Stefan GP Toyota TF110

The missing 2010 F1 car: Stefan GP’s Toyota TF110

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These pictures show the Toyota TF110 chassis in the colours Stefan GP hoped to race it in 2010.

Stefan GP planned to take the place of US F1 after the team pulled out shortly before the season began. However the FIA did not grant them permission to compete.

Two TF110 chassis were built but not raced by Toyota as they pulled out at the end of 2010.

This car, TF110-01, was eventually driven by Toyota-backed driver Kazuki Nakajima in a private test session last year.

The car is pictured in its ‘testing specification’. A race upgrade package was also planned which included an exhaust-blown diffuser as several teams ran in 2010.

It also featured alterations to the front and rear wings. The team did not have an F-duct for the car, although according to Toyota “we had done plenty of work on rear-wing stalling”.

A second chassis, which remained in black, has not turned a wheel.

Stefan GP applied for the 13th grid slot again in 2011 but no team was awarded the place.

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Here are a few technical details on the car:

Engine: Toyota RVX-10, 2.4-litre 90-degree V8. Limited to 18,000 rpm, produces “over 700 bhp”.
Transmission: Toyota seven-speed unit plus reverse with a Toyota-designed main case.
Dampers: Ohlins
Wheels: BBS forged magnesium
Electronics: Toyota / Magneti Marelli / McLaren Electronic Systems

Weight: 620 kg including driver
Overall length: 5050 mm
Overall height: 950 mm
Overall width: 1800 mm
Wheelbase: 3300 mm

Stefan GP Toyota TF110

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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120 comments on “The missing 2010 F1 car: Stefan GP’s Toyota TF110”

  1. What engine were Stefan planning to use if they were granted an entry? Ferrari?

    There’s just no way to make a sharkfin look good, is there? Not even with naked carbon fibre.

    1. They were planning on using toyota engines, there are about 20 of them still sat in a warehouse somewhere.

      1. Quantum Electrodynamics
        6th January 2011, 10:20

        So the “Serbian Vulture” is red? Or is it scarlet? :P

    2. wheres the sharkfin on the naked carbon the whole engine cover is removed???

    3. The Sri Lankan
      10th January 2011, 9:38

      makes me sad to look at this thing…I Still dont understand why Toyota ditched 2010 when they had a car regardless of its competitiveness. and im convinced that at that stage in time they could-have manged nascar and F1given TOYOTA’s sheer budget

  2. Wow, its a Ferrari! Decent looking car, personally, i think a shame they never got a chance.

    1. its similar not just because of the colour the suspension reminds me of the 2009 mclaren the nose and wings ferrari the rear wing is really a toyota 2009 innovation it looked well sahped for pre season anyway toyota always said that they were going to win and in the end they didnt mainly i heard cause of the engine

      1. Such a shame, and such a waste, it’s a beautiful car and it would have been good to see how they went.

  3. It’s a shame that this beauty never raced isn’t it

    1. Definatley, one smexy damn front wing that things got. Sigh.

  4. It’s a shame! I don’t care what it looked like, just would’ve been brilliant to have a few more cars on the grid!

    1. A few more competitive cars even.

      1. Huge shame that they didn’t compete!

      2. Exactly, Patrickl! I think had this been allowed to race it would have greatly troubled Renault and Mercedes and maybe even the top 3. Toyota had a good car in 09 and this looks like a step forward over that for sure. Looking back we’ve all heralded 2010 as one of the closest seasons ever, but just think what Glock and Trulli could have done if they could have driven this beauty around instead of being stuck at the back of the grid in the new teams. Thanks FIA.

        1. Adam Tate,

          Yeah, thanks FIA indeed for making things more boring for fans. Had Setfan GP been given preference over the HRT outfit we’d have had a more comptitive entry that, as many of you have suggested, would have been right up there at least amongst the mid pack.

          It seems Toyota Motorsport is just destined to stay out of F1. The deal with HRT never materialized for 2011, and it seems these beautiful cars will just lie in the garages and give opportunities for photoshoots and articles on what might have been.

          It seems that apart from a few European auto majors, no multinational auto company is truly passionate about F1. It’s just unbelievable how someone can see such a great car lying wasted without racing. It should be so demoralizing for the team that worked hard to get it done on time.

          But that’s what multinational car companies are. Unemotional, self seeking but with truckloads of green to spend on nature exploration and water conservation (the Toyota-sposored programmes on National Geographic). In other words:

          Multinational auto corporations + FIA = no racing.

          FOTA + F1 fans = some racing

          F1 – Ecclestone = ultimate racing

          These are the basic priniciples behind UMOR – Ultimate Motor Racing, my dream to see F1 truly develop into. I’ll reveal more ideas about this in future comments or perhaps some blog posts. In the mean time, I invite Keith and all of you to imagine what true motor racing should be. Can the concept of true racing we have in our minds be made a reality?

  5. bets on whether this car is faster than the HRT?

    1. i’d bet it was faster than all 3 new teams comfortably!

      1. I think it could have been right there in the mix between the Renault and the Mercedes.

        1. Agreed, I think maybe fighting Williams and Force India for 6th/7th/8th!

          1. Fer 65 is spot on. Toyota always, ALWAYS, came out and said how competitive they were gong to be. Fact is, every single year they didn’t. And not just didn’t, but really sucked. Truly truly blew goats.

            This car would probably have been just another link in the chain, another disappointment by a car company which didn’t ‘get’ F1.

        2. From what Toyota were saying about the numbers in the wind tunnel, it would have done better than that as well.

          1. They’ve been saying that since they entered F1… I reckon It’d have done a lot worse than expected!!!

          2. all have to remember that Toyota was one of the expensive team during their tenure. and as they are a well establish team, so i think they should have beat comfortably all new teams and may be Williams and force india as well…….

        3. Craig Woollard
          6th January 2011, 0:45

          Nah, it would have been battling Lotuseseses and Toro Rossos all season long if you think realistically, it was never gonna be brilliant, c’mon, it’s a Toyota!

      2. I agree. It would destroy the new teams with ease. Its a shame this car didn’t make it, and the HRT truck did.

        1. Why? Because Toyota quit and chose not to race? Or because the FIA realised what a sham the Stefen entry would have been?

          HRT deserves much more praise.

          1. Nope. They would have done better because they had a team of f1 professionals who had worked on designing and developing the car since mid 2009. Unlike HRT, which actually outsourced its car design to Dallara, Toyota was working on improving the 2009 challenger.. which was the 4th to 5th fastest car on the grid last year. In terms of expertise, Toyota’s team was leaps and bounds ahead of HRT. I do not understand what HRT deserve praise for?

          2. Because they aren’t just rolling over, despite knowing that things aren’t exactly going to get better any time soon.

            For sure that car would destroy HRT, But you gotta admire HRT for trying to survive.

    2. yes, it was probably as fast if not faster than mercedes were at the beginning of the season.

      1. It’s alright guessing where they would’ve come but it was a Toyota….

        1. well they developed it very early and with alot of money.

          1. They did that with the TF109 too, and the TF108, and the TF107…..

  6. Paint job is almost like Ferrari, and the nose is pure RB6 copy. Pity we didn’t know how TF110 would have performed.

    1. yeah, why on earth pirelli used the T109 instead of the T110 is beyond me?

      1. First of all because the TF109 is a proved concept where a lot of data exist, so it is far better to use for development work (data collecting and verifying) than the never raced and untested TF110

      2. I believe as well that HRT’s attempts to buy the TF110 or some bits of it had something to do with it as well.

    2. Looks more like thr Sauber nose to me…

  7. So, basically a Ferrari without any logos then?

  8. Wow, what a Ferrari rip off. The unwritten rule of F1 is that no-one paints their cars all red other than Ferrari

    1. That raises a good question – last red non-Ferrari in F1? (Not including Toyotas or McLarens…)

        1. I’d describe that as “Black” or “Dennis the Menace” rather than “Red”

      1. BMS Scuderia Italia in 1992.

          1. Williams 1998 had more red than Scuderia Italia

    2. Ferrari’s red comes from the Italian racing colour. All the Italian teams used to race with it (or something close to it – actually Ferrari tweaked it in about the mid-90s so it looked brighter on TV) in early Grand Prix.

      1. But Stefan GP isn’t Italian.

      2. Isn’t the original Italian racing colour blue? I seem to remember reading somewhere that blue was the national racing colour, but sometime during 40s/50s/60s Ferrari changed to red because of a dispute with lack of support from the government (or something similar)

        Could be wrong but I do recall reading this in one of the historical F1 books…

        1. Blue is French.

      3. Yeah Ferrari used to race their cars in “Rosso Corsa”, which was changed to “Rosso Scuderia” (a red so bright it’s almost orange) if Im not mistaken. The color of this TF110 looks almost identical to the former.

    3. Another good reason for NOT granting Stefan GP entry in F1.

    4. 1998 Williams in Winfield livery?

      1. Not quite the right shade, IMO. I’d go with Dallara in 1992.

    5. Bah to that Ned. Red doesn’t belong to Ferrari, it’s the italian racing colour. What if Alfa or someone wanted to come back. It’s like saying no one but Lotus can paint their cars green.

      1. Fair enough, but Stefan GP is not Italian…

        1. no argument on that, wonder if the FIA would even allow for two cars looking so simular these days.

          1. *facepalm* No one ones colours.

      2. The Sri Lankan
        10th January 2011, 9:42

        hear hear!

  9. I remember F1 Racing did a feature on it and “allegedly” the numbers all indicated it was a front-runner, on a par with Red Bull. Then again, I seem to remember hearing a story that the 2009 McLaren MP4-DOG apparently surpassed the designer’s expectations and it was a grim beast indeed…

  10. The 1998 Winfield sponsored Williams cars were red.

    As for the Toyota F1 2010 – I wonder, no one will ever know but they spent high and developed early so it would have surely done as well if nit better than the Toyota 2009. I’m disappointed they didn’t gamble and compete in 2010 given they already had a car – it could have turned out well and they could have pulled out on a high!

    1. Especially given how the Honda turned out… :)

    2. Too true Calum, but the problem is that Toyota is seemingly run by a bunch of pansies and morons. I’m sure someone within the organization was crying out, to let this amazing machine race, but was silenced by the lifeless corporate machine. Pity.

  11. if it was based on the Toyota, i think it would of been up there with torro rosso and force india!

  12. also look at there workshop. Looks very good! yes its small but it looks well sorted out.

    1. Yep, that is what Toyota Motorsport now sell (it is their Cologne facility). They have the ideas AND the capacity, just no paying customer to fill these workshops up.

  13. Maybe if they didn’t paint thier car red, they would have been able to race?!

    1. *allowed to race…

      1. It would certainly have helped.

    2. Maybe they could paint their cars with the Serbian Tricolor because the car was “Serbian”. I know, its 10 years, but still, wanted to mention it.

  14. notice they haven’t released photos showing the diffuser… must have been good!

    1. Heard it was called the super diffuser. Just wondering if Toyota could have pulled a Honda on their project. Maybe it could have been the Brawn of the field in 2010…. ok maybe not that good.. but if it was good enough to fight for 4th.. it would have been awesome

      1. Wow thats massive, bigger than the McLaren? Reckon it’s would have suffered from the same problem though, difficult to set up, unregular flow.

      2. thats not there defuser its redbulls

  15. Virgin killer ;)

    1. The Sri Lankan
      6th January 2011, 19:46

      box smasher?

  16. The biggest mistake F1 made recently was not letting this team race. It even made me angry when Bernie had a go at the new teams when this new team were well funded and had a presumably competitive car.

    1. They were not well funded or in any way competent. Virtually everything Zoran Stefanovic said about himself or his organisation was revealed to be a lie. For example, the container of “parts” they sent to Bahrain actually only contained office equipment. The second chassis was not assembled at the beginning of the season and there is no evidence that Stefan GP had the expertise to put it together. And the aerospace firms Stefanovic claimed to have worked with had never heard of him or his company.

      Furthermore, the team employed Mike Coughlan, who was at the time banned from F1 after his involvement in Spygate.

      In short, this is a “team” that was quite rightly never let near the paddock.

      1. Oh, never knew that about the lies, and the office equipment is kinda funny lol.

        1. Yeah, lots of people heard Stefan GP loudly talking up their chances, but the investigative work that revealed them to be a bunch of frauds (I believe Will Buxton did some of it, among others) was never as highly publicised. So lots of people believed Stefan’s claim to be a legitimate outfit and hence wondered why they had been denied entry by the FIA. As it turns out, they were perfectly right to do so.

          1. Well im actually glad i found out thanks

          2. btw Keith, due to similar ignorance like mine, perhaps a comment of the day for red andy above??

  17. Some people said Stefan with this car could have done the same thing that Brawn did the previous year.

    1. With Nakajima and Villeneuve behind the wheel, they would have had trouble getting into the points even if the car was up to the job. And it’s unfair to compare a successful F1 veteran like Brawn (that actually spend a year preparing for the ’09 campaign) with some nobodies trying to make a quick buck off TTE’s corpse.

      1. jsw11984 (@jarred-walmsley)
        5th January 2011, 18:17

        But surely one decidely average racer and one has been racer would have been better than two rookies?

        1. And be denied the possibility of another Hulkenberg/Kobayashi? Gimme rookies over hasbeens anyday!

  18. I read that HRT are fielding an upgraded version of their 2010 car. I take it that means they will be modifying the existing cars. Why oh why haven’t they tried to get hold of these cars instead…

    1. They did. They were working with Toyota directly until about a month ago when Toyota announced an end to the partnership due to non payment.

      1. Please, somebody use these cars. Give them to Toro Rosso or something.

  19. Hrt did apparently sign a deal with Toyota to use the cars for 2011 but later terminated the deal when money from sponsors wasn’t forthcoming!

    I think it’s such a shame that Toyota pulled out when they did, they have one of the top factories, 2 nearly completed cars a huge workforce and a bunch of engines. Despite having record loses in 2009 you would think that they would have maybe done a Renault and just sold a large stake to either an investor or brought in a title sponsor as mclaren already have with vodaphone!

  20. Just looks so much like a Ferrari.

    1. Anything that’s red will look like a Ferrari.

    2. As well as the colour, the sidepods look a little Ferrari-ish too

  21. It’s a shame the car was never raced, but it would’ve only made sense if Toyota had stayed. Stefan GP had no business being on the grid, from all reports. It also would’ve been confusing seeing bright red cars that were not Ferrari on the grid. I’m by no means a Ferrari fan, but I have massive respect for the team and its history, and if I were fielding a team in F1 bright red is the last color I would think of painting my car. It could be acceptable for another Italian team (as it’s their national racing color as has been pointed out), but for anyone else it’s just kind of silly.

  22. The team that never was. I felt bad for Toyota as this is really their car, and it would have been good for the sport to have kept a powerful outfit like them involved, even if it was as new privateer team.

    If BAR Honda can end up as Mercedes, its a shame that Toyota couldn’t have a second chance as Stefan GP. The FIA only stopped them because of Mosleys comments about ‘Serbian vultures’ when US F1 announced they were pulling out. I would love to have seen them race

    1. Look at Red Andy’s comments above. The Stefanovic operation seems to be a lot of smoke and mirrors, like USF1. And we all know how that turned out.

  23. The naked photo reveals something I had not noticed on recent GP cars: just how much surface area they are able to give the radiators.

    I had no idea they were situated in such a way as to give them that much space.

  24. Has everyone who are saying it’s a shame this never raced forgetting just how rubbish the Toyota’s were as a factory team? What makes you think they would have been any better as a customer supplier? I for one was glad to see the back of them, they were an embarrassment to Toyota.

    1. Toyota had potential they just didn’t know what to do with it. Melbourne 09, they started at the back of the grid and finished 3rd and 4th, a huge achievement. It was just overshadowed by the Brawn miracle. If Toyota could have kept up that momentum they would have definitely been a podium contender this past season at the least.

  25. It is just me or most of the current Ferrari model its inspired by Toyota ’09 car?

  26. It would of been great to see these cars race for sure…. just to see if they were rubbish or not..
    looking at the pictures I can’t help but wonder if those slits in the air intake were to feed air to the “Super Diffuser”… it looks like there’s a tunnel following the intake down that way… and the nose is so thin at the tip… they definitely had the Red Bull bumps… :)

    1. and the front wing is a piece of art…

  27. Looks like the theme is that its a shame that it never raced. I would have liked stefan gp to race. Although it would have been wierd having a new team doing so well. To me brawn wasn’t he same as it was pretty much the same team with a different name.

  28. The side view reminds me of the sauber c30

  29. Sauber c29* my bad

  30. It looks like Stefan actually could have been pretty serious about what they were doing.

    Of course, whatever potential they had would have been squandered by their Nakajima-Villeneuve driver lineup.

  31. TF110 seems to generate the same amount of downforce or more than the race-winning cars in 2010 including the championship winner RB6 judged by information gathered from former TMG engineers having transferred to the other teams and TMG R&D service offering to F1 team clients after the withdraw, said TMG in japanese media.

    I’m afraid the car couldn’t run F1 even once due to financial problem of Stefan GP and HRT which were introduced to TMG from Mr.E. There are the other candidate that chinese investors group ha ve an interest in setting up an new team but he hesitates to introduce it to TMG because of twice breakdown.

    By the way, Kazuki Nakajima came home to japan and will race in Formula Nippon and SuperGT…

  32. I think realistically, if Toyota had run this car, it’s fair to say it would have at least continued their average involvement in the sport. On the other hand, Had Stefan taken over, I doubt it would have gone any better than either a massive flop, or result in a story as hilarious as Andrea Moda.

    http://www.f1rejects.com/teams/andreamoda/profile.html

    1. Wow! Hadn’t read that, or ever seen the site I’m embarrassed to say. Thanks for the link, that’s quite an amusing read!

      1. In came Roberto Moreno, who admirably for the love of the sport would drive a wheelie bin if it was offered to him

        My personal favourite line. I think him and HRT would go together well, to bad it’s past his time.

  33. It was somehow sad to see that some team like HRT & Virgin racing turned out into the 2010 grid out of no where & then the FIA didn’t granted the slot for Stefan GP who were really the Toyota outfit.They may not have been the best car on the grid but still they would have performed much better then the three new teams.

    1. How exactly where they Toyota? They had no funding, no resources, no experienced personnel apart from mr spy gate, and only two chassis with no way to replacing one if it got damaged.

  34. is it for sale? or has pirelli bought it?

    and damn, they actually looked like they would have been fast

    1. Pirelli used the ’09 chassis, not this one.

  35. why not allow them to race? they are clearly able too. the more the merrier i say, what is the point in not allowing a 13th team? i just don’t see it at all.

    makes you sick sometimes this sport! (overreaction)

  36. It could have been the class of the field or it could have been a flop. No real way of knowing now.

    Certainly looks the part, especially when compared to any of the other new teams cars.

  37. Can they not get a cupple of sets of brigstone f1 tires now the fia cant stop them since they ended there contract get klien or chandhok or someone in it put it roud silverstone on a track day see how it would have peformed against the 2010 lot????

  38. STRFerrari4Ever
    10th January 2011, 17:34

    That car would’ve been quite something. A real shame that it never got to battle it out with the RB6, F10, MP4/25, R30 & the W01.

  39. I read in F1racing once that it could’ve been a championship contender as Toyota had allegedly corrected any mistakes on the TF109. Note that the person that said this was a former member of the team but it still looks like we’ll never know whether or not he was exaggerating.

  40. Steven Jackson
    5th January 2021, 8:05

    Must be a no news day to necro this old story.

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