The TG183 was designed by Rory Byrne, with John Gentry as assistant designer, and powered by the Hart 415T turbocharged inline four-cylinder engine displacing 1,496 cc and producing approximately 580 bhp at 1.8 bar boost pressure during races, with a maximum of 10,500 rpm. The car featured a carbon-fibre monocoque with a semi-stressed engine, double wishbone suspension front and rear, and Pirelli tyres. It was distinctive for its twin rear wings and front wing-mounted radiators; the front wing radiator arrangement caused instability at high speed and was later replaced by a conventional layout. Transmission was via a Hewland five-speed gearbox. Turbocharger supply came from Garrett AiResearch. The car ran on Agip fuel with Lucas fuel injection and ignition.
The TG183 first raced at the 1982 Italian Grand Prix, the penultimate round of the season, in the hands of Derek Warwick. It appeared again at the Caesars Palace Grand Prix in Las Vegas but retired from both events.
An updated version, designated the TG183B, was introduced for the full 1983 season. Derek Warwick remained as lead driver, joined by Bruno Giacomelli. The car scored ten championship points across the season, finishing as high as fourth in the Dutch and South African Grands Prix for Warwick. The team classified ninth in the constructors' championship. Warwick collected finishes of eighth in Brazil, seventh in Belgium, and positions of fifth, sixth, and fourth in later rounds. Giacomelli also scored points on several occasions.
The TG183B carried over into the opening four races of 1984, with Ayrton Senna making his Formula One championship debut alongside former motorcycle World Champion Johnny Cecotto of Venezuela. Senna's debut came at the Brazilian Grand Prix in Rio de Janeiro, where he started 16th but retired on lap eight with a turbocharger failure. At the South African Grand Prix at Kyalami, despite damaging his front wing on the opening lap, Senna drove through to sixth place—earning his first World Championship point and finishing as the leading Pirelli-shod runner behind cars on superior Michelin and Goodyear rubber. He followed this with seventh at the Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder, subsequently elevated to sixth after Tyrrell's disqualification from the entire season.
At the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola—the TG183B's final race meeting—a dispute between Toleman and Pirelli over tyre supply led the team to boycott the first day of qualifying in protest. In the wet second qualifying session, Senna's Hart engine suffered a fuel pressure problem at the Tosa section, the furthest point from the pits, leaving him unable to record a time. It was the only Grand Prix qualifying session in which Senna ever failed to set a time. Following this event Toleman's contract with Pirelli was terminated, and the new TG184 arrived in time for round five in France.
Chassis TG183B-05, the car in which Senna made his Formula One debut and scored his first championship point, was retained by the Enstone team after 1984, sold to the United States in 1992, restored, and later returned to the United Kingdom. In 2022 it appeared in a Sky Sports F1 documentary and was driven at Brands Hatch by Martin Brundle. In 2024 it was piloted by Pierre Gasly at Silverstone as part of the 40th anniversary commemorations of Senna's first Grand Prix. The chassis was offered at RM Sotheby's Monaco Auction in 2026, estimated at €2.8–3.8 million, but did not sell.
The TG183 represented Toleman's growth from a Formula Two title-winning outfit to a genuine Formula One constructor. It introduced Rory Byrne to the top level of the sport; Byrne would go on to design championship-winning cars for Benetton and Ferrari. The car's place in motorsport history is secured above all by being the machine in which Ayrton Senna served his Grand Prix apprenticeship before developing into the sport's dominant talent of the following decade.
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