Intersection: Racetrack meets Main Street in the All-New Camry!
Many of us think of the Toyota Camry as the appliance that someone in your family owns
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00:00 (dramatic music)
00:02 (upbeat music)
00:20 You often hear about the joint development
00:21 of a street car and a race car,
00:23 be it for touring car racing or endurance car racing.
00:26 What happens if I told you the same thing was happening
00:28 here in America with stock car racing
00:30 and the next Toyota Camry?
00:32 You see, street car and race car designers
00:34 have been hard at work on the next Camry,
00:36 and today we're gonna find out what they've come up with.
00:39 We start here at Calti,
00:40 which is Toyota's research design center
00:42 in Southern California.
00:43 Next, we'll head off to Kentucky
00:44 to see Toyota's manufacturing plant,
00:46 and then we'll finish at Toyota Racing Development
00:49 in North Carolina.
00:50 We're gonna learn the how and why
00:52 behind Toyota's new manufacturing philosophy
00:54 of the next Camry and the design it shares
00:56 with Toyota's next NASCAR entry.
00:58 This is Ian Cartabiano,
01:07 studio chief designer here at Calti.
01:10 How do you take a production car design
01:12 and turn it into a race car design?
01:14 We actually started with production data
01:18 and the production sketches,
01:20 putting it over the NASCAR packaging and chassis.
01:23 It actually worked out pretty good,
01:24 and of course we had to do a lot of changes,
01:26 but stuff that looked cool on the production car
01:29 actually helped out with the performance
01:31 of the racing version.
01:32 This is Kevin Hunter,
01:35 president of Calti Design and Research.
01:37 Kevin, let's talk about how the street car
01:39 and race car designers work together on this project.
01:41 My role really is to ensure that the race car
01:45 looks as much like the production car as it can be.
01:47 We're always trying to put a pretty badass race car
01:50 out there that resembles a production car.
01:53 Working with the development team, we changed everything.
01:56 The front's different, new rear, totally different body.
02:00 This new car, I'm just amazed at how aggressive it is.
02:04 For racing fans and customers,
02:09 they can see the clear connection
02:10 between the production and the racing car.
02:14 One of the biggest challenges is just that
02:15 all the dimensionally, it's totally different.
02:18 Working with the guys at TRD was really great.
02:21 Every time we did the wind tunnel test,
02:23 it was a little bit of change in and out,
02:25 but I think in the end, the teams get performance
02:27 that they're looking for,
02:29 and then we get the design that we're looking for.
02:32 It's such a huge change contrast to the '15 car,
02:36 and I think everyone's gonna notice a massive change.
02:40 Can't wait to see it at Daytona.
02:42 When we get there, it's gonna be badass.
02:44 Introducing the new front-wheel drive Toyota Camry.
02:51 Chances are you or someone in your family
02:53 has owned a Camry at some point.
02:55 Since its launch in 1983,
02:57 Toyota has sold over 11 million of them.
03:00 That's one for every resident of Chicago
03:02 and New York City combined.
03:04 And starting in 1988, the vast majority of them
03:07 have been coming from Kentucky.
03:08 (upbeat music)
03:13 This is Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky,
03:23 and we're here to learn about the completely new philosophy
03:25 Toyota's developed for making its cars.
03:27 It's a revitalization of what they've done in the past,
03:29 from concept to production.
03:31 I'm here with Masaru Katsumata.
03:35 Katsumata-san, thank you very much for joining us.
03:38 So when Toyota decides to do an entirely new Camry,
03:41 100% new for the first time in a long time,
03:44 is that intimidating at the very beginning?
03:46 Normally, we try to make a full model change,
03:50 including the platform.
03:51 However, this is quite different
03:54 from the typical white-bred sedan.
03:56 What do you think are the biggest changes
03:58 from this new Camry to the previous Camry?
04:01 So the first, the look.
04:02 Three-dimensional shape.
04:06 Sometimes we can see this kind of three-dimensional shape
04:10 in European models, Italian car,
04:12 but in Toyota vehicles, it's quite unique.
04:15 Yeah, TNGA helped you get that styling.
04:19 What does TNGA stand for?
04:20 Yeah, TNGA, Toyota New Global Architecture.
04:24 The platform and the underbody and the floors
04:26 and everything is brand new.
04:28 This Camry, especially,
04:30 we focused on the change and challenge.
04:34 So that is one of the reasons why we selected the keyword
04:38 for this new generation Camry,
04:40 is an unprecedented change.
04:48 This is Will James, President,
04:50 Toyota Manufacturing here in Kentucky.
04:52 Does this factory serve the US?
04:54 This factory not only serves the US, but we also export.
04:58 When we look at all of the mechanics
05:00 that we have here on site,
05:01 we're Toyota's largest manufacturing plant in the world.
05:04 We have a car coming off of the line every 55 seconds.
05:08 Toyota's new strategy is TNGA.
05:10 How does that change the production process?
05:13 It changes the structure
05:15 of how the vehicle is manufactured.
05:18 The way that we mount the engine to the car
05:21 is completely different.
05:23 Technology is changing.
05:25 A lot of our materials are changing.
05:27 A lot of our equipment is changing.
05:30 I mean, even the nuts and the bolts change.
05:33 Everything changes on this car.
05:35 Our team members are totally excited,
05:37 and I'll tell you what,
05:39 one of the first comments that I heard
05:41 from one of our team members when we shared the concept was,
05:45 "Wow, this is gonna be a great NASCAR."
05:48 What does the NASCAR relationship mean to this factory?
05:51 NASCAR relationship is huge here.
05:54 We've got a Kentucky Speedway here less than an hour away.
05:59 You know, as you can imagine,
06:01 the pride of our team members seeing the Camrys
06:04 being run out there on the racetrack.
06:05 The first time Joe Gibbs racing members
06:10 to see the first Camry SE Sporty model exterior styling,
06:14 they said, "Wow, this could be
06:17 the one of the best aerodynamic NASCAR body."
06:21 To compare new generation Camry
06:23 versus prepared NASCAR and a brand new body,
06:27 oh wow, it's almost the same.
06:30 This is our direction for the Camry, total vehicle.
06:35 Everything is connected.
06:38 - Camry has always been a phenomenal car,
06:40 but as a result of TNGA working with Katsubama and his team,
06:44 what they've been able to do is nothing short of amazing.
06:47 - Up next, we're headed to North Carolina
06:50 to take a look at the new race car
06:52 and the evolution of Toyota's involvement in NASCAR.
06:54 In 2007, Toyota joined the ranks with Chevy, Dodge,
07:01 and Ford and became the sole non-domestic entry
07:04 in the Premier Cup Series.
07:06 Kyle Busch took a Camry to a driver championship win
07:09 in 2015, and last year, Toyota took its first
07:12 Toyota 500 win with Denny Hamlin.
07:15 Behind me is Toyota Racing Development.
07:25 Now that we've learned how the production car came together,
07:28 we're gonna get the race car side of the story.
07:31 This is David Wilson, the president
07:33 of Toyota Racing Development.
07:34 The Camry first appeared in NASCAR in 2007, correct?
07:37 - That's right.
07:38 - So we're up on a decade of involvement
07:39 with the motorsport.
07:40 - That's right.
07:41 - What's that been like?
07:42 - Having the perspective of being around
07:45 Toyota's motorsports program for over 25 years,
07:48 and if you look at the impact that we've had in NASCAR
07:52 and the reach that we've had with our consumers
07:55 from the time that we've entered to today,
07:57 and you see real tangible gains in purchase consideration,
08:02 you know, the NASCAR fans, they just look at us
08:06 as one of the guys now.
08:08 We've come a long way since 2007, I'll tell you that.
08:10 - Now we have the new Camry,
08:13 completely new from the ground up, all kinds of changes.
08:16 What kind of opportunities does that give
08:17 to the next year of the race car?
08:21 - The Camry that we're gonna race in the 2017 Daytona 500
08:25 represents Toyota's desire to keep the production Camry
08:29 fresh and exciting.
08:32 And this new Camry is truly fantastic.
08:35 It's by far the most aggressive styling that we've seen
08:39 on the production vehicle.
08:41 And one of the neat stories behind all of this
08:44 has been the relationship that we've built
08:47 between the TRD engineers, aerodynamicists,
08:51 and our colleagues at Calty Design.
08:54 We've developed this collaboration now
08:56 where we can work together and make sure
08:59 that we take advantage of all of that great designing
09:03 on the production Camry and transfer that to the race car.
09:06 We made the conscious decision, along with, you know,
09:09 Kevin Hunter at Calty, to bring on Mr. Katsumata
09:13 to build the correlation between the race car
09:16 and the production car.
09:17 So for the first time, the chief engineer of the Camry
09:22 has had a hand in this.
09:25 - The 2018 Camry race car is kind of gonna be the vanguard
09:28 of the '18 model year production car.
09:32 That's something you don't typically see for a Camry.
09:34 That's typically normally sports cars, right?
09:36 - Totally.
09:37 This is a direct correlation to, one, the power of NASCAR
09:42 and how much this represents an opportunity for Toyota
09:47 to debut to the public the 2018 model year Camry
09:52 at the racetrack.
09:53 And two, it reflects how much Toyota respects NASCAR.
09:57 We're racers here at TRD, and ultimately,
10:00 we wanna make sure that this Camry
10:02 that we're gonna take to Daytona 500
10:04 is as good as it possibly can be,
10:07 yet make sure that when you're watching it on television,
10:10 you can recognize that that's a Camry.
10:13 - This is Andy Graves, the group vice president
10:19 and technical director of Toyota Racing Development.
10:21 I think we're gonna start first with the nose
10:23 because this seems to be the most dramatic departure
10:26 from the previous gen race car, right?
10:27 - Yes.
10:28 - You typically see on the front end of race cars
10:31 from previous years, it's a lot of just decals
10:34 across the front.
10:35 And we still have some of that here,
10:36 but you also have like three dimensionality
10:39 in a lot of places that represent the street car, right?
10:42 - That's right.
10:43 And the biggest thing being the lower side intakes
10:47 and the radical character in all the lines.
10:51 It was a big challenge and we had to work really hard.
10:54 And fortunately, because of the new technology
10:58 and some of our advanced procedures,
11:00 we were able to maintain as much character
11:02 from the production car as possible
11:04 without giving anything up, you know,
11:07 performance wise on the racetrack.
11:08 - As we go around to the side here,
11:10 you've kept quite a few of the body lines.
11:13 - The character line down the side of the car
11:15 is very unique.
11:16 Where at the undercut and the scallop on the bottom side,
11:20 and it gets so bold up here,
11:22 trying to tweak all those angles
11:24 and get the aesthetics to match up exactly
11:27 like the production car,
11:28 but to make sure the flow down the side of the car
11:31 remained attached the way that we wanted to
11:33 was another pretty big challenge to say the least.
11:37 - The C pillar, I guess,
11:38 the third pillar back there by the passenger,
11:41 this here kind of evokes the same sort of body line
11:44 that the production model has.
11:46 - That's right, yeah.
11:47 We really wanted to try to make sure
11:50 that the quarter window in the seat post area
11:54 does make it look like the greenhouse
11:56 from the production car.
11:57 And then it really ties into the back,
11:59 which is definitely unique to any car
12:02 on the NASCAR circuit.
12:03 And that is the vents in the back quarter area.
12:08 - Development of this car started very early.
12:11 - Yeah.
12:12 - And when you saw the production car,
12:13 were there things that you noticed
12:15 you could work with the team at Calty
12:17 that ultimately would make their way to this car?
12:19 - At TRD, we saw it as a huge challenge.
12:23 And actually, I think TRD encouraged Ian and Kevin at Calty
12:28 to keep an open mind,
12:30 and especially around the lower nose
12:32 and then this bold character line on the side.
12:36 I think that those were some of the things
12:38 that we actually encouraged
12:39 to make sure the performance is there,
12:41 but to keep the intent of the character.
12:43 - When you're going about finding ways
12:45 to maintain that character,
12:46 is that just ours in the wind tunnel?
12:49 - It is.
12:50 It's ours in the wind tunnel.
12:52 It's ours in CFD.
12:54 - Yeah.
12:55 - We have a lot of pride in using the NASCAR platform
12:58 to promote our production vehicles.
13:00 So the more time you can put into it,
13:02 the better job you can do.
13:04 And again, why we wanted to put a lot of time
13:07 into the new 2018 Camry.
13:10 - I'm in the wind tunnel over at Aerodyne,
13:16 which is just across the way
13:18 from Toyota Racing Development.
13:20 Now, a couple of those team members are here
13:21 with the race car.
13:22 We're gonna strap it down,
13:23 turn the fans on, and get a look at a test
13:25 of the new Camry race car.
13:27 Here to learn some of the ways that wind tunnel testing
13:39 kind of, I guess, dictates the way the car looks, right?
13:41 - That's right.
13:43 - So what are some key areas that you really had to work on
13:45 in the wind tunnel here?
13:47 - Well, of course, as we pointed out before,
13:51 the entire nose of the car
13:52 and even the complexity of the side air intakes
13:57 is, was really difficult.
14:00 And we had to understand that not only in the computer,
14:04 but then come in the wind tunnel
14:06 and to be able to validate that
14:07 and make sure that the changes that we saw in CFD
14:12 were real here in the tunnel.
14:15 - Now, when you're testing in here, this wind tunnel,
14:17 what kind of speeds are you making air go through here at?
14:20 - Right around 145.
14:22 - Okay.
14:22 - 150 miles an hour is what we'll run.
14:25 So obviously it's not as fast as the racetrack,
14:29 but it's pretty close and it gives us a good baseline
14:32 to be able to get all of our numbers.
14:35 - Well, here we finally have both Camrys,
14:39 the 2018 Toyota Camry street car,
14:42 and this season's race car.
14:44 Now the similarities and also the differences
14:46 should jump right out as they would,
14:48 as the differences between a street car and a race car
14:51 are huge, but the design language
14:53 is actually pretty similar and that's admirable
14:56 considering all those differences.
14:58 Now the race car itself, you know,
14:59 the decals do the job of representing the grills
15:01 and the headlights and the badges,
15:03 but the shapes of everything are actually pretty fairly
15:06 and accurately represented here on this car.
15:09 And that shows the work that Toyota Racing Development
15:11 and Calty had to do to make these design cues work
15:15 on a car where aerodynamics are such a huge factor.
15:19 Now the 2018 Toyota Camry, this is an XSE model,
15:22 they've worked really hard to give this an aggressive look
15:25 and you can see by the amount of black
15:28 and super big grills, including this lower part
15:31 on the fascia here and the sides.
15:33 And that's pretty representative of some of the stuff
15:35 you see in the design language of modern sports cars
15:38 and that looks like it seeks to reinforce
15:41 the driving enthusiasm Toyota says
15:43 it's built into this car.
15:47 We've learned a lot about the mindset of the teams
15:49 behind these two cars.
15:52 On the production side, they wanted
15:53 to make a Camry that's more exciting to look at
15:55 and more engaging to drive.
15:57 Meanwhile, Toyota Racing Development
15:59 was able to take that design and through an unparalleled level
16:01 of cooperation, make it competitive on the racetrack.
16:05 We end up though with an economic family sedan
16:07 and a tube frame race car, two wildly different cars
16:10 with wildly different goals, and yet they share a common theme.
16:14 And that's to give the NASCAR fan who
16:16 owns a Camry a kinship between the car they
16:19 see competing at the Daytona 500 and the one
16:21 they have in their driveway.
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