Car Features
Panasonic Toyota Racing mounts the challenge with TF104
By Source: Toyota Racing
Jan 17, 2004, 18:29

Panasonic Toyota Racing has today used a media open day at its Cologne headquarters as an opportunity to unveil its 2004 race car, the TF104.

Designed by Chief Designer Gustav Brunner and his team, the TF104 is an evolutionary redesign of its TF103 predecessor and will play an integral role in the team's aim of closing the gap to Formula 1's leading teams in 2004.

"We have adopted similar principles for the TF104 race car to the ones we followed when producing the TF103," Brunner explains. "Using Toyota's philosophy of continuous improvement, the fundamental concept was again that of evolution not a revolution. The TF103 and TF104 may appear visually similar, but we have looked at every single part of the car, studied it, redesigned it and improved it. There is no carry over from last year's car, but we have worked on every single part to make it lighter, stiffer, more reliable and with better overall performance."

"Aerodynamics in general are the key to success in F1 and we have benefited immensely from our in-house windtunnel operating at optimum capacity," adds Director Technical Co-ordination Keizo Takahashi. "On the TF104, we have endeavoured to find the best compromise between aero efficiency and the car's stability."

Underneath the evolutionary bodywork, the car's internal components have undergone a significant reassessment and redesign that the team is confident will reap rewards in the long term.



New Technical Director Chassis Mike Gascoyne is also encouraged by the TF104: "The entire design team has done a very good job on the TF104. It appears to be a solid car, but we will have to wait for testing to see precisely how good it is. 90% of chassis performance is in the car's aerodynamics, and that has been the priority on the TF104. We now need to look at ensuring short-term consistency to get the best from the car, the drivers and the team in 2004, whilst concurrently adopting a longer-term approach to get Toyota to the front of the grid in the future."

The most challenging aspect of the new TF104 race car has been on the engine side. With new F1 regulations specifying that only one engine must be used per car for the entire race weekend, the priority of Technical Director Engine Luca Marmorini and his team has been to retain the competitive power output and performance of the Toyota engine over a longer lifespan."

"With the new rules, we have had to look at doubling the engine's life expectancy from 400km to around 800km," says Marmorini. "Our guiding principles when designing the RVX-04 have been to increase the durability, whilst simultaneously maintaining the driveability and the performance from 2003. I honestly do not think that there will be such a drop in horsepower with the new engines, but we have had to work a lot on the lifing. The RVX-04 was fired up on the dyno in October and was run for the first time at a test on 25 November in the TF103B interim car. We will continue to work on this before we go to Melbourne, but I am confident that we are up to this new challenge."



TF104 Technical Specifications

Chassis code - TF104

Material - Carbon fibre

Transmission - Toyota seven-speed semi-automatic titanium gearbox

Front suspension - Push rod with torsion bar

Rear suspension - Push rod with torsion bar

Dampers - Sachs/Toyota

Wheels - BBS Magnesium

Front wheel diameter - 13in x 13in

Rear wheel diameter - 12.5in x 13.7in

Tyres - Michelin Pilot

Brakes - Brembo

Steering - Toyota

Electronics - Magneti Marelli

Battery - Panasonic

Dimensions
Wheelbase - 3090mm

Total Length - 4627mm

Front Track - 1425mm

Rear Track - 1411mm

Weight - 600kg including driver



RVX-04 Technical Specifications

Engine Code - RVX-04

Number of cylinders - 10

Angle - 90° V-angle / 3000 cc

Spark Plugs - Denso

Fuel and Lubricants - Esso

Maximum horsepower - Around 900 bhp

Maximum revolutions - Around 19,000 rpm



Changes to Rear Wing and Engine Cover (on TF103 chassis)



Changes to Rear Wing and Engine Cover



1. The engine cover has been extended due to new 2004 technical regulations

2. Chimneys have been increased in size and moved inwards

3. Lower profile has been twisted to recover the loss of downforce from the rear wing elements being reduced from 3 to 2 due to new rules

4. Bigger rear plate in accordance with new technical regulations

Top view comparison TF103/TF104



1. TF104 front wing and end plate have been evolved from the TF103

2. TF103 had big barge board until 2003 German GP, replaced by double guide turning vanes

3. Similar ones on the TF104, combined with new horizontal fins in front of the side pods

4. Shorter side pods to improve aero efficiency with bodywork further away from the front axle

5. Longer and thinner fuel tank 6. TF 104 keeps the same style exit for hot air introduced on TF103 at Silverstone 2003

7-8 Different winglet evolution of the ones introduced on TF103B intermediary car

9. To improve aero efficiency and rear visibility the Chimneys have been moved backwards and inwards

10. On TF103 the hot air was originally coming out on top in front of the rear tyres On TF104, the shape at the back of the car is deeper to improve the airflow to the rear wing. All mechanical components are reduced in size and weight, for example the new seven-speed titanium casting gearbox

11. End plates are 10cm bigger with the wing profiles at the same overhang to the rear axle (50 cm)




The Driving Force - What the team thinks



Tsutomu Tomita: "Both race drivers Olivier and Cristiano did a very good job for us in 2003, but to be honest we expect even better in 2004. We have to really push from the start and I know they are capable of that. Ricardo made some valuable tests for us. He is quick and motivated with excellent technical feedback that will be fruitful for good 2004 results."

John Howett: "I am sure that we have the right driver line-up in 2004. Olivier showed last year how quick he is and his great testing capability and experience continue to help us in many areas of our operation. Cristiano demonstrated his potential last season, which we believe will be apparent to everyone in 2004, especially those who may have missed it in 2003!"

Ove Andersson: "The combination of Olivier, Cristiano and Ricardo is ideal for Toyota. They all have very different characters, but work well not only with the team, but also each other. I never had any doubt about their driving ability but in some instances they even surpassed my expectations."

Luca Marmorini: "Our drivers did a brilliant job in their first year with the team. Cristiano has a very strong character and talent at circuits he had never driven before, so I am excited by what he can show in 2004. Olivier is a very good team player and has really accelerated the team's learning curve."

Mike Gascoyne: "I think Toyota has an excellent driver line-up. Olivier has a tremendous amount of F1 experience and has always been a very quick driver. Cristiano had a good first season and has a proven racing history. In 2003, on circuits he had never driven before, he showed some very impressive performances. I think Ricardo is the ideal man for testing. You need an experienced driver who knows the circuits and has good technical feedback. I rate him highly."

Keizo Takahashi: "All the drivers did a great job in 2003. Olivier contributed a lot to the development of our car and got top ten in qualifying on thirteen occasions. Cristiano also did a solid job and finished thirteen races with two top six finishes and third in Japanese GP qualifying, which was very impressive."

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