Today I attended the Lexus LFA Driver Development Program at the Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California, and while I don’t want to give away too much in advance of my Lexus Magazine article on the event, I did want to share some brief impressions.
- I started off the day’s driving by hitting 118mph (190km/h) on the acceleration/braking test, which replaces 110mph (170km/h) as my fastest personal time.
- My confidence in straight line was tempered by my experience on the slalom course, where on my first run-through I hit 3 of 5 cones.
- Everyone in my group was super-friendly — it was made up of two Lexus dealership owners that bought personal LFAs, one gentleman who has just received his LFA last week, and Club Lexus member S2000toIS350, who has already posted up a detailed summary of his experience.
- Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to drive the black production LFA — my entire day was spent exclusively in the yellow pre-production model due to a Lexus video that I’ll be appearing in. I did manage to take some photos, though, here’s one to start with:
- There’s nothing like a great instructor — I was paired with Tim Moser, the program’s lead driver, and he helped me improve with every turn. I can’t thank him enough.
Special thanks to everyone responsible for running such a well-organized and extremely rewarding program — the event stands as one of the best experiences of my life, and I was honored to be able to take part. More soon!
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