Toyota withdraws from Formula 1
Toyota have confirmed the rumors that they are withdrawing from Formula 1 racing after poor results and severe financial loss. / Toyota withdraws from Formula 1
Toyota which is also the world’s largest car manufacturer has said that they will be concentrating on their core business / Toyota withdraws from Formula 1
Toyota president Akio Toyoda said “The current severe economic crises has effected many of us so we had no option but to pull out. We apologise to our fans who have supported us through out our campaign.”
Toyota made it’s debut in the 2002 season and has raced in 139 races but failed to win any of them. Their biggest success was fifth in the 2009 constructors’ championship.
The companies withdrawal makes the tally go up to 3 in the past 11 months as Honda left F1 at the start of the 2009 season and BMW announced it was leaving in July.
In May Toyota revealed its worst set of figures for the last financial year – a £2.9bn loss in the year to 31 March, 2009.
Toyota production slumps in Japan, production in Turkey unhindered
Chris,Thank you for the update and link. It does apepar that recovering braking is not especially difficult, under most circumstances but that’s almost missing the point(s): 1) There should be no reason that a driver need to alter their actions to get brakes to work properly. We are long past that stage and, if anything, ABS was designed, in part, to avoid our having to learn to do such things as pump the brakes; 2) One cannot assume that even a good driver will always do the correct thing if something with the vehicle fails to operate correctly. In other words, even a momentary lapse in brake function can trigger a mistaken response and 3) Even if a driver does do the right thing, Toyota has suggested that braking can be lost for up to 1 second. That may not sound like much but even at the relatively slow speed of 30 mph, you’ll travel a full 44 feet, or nearly three car lengths, in that time. At 70, the highway speed in Michigan, you’ve gone more than 100 feet, enough to cause a reasonably serious accident.Nonetheless, until Toyota corrects the problem with the 2010 Prius, it is good for owners to know what to do if the brakes do cut out.Paul A. EisensteinPublisher, TheDetroitBureau.com