Panasonic Toyota Racing officially launched its 2006 Formula One campaign at the Toyota manufacturing facility in Valenciennes in France recently. The car has been running since the end of November as the team gets used to V8 engines and a new tire partner in Bridgestone.
"We feel that the concept of holding a new car launch at the beginning of each year, just for the sake of it, is outdated," said technical director Mike Gascoyne.
"We are updating more major elements on an increasingly frequent basis. Although this can be a difficult process to manage, it means that we can ensure resources are being spent in areas that make the car go quicker, as and when it is required, and not simply on redesigning existing components just because we feel that we have to. Consequently, we have moved to a process of continuous evolution, hence the smooth transition from TF105 to TF105B and to the early completion of TF106," he added.
The TF106B is already in the pipeline and is scheduled to make its debut at Monaco.
Toyota is keen to show their company philosophy of "Kaizen," which is their policy of continuous improvement.
The team also used the launch to announce that it has renewed and increased its deal with Intel, despite the fact that the American firm is also supporting BMW Sauber.
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