I read in the NY Times today that it appeared that the Toyotas that came in 3rd and 4th at Daytona were actually the faster cars, given how easily they moved through the pack without drafting. Since these cars are all the same except for the engines, the author indicated it meant the toyotas had the best engines (or at least Gibbs did). I suspect that to be the case, since Toyota could basically copy the best features of the Fords, Chevies, and Dodges. Does anyone know anything about what advantage they may have and if so, how soon Eaton or Patterson (comp engine builders) will have their hands on one of these?

It's true the cars were faster, but due to a couple of things.

One, is the Toyota motor was found to be making peak power in the upper reaches of the RPM range.

Two, NASCAR mandated gear ratio just happened to place the cars right in the sweet spot of the Toyota engines.

The hope on Nascar's part was that a Toyota was going to win the race, and that Nascar did what they could to make it happen. Kind of a thank you for the HUGE influx of money into the scene.

The other beneficiary of the gear ratio were the Dodge folks, as evident by their top 10 finishes.


As far as those engines seeing more drag strips, I'd say it's probably doubtful.

I believe NASCAR put the cars on a chassis dyno and the Gibbs Toyota's made 15 horsepower more than Hendrick's Chevys.

Those two facts would make them good comp motors. that's why I asked.

this is from www.jayski's.com

Dynos after 150's show Toyota's stronger: Judging from NASCAR’s post-150s chassis-dyno tests, which showed Toyota’s #20-Tony Stewart had at least a 15 horsepower edge at his rear wheels over Chevy’s #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. in Thursday’s twin races. And Richard Childress’ Chevy engines were about 30 horsepower off the Toyotas, which is some concern in both the Childress camp and with GM officials. NASCAR didn’t post any official numbers, but Stewart’s engine - built by Mark Cronquist, head of Joe Gibbs’ motor shop - pulled around 462 to 464 effective horsepower, according to those familiar with the results. That’s about 15 horsepower more than Earnhardt had and about 30 horsepower more than Chevy’s Kevin Harvick.(Winston Salem Journal)(2-16-2008)
UPDATE: NASCAR tested about 10 different Sprint Cup engines following last Thursday’s Gatorade Duel 150 qualifying races. According to several officials from NASCAR, the manufacturers who race in the Sprint Cup Series and race teams, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity, all parties involved are satisfied that the engines from Toyota, General Motors, Dodge and Ford are competitive with each other in terms of horsepower. Most of the engines tested varied by less than 10 horsepower, multiple sources told SPEEDTV.com, with all but two of the engines within 7-8 horsepower of each other. And none of the four brands tested had a consistent advantage over the others. Media reports on Saturday that Toyotas had a 30-horsepower advantage over the Chevrolets were, to say the least, erroneous. Had that actually been the case, Chevrolet teams would have been raising a ruckus with NASCAR and complaining bitterly to the media about being at a competitive disadvantage. Nothing of the sort has happened.(SPEED)(2-17-2008) Comment here

i think Kalitta should put "toyota" stickers on the valve covers of Scott's funny car and we could have a huge media blitz about "the new nitro burning toyota powerplant" to go along with team forces "nitro burning ford motor"

I agree with all the above but want to add that Joe Gibbs Racing has always been at the front on the plate tracks. Gibbs engine builder Mark Kronquist had been working on the Toyota engine since at least October. Toyota is better today because they went out and got a better team to add to the roster. Envision Toyota adding John Force Racing to their FC roster. (Just as a point of reference.)

It helped the Dodge effort in the final finish when the USUAL SUSPECTS on plate tracks: Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin, the 5 car (now Casey Mears) and Kevin Harvick all had wrecks, damage, or mechanical gremlins to deal with and weren't in the lead pack with 3 to go.

Robby Gordon and Ron Capps, I'm a Dodge guy!

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I never thought that being an optimist would piss people off so much.

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Mopar to ya'!
Johnny Mopar

I would love to see what the boys in AZ could do if they get ahold of some nice toyota pieces. I don't want to get into the Big 3, US deal because these would be built here.

This also makes you question what 500 ci would look like in a scion body... (I wish with F.I.)

the engine guys @ gibbs are still just working off jason line's notes
he left there a few years back.

Excellent!

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I never thought that being an optimist would piss people off so much.

Damn it Bruce, you owe my a monitor after that one!

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Shift for Brains!!!!

Wait a second. I thought the very reason why Toyota jumped on board with Kalitta was the availibility of Kalitta Air. Flying back and forth to Nagayo and Tokyo, Japan to restock parts, etc...

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I never thought that being an optimist would piss people off so much.