NASCARfan, if Toyota was such a powerful engine, why did all the Toyotas look so bad before Gibbs involvement? HMS COT cars were superior last year, but haven’t been as successful this year. Bad chassis? Motors? Did Knaus and the gang get stupid over the winter? I’m a moron everyone. Please help me understand. I’m nye eve.

sorry, but it takes more than horsepower to be competitive in any sport, although it helps. There’s been a saying in almost all forms of motorsports that a well engineered team with a talented driver is worth 20 to 30 horsepower. Toyota always made similar, if not a little more horsepower in the ‘07 season. MWR, RBR were all freshman teams with a thin notebook of information, compared to teams of championship caliber. If you notice in any race, look at a Roush, Hendricks, Gibbs car. They can pass most other cars on the turns, where chassis engineering come into play. If your car has to slow down because of lack of grip, then even having an additional 30 horsepower won’t help you. Remember, a winning car has a winning team, and not just a powerful engine.

NASCAR Fan wrote:

gigolo george wrote:

I go along with Fisha on this. I was under the impression that Cronquist was the big man on campus and had a free reign with the Toyota engine program. I thought he brought something to the table. It can’t be a coincidence that ever since JGR came aboard Toyota started winning Cup and Nationwide races. There’s gotta be something to it. And if you have to test and a practice session won’t cut it, do it at a non points event.

Did it ever occur to you that the reason Gibbs Toyotas are so competitive is that they know how to set up a car? The other Toyota cars have similar horsepower, but Gibbs Toyotas just fly through the turns a lot quicker.

I hope your not that nieve but your off topic this article is about JGR’s engines not setups.

No, I’m not that nieve about the topic. And sorry about the off-topic response, but the sentence about coincidence regarding JGR and the sudden performance increase brought this on. Even though JGR has their own engine shop, they follow specific guidelines and follow TRD’s specifications. JGR and TRD are technical partners, with a TRD employee always in the JGR shop.

gigolo george wrote:

I go along with Fisha on this. I was under the impression that Cronquist was the big man on campus and had a free reign with the Toyota engine program. I thought he brought something to the table. It can’t be a coincidence that ever since JGR came aboard Toyota started winning Cup and Nationwide races. There’s gotta be something to it. And if you have to test and a practice session won’t cut it, do it at a non points event.

Did it ever occur to you that the reason Gibbs Toyotas are so competitive is that they know how to set up a car? The other Toyota cars have similar horsepower, but Gibbs Toyotas just fly through the turns a lot quicker.

I hope your not that nieve but your off topic this article is about JGR’s engines not setups.

I was thinking about what this JGR engine was and I came to this conclusion, Mark and the JGR engine shop DID take the Toyota program and give it an overhaul over the off-season, and that accounts for the increase in competition by the other Toyota teams, and I think the engine that the JGR cars were running this weekend might have had some lightweight prototype stuff in it that is not officially part of the TRD engine package yet.

I go along with Fisha on this. I was under the impression that Cronquist was the big man on campus and had a free reign with the Toyota engine program. I thought he brought something to the table. It can’t be a coincidence that ever since JGR came aboard Toyota started winning Cup and Nationwide races. There’s gotta be something to it. And if you have to test and a practice session won’t cut it, do it at a non points event.

Did it ever occur to you that the reason Gibbs Toyotas are so competitive is that they know how to set up a car? The other Toyota cars have similar horsepower, but Gibbs Toyotas just fly through the turns a lot quicker.