Conspicuous Consumption

If you were wondering what Toyota was doing with all that money they make selling the Camry and 4-Runner, meet the TF-107, which was debuted this past weekend. I don't know what they do with their profit from hybrids, but one can only hope it isn't hosting banquets featuring whale.
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This year Toyota promises to win a grand prix for the first time, ever! “Our fundamental target this year is to get the first victory,” says Chairman and Team Principal Tsutomu Tomita. I wish him luck. As he noted, "We announced that a year ago, but we failed to succeed in 2006. And therefore we want to repeat that challenge in 2007." I'm sure some of the Toyota executives are wondering when they'll get a payback for the hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars they've spent chasing F1 titles.

They could do a much better job of winning if only McLaren, Ferrari, and Renault weren't coming out with new cars, too. McLaren's already introduced their 2007 challenger, the Vodafone MP4-22 McLaren Mercedes, which is as beautiful a car as one would ever wish to see.

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The TF-107 is a pretty car, but I've got a fondness for red and white, my high school colors. This year's car carries the same sponsor, tires, engine, and drivers as last year, so they've got consistency going for them. Still, they keep finishing behind Honda, which has to really piss them off.

They also keep losing to Ferrari, who've also launched their new car.

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As always, if you like Italian racing, red is where it's at.