2012 Japanese Super GT

[Articus]

Originally Posted by Japanese Samurai

Hey. Thats a very different looking Nissan Gt500!.

[alexkiller8]

like the corolla, is and subaru legacy that ran in gt300 in last years, this car uses a race-spec tub chassis with a SGT bodykit style mounted to make it look like the prius. Has 0% sharing with streetcar prius. Maybe because of some structural dimensions will have some handicap in aero but with some helf from the BOP maybe will be competitive in one or two races

[TF110]

Whatre you talking about? Samurai just said the Prius shares some parts with the road car. The IS was mid-engine layout as well, remember? What does the Corolla share with the SGT car? These are race cars, not touring cars. And we don't think Toyota will put out an uncompetitive Prius for SGT, do we?

[alexkiller8]

did i write that this car will be totally uncompetitive? i said that, the prius bodyshape is not the ideal to have the best aero.
These prototype cars however are not built by manufacters but by tuners and maybe the only thing that shares with the road car is the toyota logo on the front.
Watching the gt-r 2012 it seems that has a less extreme bodywork than previous years, didn't 2012 cars have the winglets ?

[rich07]

I cant see the Prius and its hybrid system being built without some help from Toyota if not a lot. Especially if Toyota do not want the name to be damaged by a half assed effort so I would think the factory would have a lot to do with the car if not designing and building the car themselves. Id be guessing the hybrid system is not a simple thing to design and build, what tuner has that capacity?

Speaking of Toyota, any news and pics of 2012 SC430 yet?

[TF110]

2011 cars had no winglets, and the TRD stickers on the Prius show me Toyota involvement. Also, the Prius is one of the most aerodynamic cars in the world. It's drag coe. is among the lowest in cars. I'm sure it's shape is fine. I think that GTR is 2011 car, no rules for 2012 GT500 has been given yet AFAIK.

[ss_collins]

These prototype cars however are not built by manufacters but by tuners and maybe the only thing that shares with the road car is the toyota logo on the front.

Not sure where you get that from, if it is anything like the Corolla it will share a fair amount with the road car, including bits of chassis, of course they change things like engine position so a huge amount is done to it but there are many parts of the road car. This is not GT500 it is GT300. This totally wild GT300's have been banned for 2012.

Toyota will be actively involved in this Prius. The GT300 cars for part of its young driver programme.

[Japanese Samurai]

Team apr announced 2012 SGT participation plan.
*Car: Prius GT300
--Engine: V6, 3456cc
--Hybrid system: 1 motor/ Authentic product of road-going Prius (battery, motor and control unit) are used.
*Driver: Morio Nitta, Koki Saga
http://autos.yahoo.co.jp/news/detail...sports/168352/

[banzailap]

I went to TAS Friday. From what I understand, the Prius is largely based on the Corolla and there are big TRD stickers on it. Per regulations, GT300 does not accommodate works outfits so apr is the shop front, much as R&D Sports is the Subaru entrant. I expect Toyota to be heavily involved in that project. The shared parts with the road going Prius are related to the hybrid system. And Panasonic, who builds batteries for Toyota hybrid cars, is the main sponsor. If it looks like a works effort and sounds like a works effort...

The driver pair is Morio Nitta and Koki Saga. They were each on one of the apr cars last year. As Yuji Kunimoto looks like he will be drafted to GT500, this leaves 2 seats for new TDP guys on the #74 while Nitta and Saga will do the grueling development work on the Prius. This hybrid setup is a huge endeavor and the car is bound to have a difficult start. I hope they don't end having to give it up as Subaru did with the 4WD on the Legacy.

I wonder how much feedback on the hybrid system there will be between that project and the LMP1 car, presumably a completely different setup. I also wonder why they did not try to go with the KERS system tested by GTA at the end of 2010. Because they wanted to stay within Toyota's own tech, probably, to be able to use it as marketing.

It was cool to the the Endless livery on a Super GT car back, as it was, on a different note, to see the multicolored HKS livery back on a racing car, alas a D1GP drift machine. Generally speaking, I felt there was an upbeat mood throughout the TAS, like a gradual return to the better times of the car industry in Japan, with many big names back again on their own, Mugen, HKS, Trust...

The driver of the HKS Hachiroku will be NOB Taniguchi, returning to D1GP. I was surprised that his name did not pop up during the december testing in GT500, because he is definitely worth a GT500 drive, but that may be the reason. It would be difficult to do both probably. It might be less involving to do it in GT300, as Max Orido proved last season.

[Japanese Samurai]

Team Kunimitsu (#100) annnounced 2012 SGT participation plan.
*Team: TEAM KUNIMITSU
*Supervisor: Kunimitsu Takahashi
*Driver: Takuya Izawa, Naoki Yamamoto
*Car: HONDA HSV-010 GT (RAYBRIG HSV-010)
*Tire: Bridgestone
*Chassis Maintenance: M-TEC
*Manegement: Team Kunimitsu
http://www.teamkunimitsu.net/news_71_contents.html

[TF110]

I love the livery of the Raybrig cars- the HSV is beautiful. Can't wait to see the developments to the 2012 cars. Any news on that front, Samurai? Regs, hp/weight/aero mods?

[Japanese Samurai]

Joint tire test will be carried out at Sepang this week (or next week).
Honda will participate in this test for the first time in several years.
We will get new information by this test.

[BBSB]

Originally Posted by Japanese Samurai

Team Kunimitsu (#100) annnounced http://www.teamkunimitsu.net/news_71_contents.html

No english version
I hope we see this press release on SuperGT english site. There's usually usefull info in these.
Also, no pics of the car?! I would like to see if their livery changed.

[TF110]

Well, one week or two weeks isn't far off to see what the new cars look like and what changes there are to them. The technical side is what I'm wondering though.

[BBSB]

Yeah, I'm not sure why the technical regulations haven't been made public yet, surely the teams must have known them for a long time otherwise how could they develop the cars?