since it took part in motor racing in 1957, Toyota has gone through more than 5 years, including the joy of the highest position in rally and the low-key departure of F1 race. Among them, we have to mention two royal refitting companies as Toyota's sports department: TRD and TMG (formerly known as TTE).
Toyota has been involved in motor racing since 1957, and its well-known refitting department TRD is estimated to be known by every fan. Let's introduce TRD first.
TRD, as a 1% wholly-owned modification company of Toyota, produces a wide range of modified parts, including high-performance shock absorbers, turbochargers and high-strength lightweight rims, and is responsible for modifying and upgrading the performance of Toyota, Lexus and Scion brand cars. TRD is not only responsible for improving the performance of Toyota's commercial cars, but more importantly, providing technical support for Toyota in various high-level competitions in the world.
figure: the trademark of TRD in Japan.
Figure: TRD's trademark in North America has a slightly different design.
TRD is mainly divided into two sections: TRD Japan and TRD North America. TRD Japan mainly focuses on domestic events in Japan, including Super GT Series(JGTC), All Japan F3 Championship, ESSO Toyota Formula and Netz Cup. TRD North America is very active in the cross-country championship (CORR), NASCAR competition, Drag rally, Baja1 and Indy events. And Toyota? Australia introduced TRD to Australia in 27, and released the Aurion model with high-performance V6 engine, followed by the TRD version of HILUX in April 28.
from the beginning to the present scale, TRD has mainly gone through the following stages.
On June 7th, 1954, Toyota Technology Development Department was established, which was mainly responsible for the maintenance and repair of all kinds of accident vehicles and the manufacturing of used cars, special vehicles and display vehicles.
in p>1957, in order to participate in the racing events in Australia, Toyota tentatively established the original Toyota motor racing department, which was responsible for building racing cars for Toyota, which was also the beginning of Toyota motor racing activities.
in p>1965, Toyota officially established its position as the motor racing department, and began to send racing cars and technicians to participate in the event for the "Japan Grand Prix", which was also the predecessor of TRD. In addition, due to the special needs of motor racing, a separate office was set up in the then Zipu factory.
The oil crisis that broke out in p>1973 had a great impact on the world automobile industry, which led to the dissolution of the special development department of Toyota in Japan in 1975 and the re-establishment of a department specializing in the development and sales of racing car parts-TOSCO (Toyota? Sport Corner), the following year, in order to expand its investment in automobile sports, Toyota renamed the original TOSCO department TRD(Toyota? Racing Development), since then, the development and sales scale of Toyota's racing special parts products has grown.
In p>1979, TRD was established in Costa Mesa, California, USA, which was mainly responsible for the market segmentation in North America and providing technical support for Toyota's motor racing in North America. Since then, TRD has been active in various automobile sports in North America. And helped Toyota to fight in NASCAR and made great contributions.
in p>1996, the southern Hunan workshop was opened.
in p>23, the capital was increased to 1.7 billion Japanese yen, and the new press house in Zhipu was completed.
in p>26, southern Hunan technology development center (old southern Hunan workshop)/Aichi workshop/Yokohama workshop/TRD ASIA CO.,LTD was established.
in p>211, zhipu workshop was renamed as Lexus service center in Tokyo.
Figure: TRD has opened several factories in Japan.
Thanks to TRD's strong R&D capability and professional technical provision, the newly developed Lexus SC43 of TRD has achieved remarkable results in the "SUPER GT" championship, which is known as the most fierce competition between manufacturers in the world and is popular not only in Japan but also all over the world. The chassis and engine of Lexus SC43 are developed by TRD, which is different from that of other manufacturers' fleets, and it is constantly improved in the competition to make it more and more perfect. These vehicles, developed and manufactured by TRD, are provided to the participating teams, and then each team changes and adjusts itself, and finally participates in the competition after assembly. In addition, all models of GT5 class are equipped with engines developed by TRD. TRD is not only responsible for engine adjustment, but also provides a complete set of services for engine assembly before the game, engine maintenance on site during the game and disassembly and maintenance after the game.
Figure: TRD is active in major racing activities, but TRD only serves as a team using Toyota cars.
TRD does not participate in the race as a team, but serves as a backstage development team and support team for all Toyota user teams, and devotes great enthusiasm to the performance improvement of Toyota GT cars all year round. These efforts have borne fruit. From the all-Japan GT Championship to the present SUPER GT, racing vehicles represented by Supra and Lexus SC43 have created brilliant achievements again and again.
In addition, in 29, the SUPER GT Series GT5/GT3 won the championship of the series at the same time.
in p>1966, based on Jaguar, Toyota developed a classic sports car, Toyota 2GT, and released it. The hot-selling 2GT sports car was converted into a racing car. It took 78 hours to complete the endurance test of 15km at a speed of 26.4km/h, and the test results of 2GT set three new world records and refreshed 13 time records.
Figure: In 1955, the 1.5L CROWN model was born, named Crown RS. Take part in the rally in Australia with excellent performance. It marks that Toyota officially began to participate in automobile sports.
Figure: In 1966, Toyota took Jaguar as the blueprint, and the classic sports car Toyota 2GT was built by Toyota Technology R&D Department and released. The hot-selling 2GT sports car was converted into a racing car. It took 78 hours to complete the endurance test of 15km at a speed of 26.4km/h, and the test results of 2GT set three new world records and refreshed 13 time records. Toyota 2GT, known as the first sports car in Japan.
Figure: In order to increase TRD's position in the racing field, Toyota Starlet Cup was founded in 1981, and the family car Starlet unified the series of racing cars. Toyota provides models and TRD provides technical support. Many drivers and teams signed up to participate, which promoted civilian racing in one fell swoop and created a new competitive model of single-vehicle competition.
top left: the grand occasion of the Toyota Starlet Cup.
Top right: Toyota Corolla modified by TRD in 1985? Levin took part in JTCC (The Japanese Touring Car Championship) for the first time and won the championship in Group A, which is one of the representative works of TRD.
bottom left: in 199, Toyota 9CV, which was independently designed, developed and manufactured by TRD, won the 5km endurance race in Japan Prototype Championship.
bottom right: Toyota TS1, developed and manufactured by TRD department, appeared in the Japanese prototype championship as a new group C racing car.
Figure: In 1992, Toyota TS1 participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with 3.5V1 engine, and won the second place.
Figure: In 1994, the SUPRA(JZA8)GT racing car developed by TRD started to compete in the Japanese SUPER GT race, and won the second place the first time it participated in this race. With its excellent performance, it won the championship in the GT5 group for many times (in 1997, 21, 23, 24 and 25).
in addition to the outstanding achievements in Japan. On the other hand, the TRD branch of the United States, relying on the rich racing experience and technology accumulated by TRD for many years, adopted Selika as the blueprint to participate in NASCAR competition in 2. And in 21 and 22, he won the runner-up of the year, and in 23, he stood on the highest podium and won the annual championship.
in addition, TRD north America branch is also very active in cross-country championship (CORR), rally, Baja1 and Indy events.
Photo: Celica racing car that participated in NASCAR in 2.
Figure: Not only Doping Road, but also cross-country Toyota is not far behind. Cross-country Championship (CORR).
Photo: Corolla TRD chariot on the rally field in 27.
TRD design includes all kinds of modifications, from power system upgrade to appearance kit and accessories. Turbine kits, supercharged kits and the like are not to mention. With years of racing experience, it is absolutely difficult to upgrade the power to TRD. Even the Camry comfort-oriented mid-level car has launched a supercharged kit to know how crazy TRD is about power.
taking Toyota GT-86 as an example, the list of performance improvement components of TRD Performance Line includes external aerodynamic components, chassis reinforcement, brake system upgrade, traveling system and other components, which has high coverage and is quite comprehensive considering the needs of vehicle improvement.
figure: Toyota 86(ZN6)TRD Performance Line installation kit.
Figure: Toyota 86 uses TRD teeth for shock absorption, with full-length adjustment function, which can change the height of the car body while maintaining the best barrel center stroke. In addition, the soft and hard damping is 4 segments adjustable, and the damping coverage is wide.
Figure: The front top bar, anti-roll bar and chassis reinforcement kit can make the chassis structure more compact and rigid. However, the TRD anti-roll bar and TRD shock absorber have better driving control feeling and high body stability.
Figure: This is the latest research and development achievement of TRD-strengthening the door lock. At present, this part is only used for 86 models. As can be seen from the above figure, after installing the reinforced door lock, the steering of Toyota 86 is more agile and the yaw rate is closer to the theoretical value.
Figure: The TRD brake system kit for Toyota 86 is manufactured by Brembo. The front brake caliper is designed with 6 opposite pistons and equipped with 355mm brake discs, and the rear caliper is designed with 4 opposite pistons and equipped with 345mm calipers. The brake kit needs to be installed with the 18-inch wheel rim.
Figure: TRD SF2 lightweight rim, produced by forging process, with several thin spokes designed, has outstanding lightweight performance, effectively reducing unsprung weight and significantly improving sports performance. And the rim can be matched with an 8-way TRD braking system set. SF2 rim specifications for Toyota 86: 18×7.5J, PCD: 5× 1, INSET: 46, recommended tyre size: 225/4R18.
the full name of p>TMG is Toyota Motorsport GmbH, which is the competitive department established by Toyota in Europe. Mainly for the development of Toyota's European market. Yoshiaki Kinoshita, director of Toyota TMG, even said that TMG should be built into a company with the same name as AMG and BMW M department.
after reading this, it is estimated that some readers have been confused about who TMG is. Actually, since 1979, TTE(Toyota Team Europe), as the predecessor of TMG, has been active in WRC competitions from 197s to 199s. In 1998 and 1999, he participated in the 24-hour Le Mans Endurance Race. At that time, the GT-One racing car won the second place in 1999. In 22, it began to participate in Formula One events, but in 29, Toyota announced its withdrawal from Formula One events. During the eight-year period, Toyota F1 Team won the podium 13 times. With the withdrawal from F1, Toyota officially renamed TTE TMG. TMG and TRD kits are upgraded in different ways, mainly focusing on the research and development of racing cars, European markets and complete vehicles, while TRD focuses on the development of North American markets and Japanese markets.
TMG's next work is mainly responsible for the production and development of high-performance versions of Toyota brand, Lexus and other brands.
photo: the logo of Toyota TMG, Toyota Motorsport GmbH.
TMG development:
197~199: TTE has been in charge of the WRC (World Rally Championship) of Toyota.
1993: TTE(Toyota Team Europe) was officially renamed as TMG(Toyota Motorsport GmbH). TMG has about 2 employees, who are working together to develop Toyota's technology and customer service in a 3,-square-meter factory.
in p>1994, TMG began to develop the business of upgrading car parts on the market, providing various car upgrade kits. In addition, TMG also provides vehicle sales services.
1998~1999: TMG entered the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and Toyota GT-One won the second place in 1999 with its excellent performance.
1999: TMG decided to quit the WRC stage.
in p>2, Toyota team established a research and development center in cologne factory and manufactured the first V1 engine.
22~29: TMG participated in Formula One race under the name of "Panasonic Toyota Team". During the eight years, Toyota did not get the same aura as other races in F1. Under the bleak results, I left in a daze.
Coralla Levin (Te27): 1973, 1975
Celica (Ra63): 1982
Celica Twincam Turbo (Ta64): 1983-1986
Celica GT-Four (ST 165): 1989-1992
Celica GT-Four (ST 1886). Ur (ST 25): 1995
Corolla WRC: 1998-1999
Toyota Celica is far more suitable for sports than the family car Corolla, but Cor is used for marketing reasons.