In the space of just over a week,
Toyota's
Formula One activities have taken it from the legendary banking of Indianapolis to a course just 384 metres long inside a building in London's regenerated docklands.
ExCeL, the new home of the British International Motor Show, played host to one of the team's older TF105s as Toyota staged the UK's first indoor
F1 'test' on Monday, to demonstrate the prodigious straight-line acceleration and braking power of a grand prix car for
BBC Television's
Top Gear programme.
As a high-octane curtain-raiser for Toyota's contribution to this year's motor show, the V10-powered TF105 was tweaked to cope with the exceptional conditions, not least the ultra-smooth surface. Slick
Bridgestone tyres were fitted, as opposed to the usual grooved rubber, gear ratios were adjusted, brakes were pre-warmed, maximum revs were reduced from around 19,000 to 16,000 and the car's traction control system was working at full capacity.
The car had already been warmed up at the previous weekend's Goodwood Festival of Speed, with official test driver Ricardo Zonta at the wheel. The F1 car ran a total of six times on the famous hillclimb, with the last run reserved for the customary tyre tread laying 'burnout'.
Just how the TF105 performed in the hands of
Top Gear's infamous test pilot, 'the Stig', and how it compared to its more modest 'Reasonably Priced Car', will be revealed in the programme at 2000hrs on Sunday [16 July].
