Looking Back on Toyota’s History of Tackling the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, Starting with Its First Race in 2007
Akio Toyoda and Hiromu Naruse came from different backgrounds, occupied different positions, and came from different generations, but they shared an unswerving desire—a desire to put Toyota, which in its quest for sales volume had gone from focusing on making “good cars” to making “cars that sold well,” back on the right path.
To do so, they wanted to take Toyota back to its starting point, refining people and cars through motorsports, thereby contributing to the making of ever-better cars. The stage they chose for that was the 24 Hours of Nürburgring endurance race.
In the over a decade since Toyota first took part in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring in 2007, the machines it used in the race underwent major changes. The first time it competed in the race, Toyota’s team drove Altezzas. Production of those models was discontinued in 2005, so the team bought used vehicles and modified them for the race.
The team wasn’t allowed to use the Toyota name, either. It was more of an enthusiast team effort than anything official. Every aspect of the race was a new experience.
Looking back at the race, Akio Toyoda (a.k.a. “Morizo E said, “Toyota trained for the 24 Hours of Nürburgring with used vehicles and took on the actual race with used vehicles. The other automakers in the race, on the other hand, were competing with new machines that wouldn’t even be released for another two or three years. Naruse and I didn’t want for Toyota to just make cars that would be passed by, but cars that would pass others by. That’s the kind of car we wanted to drive in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring.”
On the right is a detailed, yearby-year recounting of that history. Nürburgring was a source of dramatic developments and challenges for the team, sometimes beaming with a benevolent smile, sometimes baring its fangs.
One thing that has remained constant throughout this history is Toyota’s reason for taking part in the race. This 24 hour event, which is said to be the world’s most demanding race, serves as a space that Toyota can use to develop ever-better cars and enables it to refine its cars, people, and teams.
The short span of this race provides a wealth of experiences, including failures, and allows those involved to make discoveries that can’t be arrived at through numbercrunching or theoretical work alone. These discoveries, in turn, contribute to improvements. In other words, motorsports are the place for the development of Toyota’s people.
The most important thing in all of these activities is not the goal but the starting line: “making ever-better cars.” That is why Toyota will continue in this endeavor.
