Lexus Enthusiast

Toyota President Akio Toyoda will be one of the four drivers racing the Gazoo Racing Lexus LFA in the 41st annual Nürburgring 24 hour race this weekend in Germany, joining the team of Masahiko Kageyama, Hiroaki Ishiura, & Kazuya Oshima. The LFA will be racing in the SP8 class.

The race will be livestreamed on the Gazoo Racing website, the Lexus Europe team will be providing live race coverage on Twitter, and racing updates will also be posted here at Lexus Enthusiast throughout the weekend.

Latest Update

11:11am ET: The race has started — here’s the LFA racing team, including Toyota president Akio Toyoda:

Lexus Japan has released their first commercial for the new Lexus IS:

The commercial was filmed without using any CGI, with the entire process documented in four behind-the-scenes videos.

Official Lexus tuner TRD Japan has just announced accessories for the new IS — first off, here’s a look at the full body kit:

Let’s take a close-up look at the individual parts:

Front Spoiler & Side Skirts

Rear Spoiler, Mufflers & Diffuser

TRD has also developed a new sports suspension, 19-inch forged aluminum wheels, member braces and a performance damper:

As to be expected with TRD parts, these accessories are not cheap — the full body kit with sports mufflers are retailing for ¥437,700 ($4,281 USD), the suspension is ¥288,750 ($2,824 USD), and the forged aluminum wheels are a staggering ¥527,625 ($5,161 USD).

[Source: TRD Japan]

A strange looking Lexus has been spotted by Autoweek Netherlands — looking like a lifted CT, it’s likely a test development mule for the much rumored compact crossover:

Believed to have the NX nameplate, this new Lexus compact crossover is expected to be shown in concept form at the Tokyo Motor Show this year before it debuts as a production model at next year’s Geneva Motor Show.

See more photos of the Lexus NX Development Mule

Toyota President Akio Toyoda will be one of the four drivers racing the Gazoo Racing Lexus LFA in the 41st annual Nürburgring 24 hour race this weekend in Germany, joining the team of Masahiko Kageyama, Hiroaki Ishiura, & Kazuya Oshima.

The LFA will be racing in the SP8 class — qualifying starts on Friday, May 17th, and continues through Saturday, with the final race beginning on Sunday at 11am ET/8am PT and ending twenty-four hours later.

In anticipation of the race, Gazoo has released this video:

The race will be livestreamed on the Gazoo Racing website, the Lexus Europe team will be providing live race coverage on Twitter, and racing updates will also be posted here at Lexus Enthusiast throughout the weekend.

[Source: Gazoo Racing Website]