[TRD Liquid Silver]

just wanted to let people know that the first race of the year starts tonight 9:30pm eastern and 6:30pm pacific. Olivier Panis qualified 5th and it's the highest for Toyota in their short history in F1. Da Matta 15th (02 cart champion) could've qualified better if he was under a different startegy.

i think toyota will be fighting for points regularly and they might get some podiums this year with the new TF-103 with probably the strongest motor in F1.

 

[Deaks2]

Yeah, they will be on the podium if there is mass attrition and the red, blue/white and silver/black cars fail

 

[TRD Liquid Silver]

Yeah, they will be on the podium if there is mass attrition and the red, blue/white and silver/black cars fail

i wouldn't be surprised if they get to the podium even w/o any accidents from the big three. i'm talking about #2 or #3 not 1. the only way for that to happen is if somone pulls a nancy kerrigan on schumi. i think they'll be the 4th best team this year with the new TF-103 and within 2-3 years i see them winning it all. they also out qualified 2 of the williams and mclaren drivers and that's from a team that's less than 2 years old. not counting 99-01 for R&D work.

 

[tuberider]

I'm pretty exited to hear that Toyota has entered into F1, and even more excited to hear that the season opener is on tonight! I love this time of year... F1, WRC, and superbike. Looks like my ass is going to spend a good amount of time planted on the sofa!

 

[TRD Liquid Silver]

what a $hitty day for toyota. damatta was only in the race for 12 minutes. Panis was as high as 4th and eventually stopped due to some sort of failure. hopefully they do better in malayasia in 2 weeks.

 

[t2000gts]

i was thrilled at the start. check the pics...panis was right with the front runners. but sad end. glad for DC getting the win. exciting race to watch.

at least the hondas didn't score points :chuckles:

 

[Fourgig]

Panis only looked good in turn 1. After that, he lost 1 or 2 positions at every turn.

 

[TRD Liquid Silver]

Panis only looked good in turn 1. After that, he lost 1 or 2 positions at every turn.

cause he was running a dry set-up and the track was still somewhat damp eventhough there were sections that were dry.

 

[Sausage25ca]

Ya Panis, struggled at the start - I think he dropped to like twelfth, but after the track dried out he was passing all of those who passed him earlier and got up to 5th. Unfortunately, he then had a stop and go penalty for crossing the line in the pits....didn't matter anyways as his oil pump went later on in the race.

I'm surprised so few people are interested in F1...anytime there is a post here about it, it generates about 10 responses all from the same people each time. Most people on this board really seem into technology and of course high performance vehicles. Also it's exciting to watch Toyota race even though they will struggle for the next couple of years, however they had some very quick times during testing earlier in the year relative to other teams.

 

[Toy Yoda]

I hope they do better this year...
Not only will it take some of the wind out of Honda's sails, but it will lead to the release of the 4500GT

 

[The Wok]

It sucks to not have Speed Channel in your cable package. All of the types of racing I enjoy - F1, CART, WRC, Moto GP, and various road racing sanctioning bodies, they're all on Speed!

 

[MicaCeli]

Yeah Like NAWWWWSSSSCAR