Lexus LFA Nürburgring Edition Set to Race a Jet

Posted by Kevin on October 8th, 2012

This afternoon, a brand new Lexus LFA Nürburgring Edition will racing an unusual opponent, when it goes up against the Eclipse 500 business jet at the Vance Brand Airport in Colorado — here’s Paul Williamsen of Lexus College to explain how the race is even possible:

(This race comes at the end of a week-long drive through Colorado in order to break in the LFA Nürburgring Edition — here’s a photo gallery from the trip.)

There’s sure to be more about the LFA vs. Jet race shortly — time to place bets on who will win!

Update: According to Facebook, it looks like the LFA has won the race against the Eclipse 500 jet, beating the aircraft to the finish line by 2 seconds:

Lexus LFA vs. Jet

Lexus LFARacingUSAVideos
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Comments
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    Joshd
  • October 8, 2012
Looks like a cool idea.  DIdn't lexus do something similar with the LFA? Or am i thinking of another car manufacture.  (maybe an ISF) Also what was the video made on, a camera phone?  It was all out of focus..
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      05RollaXRS
    • October 8, 2012
    No Lexus never did anything like this before. IS-F would not be a good choice since it does not have enough power or acceleration to take off and be able to catch up to a jet that has a 160 knots (170 - 180 km/h or 115 mph) head start in less than a mile. (4800 feet = 1.5 KM or 0.9 mile).  LFA Nurburgring edition can hit 0 - 100 mph in less than 7 seconds so it will have no issues catching up to the jet before it hits the braking zone.It was the Corvette ZR-1 that was raced using a similar format against a blue F-18 that is used for airshows.
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      rtgrthgh
    • October 9, 2012
    nobody has a real camera nowadays...
    M
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      Marc
    • October 18, 2012
    Josh... I flew the Eclipse Jet and was deeply involved in planning the event.  To our knowledge, there have been many "car vs jet fighter" races, but none between a street legal super sports car and a certified business jet... Lexus or otherwise.  We had to overcome many novel aspects that pushed the limits of safety and legality (but we were careful not to bust any).  I posted a detailed write-up on a blog at MotorAuthority if you are interested in knowing more about it.   As for the photography, Lexus is editing a film about the event now.  There were five cameras inside the jet, three attached externally, a helicopter camera, a bunch on/in the LFA and 15+ cameras on the ground... not to mention a separate film crew doing a "making of" film.  I haven't seen the footage, but I expect the edited film to be really cool and definitely a higher quality than the snippet above.  Cheers.
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    BlackDynamiteNY
  • October 8, 2012
Why bother when the car is now virtually out-of-production?   What are they trying to prove, that their Nurburgring time didn't? BD
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    Justindmps
  • October 8, 2012
damn I want that LFA diecast just because I can't afford the real one
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    05RollaXRS
  • October 8, 2012
Via Lexus USA "The LFA Nürburgring roared across the finish line two seconds ahead of the Eclipse 500 in today's showdown. Official results and photos tomorrow."
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    F1orce
  • October 9, 2012
Very impressive.
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    MT
  • October 9, 2012
Nice PR event but completely useless from a technical point of view. Dropping a potatoe from the top of the sears tower will give you higher maximum speed than the 306hp GS350. So what does that tell us?
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      MD
    • October 9, 2012
     Tells nothing. Sorry, but your example has no relevance to the test here. Either you don't understand how the shootout worked or you are completely missing the point of it.

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