Toyota Camry TS-01 Performance – TS for Trulli & Schumacher

Toyota pulled one of the surprises of the Melbourne Motor Show when it announced a new sports Camry show car named after the marque’s Formula One drivers Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher and both drivers were there to introduce the vehicle to the press. The car is the first built by a newly formed development team within Toyota Australia as a major statement of capability and will be used to evaluate motoring enthusiast reaction. The aggressive looking V6 Camry TS-01 develops 185kW – 28 per cent more than the for-sale Sportivo version, and 320Nm of torque – an increase of 12 percent.

The new section within Toyota Australia is now expected to develop into the performance division of the marque in Australia, in a similar fashion to Ford performance Vehicles and Holden Special Vehicles to cater for the heavily enthusiast and performance–oriented Australian market..

The supercharged Toyota TS-01 uses locally developed body parts, and has sourced mechanical components from Toyota throughout the world. The ECU which is at the heart of the engine’s management system was mapped by Toyota Australia’s engineering team in Japan.

The vehicle has been styled externally and internally by Toyota Style Australia, the in-house design team led by Paul Beranger. The team last year devised the Sportivo Coupe Concept, built after consultation with teenagers about their ideal dream car.

TS-01 is a major step towards developing the capability of Toyota’s Australian engineers and stylists and also to showcasing their skills to management locally and internationally.

TS-01 uses a Toyota Racing Developments (TRD) supercharger developing 0.5bar of boost, but returning reliability and quality equal to a Toyota production vehicle.

The additional power and torque is transmitted through a heavy duty sports clutch adapted from Toyota Team Racing’s rally Corollas. Gear ratios remain the same as used by the Camry V6 Sportivo five speed manual.

Engineers have made substantial yet subtle changes to suspension and steering geometry. The front spring rate has been increased by seven per cent and the rear spring rate has been increased by 3.5 per cent. Furthermore the ride height of the vehicle has been reduced to the ADR limit. Rear subframe reinforcements were added to increase suspension mounting rigidity.

High stiffness drop links on the front and rear stabiliser bars have been adopted to reduce roll. Front and rear shock absorbers have been retuned to match the revised spring rates.

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