WILLOWS, Calif., Dec. 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Engineers and
technicians from Toyota's Arizona Proving Grounds (TAPG) brought
their Toyota 86 to Thunderhill Raceway Park in Willows, California for the second year in a
row this past weekend. With heavy rains in the forecast, the team,
including racing legend Randy Pobst,
who was brought onboard for the event, set out to conquer the NASA
25 Hours of Thunderhill endurance race. The team, which has
been continuously improving since they were formed just a few years
ago, has been championing NASA endurance races across the
Western United States for the past
two seasons.
While winning their class at Thunderhill was the ultimate goal,
the experience and challenge of completing the grueling 25-hour
endurance race was high on the minds of the engineers. A year ago,
during their inaugural attempt at Thunderhill, illness and a
catastrophic mechanical failure resulted in a DNF. It was something
they didn't intend to repeat.
"One of our goals when we originally put this team together was
to eventually be competitive at Thunderhill," said driver and team
captain D.J. Quint, a senior performance development engineer at
Toyota's Arizona proving grounds.
"We were ready last year, but things just didn't go our way. We've
gained a lot of experience and learned a lot of lessons since then,
and we plan apply that to this year's competition."
Tackling the 25 hours of racing in rotating two- and three-hour
stints, the Toyota team drivers overcame the heavy rains, mud, and
mechanical challenges to lead much of the race. The timing and
execution of routine pit stops for fuel, tires, and driver changes
had been honed to a science by the group, who often would be
leading by ten laps or more.
Frontend damage, and the ensuing repair time, set them back into
a neck-and-neck race with their closest competition, with both
teams trading the lead several times. Wheel damage late in the race
brought the 86 back into the pits for repairs. While quick work by
the crew had the car back on track for the final segment of the
race, they ceded their first-place position. While disappointed to
not place first, the team was more than happy with their strong
showing and incredible teamwork.
Randy Stephens, group vice
president for vehicle performance engineering joined the crew for
the race saying, "The most impressive thing to me is the teamwork.
Someone is always ready to step in and do their part to support the
overall mission."
Senior engineering manager and driver Mike Donick echoed Stephens' sentiments. "The
teamwork and the bond we build competing in these types of events,
directly translates into the office. The relationships we build at
the track make us a better engineering team." Adding, "Not only
that, but the passion these engineers and technicians have for
racing and for cars... it's reflected in the way we design and
develop cars for our customers. That's why we do things like
this."
The endurance team at the Arizona proving grounds is part of a larger
group of grassroots motorsports efforts across Toyota's North
American R&D facilities. Toyota engineers and technicians from
Michigan, California and Kentucky also compete in several series across
the U.S. including ARA stage rally, SCCA, Drift, NASA, and 24 Hours
of Lemons.
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in the U.S.
and North America for more than 60
years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation
mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands. During that time,
Toyota has created a tremendous value chain as our teams have
contributed to world-class design, engineering, and assembly of
more than 38 million cars and trucks in North America, where we have 14 manufacturing
plants, 15 including our joint venture in Alabama (10 in the U.S.), and directly employ
more than 47,000 people (over 36,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North
American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in the U.S.) sold 2.8 million
cars and trucks (2.4 million in the U.S.) in 2018.
Through the Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights
the way it partners with community, civic, academic and
governmental organizations to address our society's most pressing
mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move,
anything is possible. For more information about Toyota, visit
www.toyotanewsroom.com.
Toyota Motor North America Research & Development (TMNA
R&D) aims to redefine next-generation cars as not simply a form
of transportation, but as a fully connected vehicle. In fact, since
1984, Toyota has been awarded more patents than any other
automaker, including autonomous vehicle patents (more than 1,400).
Centered in Ann Arbor, Michigan,
Toyota puts the brightest thinkers from all across America together
to focus on letting people live more safely and comfortably.
Globally, Toyota spends approximately $1
million per hour on R&D to ensure that Toyota rapidly
and continuously develops cutting-edge, high-quality, and appealing
vehicles.
Media Contact:
Brian Watkins
734-219-8015
brian.watkins@toyota.com
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SOURCE Toyota Motor North America