny.

TS060 did seem like an obvious choice of name to continue their lineage of prototypes. Wonder what they'll call the road version. Maybe they'll keep the GR Super Sport name.

 

[sejtur]

I was hoping for a design with a little more brand identity, a la the Mazda DPi. The Mazda at least has recognizable headlights and nose. Gotta say I'm a bit disappointed.

 

[Dotini]

The part I like best is the Hype. It's big, heavy, complex, expensive and slow. In other words, a boondoggle.

 

[CodeRedR51]

I remember I actually got excited when the Hypercar class was announced thinking of a modern GT1-like class but all it is really is LMP1 Lite.

Nice car though.

Same.

 

[Samus]

The only major thing you really notice is the lack of the open wheeler like nose. Other than that, it looks broadly the same as the TS050.

 

[Scuderia Paul]

The Sebring round is 24hrs before the IMSA WSCC round there and I just am concerned that the Wethertech Sportscars will perhaps show just how small the WEC grid is.

The WEC Sebring round isn't going ahead apparently and that should be made official on Monday.

 

[VulcanSpirit]

Liking what I've seen of the GR010 to date and can spot a few passing resemblances to last year's GR Super Sport prototype, particularly in the general front end shape. That being said, it wouldn't surprise me if the road car's final looks remained different in a similar way to how the 919 Street differed from its racing counterparts.

Mostly intrigued by the process in which hybrid Hypercars will be managing both MGU-K and internal combustion power. From the articles I've seen on the GR010 as well as Peugeot's project, it sounds like engine output will only be restricted when the hybrid systems are being used. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but should it otherwise result in higher straight-line speeds to compensate for the increased weight and lower overall output?

 

[Michael88]

Sorry, but this is the first thing that popped into my head when I saw the new Toyota LMp1-Light.

 

[TypeRDC5]

For someone who loved lmp1 so far im not a fan, looks like lmp1 lite as someone has already said.

Totally different from the concepts we have seen when the new rules were announced.

Will wait for the other reveals before my final judgement on the hypercar class.

 

[Dan Hill]

It looks alright but to me it still looks like an LMP1 car rather than a race going hypercar, unless I've missed something in regards to the new tech and regs for WEC as to why it appears that way.

Obviously there's still more cars to be revealed for the upcoming 21/22 season and over the next few years (are Aston Martin still planning on entering a race version of the Valkyrie or is that all by the wayside now?), but I'll feel a bit disappointed if the other LMH cars follow a similar design trend to the Toyota.

 

[Liquid]

I don't mind how it looks. I mean, it's not beautiful but that isn't my point. For 55 out of the last 60 years top level sportscars haven't even bothered to look like "road cars" and even then, the 1994-98 GT1 homologation specials barely pass. So I'm really uninterested in the "Oh it looks/it doesn't look..." argument.

I'm hopeful that this class can have some good racing. That's what I am most interested in.

 

[Cap'n Jack]

For the people complaining that this looks just like an LMP1 car and not a “hyper car” made race-ready, remember that this is the car company that brought us the TS020 GT-One, which was basically an LMP car with a road going counterpart to be regulation compliant.

 

[LeGeNd-1]

My hope for the hypercar class was a modern version of F1 GTR vs 911 GT1 vs CLK GTR. Those cars look like prototypes, but still recognisable as a car from their parent brands. It wasn't until Toyota came out with the GT-One and Nissan with R390 that companies started making these homologation specials, costs spiral way out of control and the whole thing implodes.

Imagine a grid line up of FXXK, P1 GTR, 918 RSR, Valkyrie, AMG One, GMA T50, Huayra R, Jesko, Divo, Apollo Intensa Emozione and Aventador SCV12. Instead, we get what? 3 cars in the first race and if you remove the liveries you probably couldn't tell which car belonged to which manufacturer.

 

[Famine]

(are Aston Martin still planning on entering a race version of the Valkyrie or is that all by the wayside now?)

Oh that's dead and buried. Aston says it pulled out because of the LMDh plans, ACO says Aston pulled out because it ran out of money.

https://www.gtplanet.net/aston-martin-puts-the-brakes-on-the-valkyrie-race-car-project/

 

[CarreraGT]

I mean, this is cool, don't get me wrong. But surely it makes the new 'hypercar' class seem a bit pointless? It's pretty similar to what LMP1 was. Also a bit pointless when you consider Toyota's key competitors will be racing LMDh which, from what I understand, will be just as fast

 

[Greycap]

The one that bothers me more though is the new livery. They went with rectangles instead of the dynamic sharp shapes they had before just to be different. I think this is the worst iteration of the Gazoo livery so far. Looks like they slapped it together in an hour.

It's not merely rectangles, it's the GR logo on a white background. Black G, red R. The new rally car livery has the same thing.

 

[G.T.Ace]

I don't mind how it looks. I mean, it's not beautiful but that isn't my point. For 55 out of the last 60 years top level sportscars haven't even bothered to look like "road cars" and even then, the 1994-98 GT1 homologation specials barely pass. So I'm really uninterested in the "Oh it looks/it doesn't look..." argument.

I'm hopeful that this class can have some good racing. That's what I am most interested in.

Agreed, although I do think it looks amazing.

I mean, this is cool, don't get me wrong. But surely it makes the new 'hypercar' class seem a bit pointless? It's pretty similar to what LMP1 was. Also a bit pointless when you consider Toyota's key competitors will be racing LMDh which, from what I understand, will be just as fast

There's much more to it than looks.

Imagine a grid line up of FXXK, P1 GTR, 918 RSR, Valkyrie, AMG One, GMA T50, Huayra R, Jesko, Divo, Apollo Intensa Emozione and Aventador SCV12. Instead, we get what? 3 cars in the first race and if you remove the liveries you probably couldn't tell which car belonged to which manufacturer.

Blame the manufacturers for not having the guts to actually have their cars compete.

 

[TiMcF1]

Yeah, me too. For some reason I was not expecting it to look like an lmp car. From the basic understanding of what I crrently possess, this GR010 looks like it will fit the LMDH category in 2023. Maybe thats the point? Hmmmm....

The valkyrie race model may have ended up following the same psuedo prototype form now that I think about it. From the cgi renders Bykolles will probably do the same.

From Glickenhaus CGI renders, the scg 007 looking like a more advanced version of the 004 car, has the makings of looking more 'hyper car like' than prototype imo and will maybe be the most interesting to look at in terms of function & styling. I do hope I'm wrong though, I want more of this approach to LMH from manufacturers, even if it does eventualy get over shadowed by the future LMDH class in 2023.