EVO Comparison: Lexus LFA vs. Ferrari 599 GTO [w/ Video]

LOL....  They didn't use launch control?

What about the 599 GTO??? Ofcourse, EVO is very respectable and you can see they pit LFA vs the halo Ferrari wearing the GTO badge. You can see the GTO got 3.8 Seconds as well while it is the fastest Ferrari with a 3.3 seconds 0 - 60 mph officially. The issue is: 1 - There are two people on board the car. Not one. 2 - It is an old abandoned runway with huge grooves in there in order to drain water off the runway to prevent the planes from hydro planing. The grooves make the ride very bumpy resulting in acceleration disruption. 3 - There is a 10 degree incline at the beginning of the runway where the cars launched. Considering, the Ferrari 599 GTO has run 2.9 - 3.0 seconds 0 - 60 mph, both times are off by 0.8 - 0.9 seconds. That should put the Lexus LFA time of 0 - 60 mph around 3.3 - 3.4 seconds on a proper track surface with launch control and only one person on board.

Ofcourse, I wish the test was conducted without these factors deteriorating their best possible numbers.

I always like reading your comments Keep it up!

The speedo reading of nearly every car at very high speeds is a bit optimistic for legal and safety purposes (so that no one can claim the speedometer read less than the speed trapped by the cop).

Again, another dumb and ignorant post.  Do you see two people sitting in the car?? Do you know an extra person adds 170 - 200 lbs of weight in the car?? Do you see that it is an abandoned runway with big grooves to drain water and avoid airplanes hydroplaning?? Both of the times are off by 0.8 - 0.9 seconds due to the external factors. Both of these cars kill the GTR around the race track. Their official Nurburgring lap times and laps on various tracks speak for that.

Also, that abandoned runway has a 10 degree incline in the beginning of the track. You run your mouth when you have no clue what you are talking about.

Ah posting after posting of excuses, speculations and Wiki cut and paste to justify extra 250K that you'll never see the extra performance in real life only on a track with professionals.  Still the LFA hasn't really establish itself.  Then you have to add another 70K to bring up a Nuburing edition to beat a base GTR time.  Next year the GTR will be even more powerful and might beat the LFA Nurburing Edition time.  With that huge price difference I expect the LFA and Ferrari GTO to be better in every category than a GTR.  Reading all the reviews for the LFA it drives great, I admit better than a GTR but at the end even they say the price for a Lexus makes it hard to swallow. If you think the LFA is best sh!t on the planet, ok fine but on the road in real life a GTR does this to a LFA. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46Tm2NYuw1Q

Look, RollaXRS loves the LFA, I love it too. But he isn't making excuses for the car. He is simply providing factual information for the discerned viewer to understand the circumstances to which the performance results were obtained.  If Rolla didn't provide such information which most people wouldn't even try to find, all you'll get from internet commenters are as you say "the price for a Lexus makes it hard to swallow". BTW, take your GTR bias elsewhere, no one cares about what this outperforms that. 

Great way to switch the topic around when you clearly were here with negative bias without understanding the context of these tests. Do you seriously want me to show your other highly ignorant and blatantly biased posts?? Just tell me and I will show you those. 1) A standard LFA (unlike the Nurburgring edition) was never officially released. Only Nurburgring edition 'warm up' lap was released of 7:22, which is still far from the quickest it can run ("under 7:20" in the next few months will be the attempt). 2) The standard LFA according to the Chief Engineer lapped Nurburgring in 7:23, but no official video was released (look up the chief engineer's twitter chat at Lexus Europe to see his detailed response).  3) Ofcourse, the Nissan GTR is fitted with high-grip extreme performance DSST GT Maxx Dunlop tires with semi slick outboard shoulders compared to max performance summer tires on the LFA that are not high-grip. The comparable tires for that are on the Nurburgring edition of  RE70, which used to be on the 2009 GTR. Want me to post the official press release of the tires?? You are not even worth wasting any time on. Again, go back and reaad what exactly Forged Performance said about the Lexus LFA and there are 3 distinct tracks where Lexus LFA holds the record of the quickest lap time ever record.ed. You guys should go back to your Nissan GTR fan boards and leave this thread to the 599 GTO and Lexus LFA 

The response was to Racer_XXX

Before someone asks whystandard LFA was not fitted with high grip tires, the response officially is that the tires were selected for their optimum balance between dry grip, track performance, wet grip, daily driving comfort, noise levels rather than outright maximum dry grip like other high-grip and R compound tires have such as, Pirelli corsa, Michelin Pilot Cup or Super sport or the dunlop DSST GT maxx. LFA's tires give up some dry grip to gain in many other areas.

Are we seriously talking about the GTR again?

Just rereading these comments, and I want to mention that any name calling or insults from anyone will be deleted. Let's keep it clean, folks.

So then why do you let Rolla talk so nasty to other commenters? "dumb and ignorant post...", "You run your mouth when you have a clue..." How are these comments not insulting?

The instigating comments were completely inaccurate and were only to provoke reaction from people coming from outside. Maybe, you should go join these people on Nissan GTR boards. Until then, this topics is about LFA vs 599 GTO.

Case in point, there is no need to be discussing GTR in this. There were a few repeat offenders who come here on LFA threads and start trash talking the LFA and exaggerate the Nissan GTR completely out of context. Look at the Atlanta #003 Lexus LFA thread and you will see the same people came there and started trash talking the LFA. Get your facts straight. I am defending the LFA in an LFA thread. Not a GTR thread on a GTR board. Got it?? Look at who is coming here and trying to steer the conversation to belittle the LFA.

You're absolutely right -- I've cleaned up Rolla's comments, and expect there to be no more insults directed at anyone. I don't think we need to keep going on about this, do we?

lol such a GTR hater. True the Nurburgring LFA edition beat the Nissan GTR around the Nurburgring but it was less than a second and a half, it was a 2011 GTR(the 2012 is much improved) and the GTR's time is on a wet track.

Incorrect. It was the 2012 GTR updated. Look up the full video by Nissan. Secondly, Lexus LFA standard edition according to Lexus Europe laps in "7:22" and the Nurburgring edition in "under 7:20". The "warm up" lap was recorded only for the ADAC 24-hours endurance race to display on the LCD screens. The official lap time according to Lexus USA will be attempted just before the production starts.

Again, another dumb and ignorant post.  Do you see two people sitting in the car?? Do you know an extra person adds 170 - 200 lbs of weight in the car?? Do you see that it is an abandoned runway with big grooves to drain water and avoid airplanes hydroplaning?? Both of the times are off by 0.8 - 0.9 seconds due to the external factors. Both of these cars kill the GTR around the race track. Their official Nurburgring lap times and laps on various tracks speak for that.

LOL the GTR wish It was as special as the LFA or GTO. 

Haha -- hilarious!

This coming from the great Chris Harris himself.  Definitely holds a lot of weight. 

Yes, the Ferrari cars (both 458 Italia and 599 GTO) get high-grip tires (Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires, which have grip levels comparable to the previous generation R compound Cup tires according to Michelin. I really think Lexus needed to do what all the other supercars do on the standard LFA, which was to fit it with proper high grip tires or even possible R compound tires. However, the Nurburgring edition only has high-grip tires since Lexus placed heavy emphasis on low road noise and daily driving comfort on the standard LFA. The Nurburgring edition is capable of similar times according to Lexus as the 599 GTO around Nurburgring (under 7:20) and the standard LFA officially lapped in the low 7:20s according to the chief engineer. Anyway, Evo usually conducts the test on Bedford Autodrome track so we will have to see how the lap times look like.

aha Thanks for everything 05RollaXRS!

Absolutely agree. Any further comments about the GTR in this thread will be deleted, regardless of who posts them.

They forgotten LFA have 6th gear ... XD

When going to top speed, it is best to stay in the lowest possible gear at that speed for as long as possible. Since 5th gear is much shorter and LFA still makes over 90% torque from 9000 - 9500 rpm, in order to fight the wind drag at those high speeds and the downforce by the spoiler, it is best to make use of the maximum gear ratio available (torque multiplication through gears0.

They did the right thing of keeping it in 5th till they got near the rev limiter. The reason being, the 5th gear is a shorter gear than the much taller 6th gear. At those very high speeds when the wind drag is so high, gear ratios (torque multiplication through gears) make a big difference. since LFA still delivers 90% of its peak torque from 9000 - 9500 rpm, it is actually the best thing to do to go to the rev limiter in each gear when measuring the top speed. Yes, LFA even with Nurburgring edition, will not not be as quick and fast in a straight line as the 599 GTO. However, around the track is where truly LFA shines. Evo will be conducting a track test on Bedford Autodrome track. Although, the official weight specs are close, the weight at the scale is generally quite different. For example, the 599 GTB HGTE's official weight is 3700 lbs. However, in the LFA vs 599 GTB HGTE comparo, it actually weighed over 4000 lbs. the 599 GTO weighed 3850 lbs in a Car And Driver road test (and ripped a 0 - 60 mph in 3.0 seconds0. I have heard you have to delete a lot of stuff to lighten the 599 GTO. Case in point, I think the 599 GTO on the weighing scale will still be a about 200 lbs heavier than the standard LFA. That is what my guess is.

The top speed on the LFA is 202 mph. Toyota says that 90 percent of the LFA’s torque is available between 3,700rpm and 9,000rpm.  The max output or 354 lb·ft is at 6800 rpm. The LFA redlines at 9000 if you constantly redline you will damage the car. They stayed on 5th gear too long they should have gone to sixth gear to get the 202 top speed.

The rev limiter is at 9500 rpm and if you know how Toyota/Yamaha build high-revving engines (I have an 8400 rpm revving Yamaha/Toyota built engine), you will know the engines are built to operate at those high rpms for a lot of miles. I have 110,000 KM on my 2ZZ-GE and it is still as smooth as butter. At idle, I can barely feel the engine running. As a bench test, the engines Yamaha and Toyota build as high-revving engine are revved at rev limiter for 24-hours straight. If you watch Scott Pruett spending 15,000 miles on the track constantly revving up to 9500 rpm and then him telling that the car never misses a beat, it should be a clear enough indication that the engine is built to operate at those rpms safely while being as reliable as any other engine.

Plus one does not do top speed runs more than a handful of times in the entire life cycle of the car.

I notice it flashes green when it hits 6800 rpm that is so cool!!! If you look on how they tested the 599 they didn't stay on the red line as long as they did for the LFA and they went to 6th gear almost instantly when it hit the red line.

It is because 599 GTO's rev limiter is where the redline is (usually all Ferraris do). Lexus LFA however, has the rev limiter at 9500 rpm while the redline is at 9000 rpm and the engine is tuned to still make a lot of torque between 9000 - 9500 rpm, which is why it makes sense to make use of that part of the rev range.

I believe even a regular LFA will be very good on corner ... but too bad Top Gear doesn't proved it (or eve Best Motoring) . LFA have one advantage , CFRP body chassis .

Yes, bench racing is what these numbers are geared towards.

GTR have downforce at 200mph too ... but I've no idea how much . I was guessing downforce that can't be solve (unlike Veyron ... which you can) is causing the accelerate is slower than it should be . If possible , I hope someone taken it to the limit , of 300km/h+ .

Yeah, I was using the analogy only as a reference point to illustrate how heavy LFA gets due to the downforce. Ofcourse, most cars have downforce at very high speed. The LFA's spoiler due to being so tall and higher than the roof level create substantially more downforce than most other supercars. It does adversely affect its very high speed acceleration in order to achieve stability. Lexus did not give the option to retract the spoiler for high speed acceleration (possibly due to legal reasons). The Porsche GT3 RS 4.0 by comparison makes only 400 lbs of downforce over the rear axle at 193 mph top speed. 

Lexus LFA accelerates from 100 KM/H (62 mph) - 260 KM/H (163 mph) in only 14 seconds (Source: Motorsports, France)

For the downforce , it's total downforce or the rear spoiler's downforce or rear axle downforce that normally being used ? And don't forget front wheel also got downforce ... so do the underbody panel !

Best post I ever read !

Thanks a lot. I could have posted a lot more detailed reviews, but this was sufficient enough to get the point across to someone with a decent IQ (and not driven by hatred).

According to Lexus Europe, LFA beat the GTO. Don't know if it is fiction or true. Don't flame me for this, but that is what is written on the twitter page: http://twitter.com/#!/lexus_eu

I am not mexican, but you are one of the lowest life scums I have ever seen. You racist POS. A moderator needs to delete this. This is horrendous.

JLux: My apologies for misunderstanding your post. Those posts are of some other 'JLee' that are getting attached to my profile. I could never write racist and bigotry like that. I am Chinese myself.

I don't if you can erase it it's in JLee's profile.

I seriously don't know where it came from. That is why I thought you wrote the denigrating thing about Mexican people, but apparently it is in my profile you copy and pasted.That is why I had no clue what you are talking about. I see now what you are saying since I never posted here before. I did not read through all of it, but those posts are apparently by someone else being attached to my profile.   I used the word 'JLee' and apparently, it is picking up posts written by someone else. Someone else had been using the same login and is attaching it in my profile. It is a bug in the website. I am going to have to change my login.

I don't if you can erase it it's in JLee's profile.

Paris Hilton made the right choice!!!!

It also explains the bad conditions of the runway. Both the concrete slabs with grooves to channel water away from the runway and also the 10 degree incline in the first half of the track. Plus there is weight of two people rather than one in cars. They are clear that 599 GTO has the advantage in the straight line and Lexus LFA has a much higher limit in the corners to explore much higher cornering speeds.

Thanks for posting this, Rolla!