Toyota Motor : Why Toyota Takes on 24-hour Endurance Races (Part 1)

Celebrating its centenary next year, the 24 Hours of Le Mans dates back to 1923, the year of the Great Kanto Earthquake in Japan and 14 years before Toyota Motor Corporation's 1937 founding.

Car racing with purpose-built cars had already taken off in Europe by then, but the idea behind Le Mans was to hold an endurance race for production models, rather than racing cars completely different from those on the road.

The 13km course consists of both a racetrack section and a section of regular public road. A century ago, with headlights still in the early stages of development, the race's night-driving element also offered a way to test light-related parts.

As this shows, endurance racing has always been a venue for developing automotive technologies, with particular significance in the racing world. This mindset resonates with President Akio Toyoda's belief that roads make cars and his pursuit of making ever-better cars through motorsports.

Toyota has used Le Mans as a way to develop its technology, honing the company's hybrids and boosting engine combustion efficiency. The key to winning the race is figuring out how to drive faster and further with limited fuel in the tank. Similarly, the hydrogen-powered Corolla team has made continuous improvements since its endurance debut last year, seeking to shorten refueling time and extend the car's range on a single tank of hydrogen.