I think they're taking the term "prototype" a little too literally.

One of the largest manufacturers on the planet. Embarking on a new technology for the fastest endurance racing cars on Earth. Builds only one tub?!?

http://www.motorsport.com/wec/news/crash-in-test-at-paul-ricard-delays-debut-of-toyota-hybrid/?i=1

Wow, even super-expensive megacorp-backed racing can be grassroots

Sure is beautiful for a Toyota. Should be – they owe us for all those beige Corollas.

Hey, everyone's got a budget - even if that budget is time.

Seems like a lousy oversight to me.

Lesley wrote: they owe us for all those beige Corollas.

That laugh actually cured my hiccups!

Is anyone else as pleased as I am that the dreadful 90's metallic beige color seems to be aging so poorly? Every one of those camry/corollas seems to be different shades of pink, grey and salmon colors.

ditchdigger wrote:

Lesley wrote: they owe us for all those beige Corollas.

That laugh actually cured my hiccups! Is anyone else as pleased as I am that the dreadful 90's metallic beige color seems to be aging so poorly? Every one of those camry/corollas seems to be different shades of pink, grey and salmon colors.

my mom refers to those cars as being "coffin coloured"

I guess they have never heard of mass production...

In reply to iadr:

You may be on to something. I can't find any photos of the crash, and the author of that article is a contact of mine of Facebook..and she can't find any, either.

She says that there's a lot of speculation that Toyota found something wrong, and doesn't want to demonstrate it in public at Spa. There's just not enough hard evidence to report it as anything other than a rumor.

Assuming the story is true - I can see how there might be just one tub. It wouldn't be an easy or quick thing to build up, and there's a lot else to do. So they took a risk and spent their budget - dollars or hours - on other areas. Resources are finite.

Toyota's Hybrid will be woefully slow in comparison with Audi's pair of Hybrids. I'm not sure the Japanese management would allow that type of slaughter... This may have been a save face way of ending the program... or at least postponing it to next year.

Was it a throttle sticking issue? LOL

The Toyota LMP1 was never supposed to be a full-season entry. They were going to enter select races as they developed/built the program. After Pugeot folded Toyota was pressured to become a full manufacturer entry so Audi had SOMEONE to race with, but its clear that was never going to be possible, especially with crashing their only car so far.