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About Team Toyota
Until last year, Toyota Motorsports had never supplied
an engine to the Indy Racing League (IRL) — let
alone the Indianapolis 500. That was then, this is now. Toyota dominated
the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing" with Team Penske drivers Gil de Ferran
and Helio Castroneves providing a 1-2 finish. But we were just getting
started. After winning 10 of our first 14 races, we clinched our first
IRL IndyCar Series Engine Manufacturer’s Championship. Then, in the
final race of the season, Scott Dixon of Target Chip Ganassi Racing
captured the driver’s championship. For the season, seven of the top
ten drivers were Toyota drivers. Toyota won 11 of 16 races with 31 top-three
finishes. All of these victories are the result of intricate strategies,
from fuel mapping and telemetry to when and how to pit. Then again,
there was that blistering 231.725 mph pole position at Indy.
Background
The Toyota Indy V8 is an all-new
engine designed from a "clean sheet of paper" for competition in the
Indy Racing League (IRL) IndyCar Series beginning in 2003. The 3. season-opening
Toyota Indy 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in March. The Toyota Indy
V8 was designed,5-liter, naturally aspirated power plant will make its
racing debut in the 2003 built and developed by Toyota Racing Development
(TRD), U.S.A. in its 47,000-square-foot Costa Mesa, Calif., facility.
Dynamometer testing began in February 2002, and the engine was tested
in a race car for the first time in July 2002.
Design of the Toyota Indy V8 draws heavily on experience gained with
Toyota's successful CART racing engines. The high-rpm, turbocharged
engines earned 21 victories and 23 pole positions from 1999 to 2002,
including the CART FedEx Championship Series Driver's (Cristiano da
Matta) and Manufacturer's Championships in 2002. The Toyota RV8F and
its predecessor, the Toyota RV8E (used in competition in 2000) are the
only American-designed and built engines to win in CART competition
during the past 22 years
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 SPECS
Type:
Toyota Indy V8, Naturally Aspirated, DOHC, 4 Valves
per Cylinder, Fuel Injected
Displacement: 3.50 Liters (213.6 Cubic
Inches)
Power: 675+ hp
Maximum RPM: 10,300 rpm (Mandated by IRL
Electronic Limiter)
Engine Development and Maintenance: Toyota
Racing Development (TRD), U.S.A., Inc.
Engine Block: Aluminum Alloy
Crankshaft: Forged Steel Alloy
Pistons: Forged Aluminum Alloy
Connecting Rods: Forged Steel Alloy
Engine Management System: Denso Fuel and
Ignition System
Fuel: Methanol
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