Camouflaged Lexus LFA Spotted at Nürburgring

CRSKTN

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https://www.autoblog.com/2018/10/10/lexus-lfa-prototype-spy-photos-nurburgring/

lexus-lfa-prototype-spy-shots-1-1.jpg


Interesting. Given the latest flagship was a $3+ million dollar yacht, the brand could be pushing up price wise with new halo models.
 

JJohn341

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I have seen two post on Instagram some months ago by Lexus Dealers, claiming that Lexus is working on a new LFA. But my speculation is that Lexus could be preparing for a new Nurburing time record with upgraded Suspension, tires and body modifications as the pictures suggests.
 

Motor

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From the article:

At first glance, the car pictured here looks like an LFA with the Nürburgring Package and some camouflage on the front and rear fenders. If you look closely, you can see that the fenders are significantly wider than on the standard LFA. Based on the license plate, this appears to be the same car with two different sets of wheels. Lexus may simply be swapping out worn tires, or they may be testing different wheel and tire combinations to fit the wider wheel wells.

Anything beyond this is just speculation.

There's a lot to speculate. Maybe Lexus can refresh the front, back, inside and upgrade the tech while they're at it.
 
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I was looking in the comments section in a Lexus LFA Nürburgring Edition where there was this person who claimed to work at Lexus. They said that Lexus plans to build an LFA every 20 (more or less) years. I never heard that before. Is there truth to this?

EDIT: Lexus LFA Nürburgring Edition video.
 
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The new LFA will probably take 10 years to develop like the first one did. So maybe a 2030 release?
 

ssun30

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Except by then electric vehicles would (hopefully) be predominant so the next LFA would need to be electric.

Seeing how LMP1 is evolving into a hydrogen-powered class in mid 2020s I would say TMC will be investing in a hydrogen powered halo car in the next decade. It makes a lot more sense than electric hypercars.
 
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Seeing how LMP1 is evolving into a hydrogen-powered class in mid 2020s I would say TMC will be investing in a hydrogen powered halo car in the next decade. It makes a lot more sense than electric hypercars.

Perhaps, if the refuelling infrastructure is up to scratch, and if battery technology doesn't improve
 

CIF

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Wowza! Now that's one hot prototype! So hard to tell exactly what is being tested...

I was looking in the comments section in a Lexus LFA Nürburgring Edition where there was this person who claimed to work at Lexus. They said that Lexus plans to build an LFA every 20 (more or less) years. I never heard that before. Is there truth to this?

Yes there is. Over the years since the LFA release a number of ToMoCo executives have stated that within Toyota the idea is to build a new supercar about once a generation or so. So timeframes of around 20-30 years were mentioned. So given this has been talked about by Toyota and Lexus executives, there is very much truth to this.

Here's also a thought that I don't think most fans and observers may realize; research or work into any hypothetical next-generation supercar could go on for many, many years, especially all the ongoing years since the LFA release. Also related to this, there is constant research and development going on for the F division and for the Gazoo Racing division and thus this LFA could be testing any number of things ;).
 

ssun30

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This could be a test mule for high speed aerodynamic parts for LC-F. After all, LFA remains the only downforce-generating car capable of going to 300km/h in their history... LC-F needs all the downforce for high speed stability and handling improvements.

TMC has historically been really good at developing low drag chassis, but they rarely design downforce-generating bodies (the only one remains to be the LFA).
 

Airplane

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If only the photographer gave any feedback about the sound of the car, the mystery would be solved.
 
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Need to see a video to listen to what type of engine it has. V10 is unmistakeable and it would be easy to tell if it has a FI engine.

For a second I mistook what you said for a F1 engine instead of a forced induction engine. Yes. The 1LR V10 is developed from a Formula 1 engine from Panasonic Toyota Racing during the V10 era. That's why it was so legendary.
 

Faisal Sheikh

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For a second I mistook what you said for a F1 engine instead of a forced induction engine. Yes. The 1LR V10 is developed from a Formula 1 engine from Panasonic Toyota Racing during the V10 era. That's why it was so legendary.

Shame Tanahashi san wanted to give LFA a 10,000 rpm redline, but the bean counters did not allow it. So it was reduced to 9000 rpm (9500 rpm rev limit) Now, AMG-ONE will be the first to have an 11,000 rpm redline (but, needs to be rebuilt something like every 30,000 miles).
 
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Shame Tanahashi san wanted to give LFA a 10,000 rpm redline, but the bean counters did not allow it. So it was reduced to 9000 rpm (9500 rpm rev limit) Now, AMG-ONE will be the first to have an 11,000 rpm redline (but, needs to be rebuilt something like every 30,000 miles).

Grrrrr even the stupid bean counters still managed to meddle. Can't they just go away?! >: (
 

CIF

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Shame Tanahashi san wanted to give LFA a 10,000 rpm redline, but the bean counters did not allow it. So it was reduced to 9000 rpm (9500 rpm rev limit) Now, AMG-ONE will be the first to have an 11,000 rpm redline (but, needs to be rebuilt something like every 30,000 miles).

The LFA 1LR was durability tested quite a bit up to 11,000 or 12,000 RPM (can't recall). So a 9000 RPM redline is still exceptionally high, but it gives the 1LR very high durability and reliability as good as any standard Lexus model. To this day the 1LR remains the most reliable high RPM large engine.

So bean counters had very little to do with the decision. It was a decision made for reliability more than anything. Don't forget the LFA project had no defined completion timeline and no specifically defined budget.
 
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