SEPTEMBER 25, 2000

Toyota runs its V10 for the first time

TOYOTA Motorsport ran its first prototype Formula 1 V10 engine last week at its headquarters in Marsdorf, near Cologne, in Germany. The engine, which has been designed by a team led by Germany's Norbert Kreyer ran without a problem. The engine is not expected to be run in a car until the start of next year but will undergo intensive dyno testing in the course of the next six months.

"We now feel that we have the heart of the car beating and this is good for our motivation," said Toyota Motorsport boss Ove Andersson. The track development of the engine will be carried out by Mika Salo and Allan McNish. The team is due to spend the whole of 2001 developing the engine and systems for a full scale entry into F1 in 2002.