Racing

According to Motor Trend, Lexus will be taking the LFA and the experience they gained at the Nürburgring into the FIA GT1 Championship:

In a series that is widely considered to be the pinnacle of sports car racing, Toyota will come up against the likes of Aston Martin, Corvette, Ford, Lamborghini, Nissan and Maserati.

LFA drivers will reportedly include Japanese aces Junichi Wakisaka and Takayuki Kinoshita as well as a couple of European pilots. Toyota will also be looking to recoup some of the LFA’s sizeable R&D costs by racing in the series. That’s why we will also see the LFA competing in Japan’s GT series. Be sure to keep an eye on the starting grid for next year’s Le Mans 24 Hours as well, because the LFA is expected to be there.

This is huge news — expanding the LFA into a racing platform provides an immediate return on the investment made into the supercar’s development, especially if it leads to good finishes in these major events.

Of course, these races all have different rules and regulations — in the case of GT1, the LFA will need a .2L bump in displacement to meet the 5.0L requirement, and will almost certainly be getting a major boost in power.

Admittedly, this is all still rumor, but exciting nonetheless — let’s hope for something official soon.

[Source: Motor Trend]

This weekend, Dave Schotz raced his daily driver Lexus IS F in National Auto Sport Association (NASA) Time Trials at the Auto Club Speedway in California and proceed to dominate against dedicated racecars — Jalopnik has the full story:

NASA Time Trials allow for almost any car to compete for the fastest lap time on a legitimate race course. One guy rolled up in his daily driver Lexus and crushed everyone.

He ran the car bone stock (other than a set of Hoosier Tires andCarbotech brake pads for track duty) and hit 150 miles per hour on the banking.

Regardless of the number of doors the car has, obviously the Lexus is not shy of performance. The car won the TTB class against dedicated trailered racecars with full rollcages, no interiors and heavily modified suspensions.

As a three time SCCA solo national champion and two time NASA road racing national champion, Schotz is a proven racer, but no matter — cleaning up on the track with a daily driver (even an IS F) is still a story to tell.

(There’s also a thread over at Club Lexus where driver Dave shares some details about the IS F and this weekend’s race, including some minor controversy.)

[Source: Jalopnik]

Thanks to German Car Forums, we can get a sneak peek at the new Car Magazine Autocar comparison of the Lexus LFA, Ferrari 458 Italia, Porsche 911 GT3 RS & Noble M600 — here’s a LFA quote:

Even though pictures of the LFA have been circulating for years, and personally I’ve seen the car in the carbonfibre before, nothing prepares you for the sight of the Lexus on home ground, mixed in among everyday traffic. In our collection there are more beautiful shapes and brighter colors, but without a doubt the most striking shape is the LFA. It looks like it has arrived from Mars, circa the year 2050.

On a whole, the article reads like a 458 Italia love story — which is all well and good, except when it gets down to raw numbers:

To think that Autocar was only able to hit a 4.2s 0-60MPH time with the LFA — when Car & Driver and Motor Trend managed 3.7s & 3.8s respectively — makes me think two things right off the bat:

• This white LFA pre-production prototype is starting to show some wear after some very tough miles.
• The other three cars are equipped with launch control systems, which practically guarantees a solid launch. The LFA, on the other hand, requires more technical skill.

After all, it did take Car & Driver some experimentation to hit their reported 3.7s time, and that was with a different prototype. Unfortunately, neither of these facts are mentioned in the article.

Nevertheless, this article only highlights the need for launch control in the LFA — if only to even out the playing field and make for more accurate comparisons.

Update: This comparison is from Autocar, not Car Magazine.

[Source: Autocar via German Car Forum]

As it turns out, Dutch magazine Autoweek set a new Goodwood Circuit track record with the Lexus LFA a couple weeks back — here’s the footage of the lap:

According to Fastestlaps, the LFA ran the track at 1:24.8 — almost 3 seconds faster than the second place Nissan GT-R at 1:27.70. Even more impressive? In a previous video, we saw the LFA compete the Circuit in 1:27.65, which means the Lexus supercar actually takes the top two spots.

[Via: Club Lexus]

I literally can not resist posting red Lexus LFA footage:

The super-red headliner is the absolute best.

Update: I’ve replaced the video with a higher resolution version.

I’m pretty sure no one ever expected to see a Lexus LS 400 painted up like this:

This is the General Lee(xus), and it has quite an interesting story — turns out this old LS is an entry into Bangers4BEN, a charity event in the UK for “helping the automotive and related industries provide care and support for employees and their dependants in times of need”.

Here’s the event details:

Firstly, buy an old banger for no more than £500 and make sure you get a receipt to show this (it can cost more or less and you’ll realise why in a minute). You must then drive it all the way to Monaco and back, and finally enter it in our special auction where all the cars are sold in aid of BEN (now you see why we don’t mind you spending more than £500 on the car).

The LS will be driven by Phil Huff, and you can donate to his Bangers4BEN entry here. If you’d like to know more about Bangers4BEN, I recommend checking out the event homepage.

(Another fact about this LS: It’s one of the two LS 400s featured in Jeremy Clarkson’s Thriller DVD. Try and guess which one.)

[Source: CIMA Racing]