Lexus LFR/LFA II Megathread

[Ali Manai]

 

[mediumhot]

Let's not call this LC-F

 

[sl0519]

Any chance we get to see road version in 2025?

 

[Kelvin2020]

From latest MagX

 

[Flagship1]

paging resident translation pundits @ssun30 @CRSKTN

 

[F1 Silver Arrows]

I only understood the engine specifications and I saw Jose Maria Lopez, which makes me inclined to say that he was responsible for testing the car.

 

[ssun30]

Nothing new compared to what we already know.

 

[sl0519]

Nothing new compared to what we already know.

I wonder if the headlight design is just a placeholder or is it actually production-ready? Maybe I was expecting more but it looks too much kind of like all current Lexus.

 

[CRSKTN]

Photo Baldaut

“The swan-neck wing is brave.

There is an air outlet behind the eel arch, and a swath on the rear deck. Notice the ultra-long nose and sports car-like form. It is equipped with a wind neck type wing. There is a roll bar inside.

I covered up the logo on my work clothes and pretended to be an unknown manufacturer.

The GR/GT3 concept attracted attention when it was unveiled at the 2022 Tokyo Auto Salon (TAS). This car is being developed as a race machine for entrants active in motorsports, but there are also plans to release a road-going version that can be driven on public roads. Until now, there have been rumors that a test vehicle was running at Fuji Speedway, but now it's finally happening.

Caught the car.

The test team showed up

This is the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Rougie. Despite the unfortunate rainy conditions, the race was held over two days without any trouble or accidents along the way. Let's take a look at the test car with raw photos. The vehicle, covered in camouflage, remains unchanged from the time it was exhibited at TAS, with an ultra-long nose that gives it the distinct look of a sports car. In addition, as you can see, the swan-neck wing, which is unique to a racing tank with a rectifying plate suspended from above, makes an impact. In addition, large air ducts are installed behind the bonnet hood and front wheel house to remove heat and regulate air flow.

Exhaust on left and right side sills

is provided.

At the rear of the vehicle, where the sloping back window and front wing catch the eye, a 10-speed AT is installed along with the transaxle system. The road-going version also features an electric motor, with power supplied by a battery mounted on the rear axle to assist the engine when starting off. The engine is a 4-liter V8 twin-turbo whose development began about five years ago, and it boasts a powerful power of 70 05/236.5 kg/m on its own. It goes without saying that it is mounted on the front nose and transmits power to the rear wheels via the propeller shaft.

stomach. By the way, the body is constructed with an aluminum frame to keep weight down. The concept model mentioned at the beginning was exhibited at TAS under the initiative of Toyota's internal GR Company. Although Toyota's CI mark was omitted, the GR emblem was attached, indicating that it was produced by the same company.

●GR/GT3 concept

The concept was exhibited at the Tokyo Auto Salon as a GR brand car, and the model was shown at the venue.

There was an appeal for the commercialization of motorsports vehicles.

Ame Nimo Makezu super high speed test

●Le Mans At the 92nd 24 Hours of Le Mans held in France on June 16th, the GR010 hybrid No. 7 car ranked 2nd and the No. 8 car ranked 5th.

Car No. 7 started from 23rd place and ran 311 laps, with a time difference of 14.221 seconds from the Ferrari 499P in first place.

2
SPY TOYOTA SCOOP

If you pay attention to the front mask, you can clearly see the arrow-shaped headlamps, which can be said to be one of the hallmarks of this car being sold under the Lexus brand.

It is expected that a battery for the hybrid mechanism will be installed. In the road-going version, the control unit is located below the expression pack window.

It's widely used. The work on the white piping was covered up with a bushing on the Lexus, and the mechanic, whose manufacturer is unknown, saw the markings on the black coveralls.

Two days of intensive test driving in Belgium

THE CIRCUIT OF THE SPA OF FRANCORCHAMPS

LFAB's test car at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium was hit by rain at times, but the high-speed tests continued and the car stabilized.

LFAT finally appeared (tentative name)

Two years have passed since the concept version of the GT3 machine was unveiled in 2022, and the actual car has finally run on the circuit. We'll show you how it ran with powerful sounds, and analyze the photos to read the details.

3 ps

2024/8

●Le Mans Large

Although the safety car was brought out due to the rain, car No. 8 was able to compete for the podium and continue to complete laps. However, with two hours remaining, he was hit by contact and spun, dropping his position to 6th at one point.

was obvious at a glance. Meanwhile, this magazine reports that it will be sold under the Lexus brand and is tentatively calling it LFAI. Now, after analyzing the completed exterior, I am convinced of this theory.

For example, headlamps. The interior design is lightning-shaped, with part of the grille digging in, which is common to the process seen on IS and ES.LM. The test car has driving lights embedded in the left and right sides of the bumper, but the road-going version has large air ducts. As a side note, is it just a coincidence that the camouflage throughout the body is studded with arrow-shaped "L" letters, or is it intended to imply that this is a test vehicle for the Lexus brand? Are there any? I also got some hints when I was in the bit and maintenance was being carried out. Front side

Looking at the photos, you can see that the staff working around the test car are wearing black jumpsuits. The logo on the back was carefully hidden with tape to make it seem like the manufacturer was unknown, but the black jumpsuits with the distinctive white vibes were exactly the work clothes worn by Lexus mechanics.

Trial run in various races in 2025 After confirmation, production begins at the end of the same year

Test vehicle brought in by Toyota

The ultimate proof of this is a two-shot with the test driver. Jose María López boarded the car to take over at Bit. As expected, they didn't bother to put any tape on his racing suit, as the words GAZOO Racing, DEN SO, and his name were visible. By the way, Robes has been a test driver for GAZOO Racing since 2015.

He has been working as a driver, and in recent years he has been working as a GR.

``The driver is Jose María López.

GAZOO gives special treatment at the moment of driver change

Racing and DENSO logos are featured.

Jose Maria Lope in a racing suit

You can check the names of the players. Is he 15 years old?

5 GAZOO Racing test driver

I am also serving.

DENSO

December 25

- Total length x full cap x total height: 4500m x 1695 x 1240m

●Powertrain: 4EVB turbo hybrid

●Chassis: Newspaper FR platform

I participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race with 010. On June 15th and 16th of this past year, he once again took the wheel of the GR010 as a stand-in driver for Mike Conway, who was forced to withdraw due to an injury just before the race. It will be interesting to see what he thinks of the test car after driving it at Spa-Francorchamps.

LFA II was originally scheduled to begin in Japan this year.

He was scheduled to participate in this race, but all of them were cancelled. It may have been decided that it was too early. Although the race plans have been postponed, it is scheduled to perform enthusiastically in the Nurburgring 24 Hour Race and the Japanese Super Endurance Race in 2020, so let's look forward to it. Once the completeness has been confirmed in these races, the final finishing touches will be carried out, and production of the base race car (development code 070D) is expected to begin at the end of 2025, and for the road-going version (development code 266D) at the beginning of 2026. Unveiled at the Tokyo Auto Salon in January 2025 at the earliest.

The fog lamps catch your eye, but the rear combination lamps and left and right air ducts designed by Obiza

Also pay attention to Illustration in the past (as I corrected, in the road going version it is in the center

Exhaust is installed.

 

[Gecko]

This is going to sound pretty salty, and I guess it is, but I hope this car teaches Lexus that you can't wipe out and neglect your entire range of sporty and performance cars, then launch a flagship sports car and expect people to care.

With the momentum of the IS F and F brand, the LFA launch had hype that Lexus was building something special and exciting.

This is the opposite. RC F is going away, LC 500 has been on sale for 8 years with no major update, IS 500 was a skunkworks car with no IS F, GS F is gone... and Lexus thinks there is some sort of legacy to build on with another LFA or LFR?

No.

Imagine if the IS was redesigned for 2025 and had an IS F, if there was a second gen RC F, or if we had an LC F that was a few years into its model cycles. LFA II would feel like an exciting new chapter building on those cars. We have none of that.

I'm still excited that the car exists, but it just feels like it has 0 connection or relation to the rest of the Lexus brand, which is a real shame.

 

[F1 Silver Arrows]

This is going to sound pretty salty, and I guess it is, but I hope this car teaches Lexus that you can't wipe out and neglect your entire range of sporty and performance cars, then launch a flagship sports car and expect people to care.

With the momentum of the IS F and F brand, the LFA launch had hype that Lexus was building something special and exciting.

This is the opposite. RC F is going away, LC 500 has been on sale for 8 years with no major update, IS 500 was a skunkworks car with no IS F, GS F is gone... and Lexus thinks there is some sort of legacy to build on with another LFA or LFR?

No.

Imagine if the IS was redesigned for 2025 and had an IS F, if there was a second gen RC F, or if we had an LC F that was a few years into its model cycles. LFA II would feel like an exciting new chapter building on those cars. We have none of that.

I'm still excited that the car exists, but it just feels like it has 0 connection or relation to the rest of the Lexus brand, which is a real shame.

Hopefully this trickles down to other Lexus vehicles I guess?

Also bring back the GS. :^)

 

[mediumhot]

This is going to sound pretty salty, and I guess it is, but I hope this car teaches Lexus that you can't wipe out and neglect your entire range of sporty and performance cars, then launch a flagship sports car and expect people to care.

With the momentum of the IS F and F brand, the LFA launch had hype that Lexus was building something special and exciting.

This is the opposite. RC F is going away, LC 500 has been on sale for 8 years with no major update, IS 500 was a skunkworks car with no IS F, GS F is gone... and Lexus thinks there is some sort of legacy to build on with another LFA or LFR?

No.

Imagine if the IS was redesigned for 2025 and had an IS F, if there was a second gen RC F, or if we had an LC F that was a few years into its model cycles. LFA II would feel like an exciting new chapter building on those cars. We have none of that.

I'm still excited that the car exists, but it just feels like it has 0 connection or relation to the rest of the Lexus brand, which is a real shame.

I've always said that F brand was never vertically integrated but rather someone's love child and Lexus side project. Aside that imitated AMG, M and RS performance brands from marketing standpoint it had nothing in common with these brands. Sorry to say this but GR and Type-S are properly company integrated performance sub-brands.

The closest F brand ever came to be a true rival to Germans was not with the LFA but with canceled LC-F. LC-F was properly modified performance model with unique transmission, bespoke engine and probably some other parts. But it was never meant to be.

When it comes to LFA I also have a controversial opinion. I'm glad this car happened but it missed every single opportunity to leave the mark for Lexus in the present time when it entered the market. I'm not talking about today, today LFA has an iconic status, and its value will go to infinity. I'm talking about LFA in 2010. Either LFA came out too soon or Lexus F cars came out late. It made zero sense to make LFA to launch sedan performance F brand. Lexus should have had IS-F, GS-F and probably ISC-F/SC-F/LS-F on the floor before LFA made its debut to crown the moment of first gen F cars. That would have made a lot more sense to me.

Also, whole strategy for LFA was notoriously bad. Why spend whole decade to develop a brand-new platform and engine if you are not going to milk it for few generations like Ferrari or Porsche do? Let's not even mention Lambo that milked the single platform for over two decades. LFA was never about making money but about seizing the opportunity to be the official advertisement for the brand, so two or three generations of LFA could have worked. Unless office knew that each year that passes by would be more miserable sales wise like it was in case with both NSXes. Maybe they didn't want that

 

[Flagship1]

Hopefully this trickles down to other Lexus vehicles I guess?

Also bring back the GS. :^)

If Lexus needed an opening on a new GS, that porky m5 might be the signal from the heavens.

That being said, I dont know if there is a business case. Its akin to most social media car aggregate comment sections lamenting the loss of wagons, and when mfgs address this by bringing over a wagon offering, crickets followed by firesales. Too many mfgs burnt. The GS can literally be a budget LFA with four doors, and folks would still by the brand cache of driving an overweight midsize bmw lease special.

 

[ssun30]

Whatever prototype they built for the LC-F must be quite underwhelming. Morizo said the most embarrassing thing he's experienced in life was not standing in front of the US Congress and being interrogated like a criminal, but seeing European cars fly past their Altezza/IS during his first N24 race. The LC-F team wanted to race it at N24.

He was known to be obsessed with the Mercedes AMG GT. He actually personally drives one on track days and his Rookie Racing team has an AMG GT3. I think what he had in mind simply wasn't what the LC-F team was able to deliver. We don't know much about the LC-F prototype other than it had 650PS and a very questionable source claiming its Nurburgring target was 7:10. The AMG GT Black Series held a lap record almost half a minute faster than that. Actually forget about the AMG GT, it would struggle to keep up with the ancient R35 GT-R and being slower than the GT-R is absolutely unacceptable for Toyota.

I know a lot of Lexus enthusiasts would be fine if the LC-F was released as is. In fact any F car is better than no F car. But we all know these would not be competitive at all. 650PS sounds like a lot but that's rookie number in the European club.

Ironically the LC-F would have been just fine competing against the new AMG GT that grew half a ton in weight and got less power. What Lexus couldn't predict was the Germans are all shooting themselves in the foot with their new generation cars.

 

[mikeavelli]

Whatever prototype they built for the LC-F must be quite underwhelming. Morizo said the most embarrassing thing he's experienced in life was not standing in front of the US Congress and being interrogated like a criminal, but seeing European cars fly past their Altezza/IS during his first N24 race. The LC-F team wanted to race it at N24.

He was known to be obsessed with the Mercedes AMG GT. He actually personally drives one on track days and his Rookie Racing team has an AMG GT3. I think what he had in mind simply wasn't what the LC-F team was able to deliver. We don't know much about the LC-F prototype other than it had 650PS and a very questionable source claiming its Nurburgring target was 7:10. The AMG GT Black Series held a lap record almost half a minute faster than that. Actually forget about the AMG GT, it would struggle to keep up with the ancient R35 GT-R and being slower than the GT-R is absolutely unacceptable for Toyota.

I know a lot of Lexus enthusiasts would be fine if the LC-F was released as is. In fact any F car is better than no F car. But we all know these would not be competitive at all. 650PS sounds like a lot but that's rookie number in the European club.

Ironically the LC-F would have been just fine competing against the new AMG GT that grew half a ton in weight and got less power. What Lexus couldn't predict was the Germans are all shooting

What’s wild is that great AMG GT was bespoke, It does drive amazing. The current generation now shares with the SL, gained 2 seats, gained awd and is 400 lbs heavier…

 

[mikeavelli]

And I would love to hop in more but I don’t think I can. Some great posts above.

 

[Flagship1]

Whatever prototype they built for the LC-F must be quite underwhelming. Morizo said the most embarrassing thing he's experienced in life was not standing in front of the US Congress and being interrogated like a criminal, but seeing European cars fly past their Altezza/IS during his first N24 race. The LC-F team wanted to race it at N24.

He was known to be obsessed with the Mercedes AMG GT. He actually personally drives one on track days and his Rookie Racing team has an AMG GT3. I think what he had in mind simply wasn't what the LC-F team was able to deliver. We don't know much about the LC-F prototype other than it had 650PS and a very questionable source claiming its Nurburgring target was 7:10. The AMG GT Black Series held a lap record almost half a minute faster than that. Actually forget about the AMG GT, it would struggle to keep up with the ancient R35 GT-R and being slower than the GT-R is absolutely unacceptable for Toyota.

I know a lot of Lexus enthusiasts would be fine if the LC-F was released as is. In fact any F car is better than no F car. But we all know these would not be competitive at all. 650PS sounds like a lot but that's rookie number in the European club.

Ironically the LC-F would have been just fine competing against the new AMG GT that grew half a ton in weight and got less power. What Lexus couldn't predict was the Germans are all shooting themselves in the foot with their new generation cars.

I cant recall a time when an F product had an overabundance of power to its euro counterparts. Its usually been their mantra of give the customer what we think is just enough and balanced. A bonkers GR team would be much better suited. as they seem to better understand what standing out in a crowd is.

 

[JustADude]

Hopefully this trickles down to other Lexus vehicles I guess?

Also bring back the GS. :^)

Wish that was the case but we've heard a few weeks ago the IS will be getting ANOTHER refresh. Imo with no new (fully redesigned) IS there's no hope for any performance vehicles from Lexus. Hopefully Lexus is waiting on the new gen engines to be ready to drop the new 2.0T and maybe a new 6-clyinder in newer sports cars which will lead to the TTV8 in new F products

 

[CRSKTN]

LC500 might be my last Lexus.

Have little interest in rewarding the worthless old dinosaurs at the company who secretly hate everything that isnt named "Toyot(d)a".

Too little too late with all this GR s***.

If Akio could i bet he would kill off Lexus entirely and stick to Toyota/Crown/Century.

Cant remember the last time i lost respect for someone as quickly as Akio and his other executives.

Reliability + Striking Design + Luxury Interiors + Modest Performance Models + Value for money + Good Dealership Experience

Someone remind me whats left on offer?

 

[F1 Silver Arrows]

Whatever prototype they built for the LC-F must be quite underwhelming. Morizo said the most embarrassing thing he's experienced in life was not standing in front of the US Congress and being interrogated like a criminal, but seeing European cars fly past their Altezza/IS during his first N24 race. The LC-F team wanted to race it at N24.

He was known to be obsessed with the Mercedes AMG GT. He actually personally drives one on track days and his Rookie Racing team has an AMG GT3. I think what he had in mind simply wasn't what the LC-F team was able to deliver. We don't know much about the LC-F prototype other than it had 650PS and a very questionable source claiming its Nurburgring target was 7:10. The AMG GT Black Series held a lap record almost half a minute faster than that. Actually forget about the AMG GT, it would struggle to keep up with the ancient R35 GT-R and being slower than the GT-R is absolutely unacceptable for Toyota.

I know a lot of Lexus enthusiasts would be fine if the LC-F was released as is. In fact any F car is better than no F car. But we all know these would not be competitive at all. 650PS sounds like a lot but that's rookie number in the European club.

Ironically the LC-F would have been just fine competing against the new AMG GT that grew half a ton in weight and got less power. What Lexus couldn't predict was the Germans are all shooting themselves in the foot with their new generation cars.

Whoever thinks that the LC F was ever meant to compete against the AMG GT is just lying to themselves. This was a BMW 8-Series/Maserati GranTurismo/Aston Martin DB12 or Vantage competitor as explained by the chief engineer himself. It was NOT a 911, F-Type, or AMG GT competitor.

What’s wild is that great AMG GT was bespoke, It does drive amazing. The current generation now shares with the SL, gained 2 seats, gained awd and is 400 lbs heavier…

The issue is that they should have continued with the old formula of the AMG GT, and then make the SL the convertible version of that, not the other way around.

The SL stood for "Sport Leicht". Now it's neither "sporty" or "light".

LC500 might be my last Lexus.

Have little interest in rewarding the worthless old dinosaurs at the company who secretly hate everything that isnt named "Toyot(d)a".

Too little too late with all this GR s***.

If Akio could i bet he would kill off Lexus entirely and stick to Toyota/Crown/Century.

Cant remember the last time i lost respect for someone as quickly as Akio and his other executives.

Reliability + Striking Design + Luxury Interiors + Modest Performance Models + Value for money + Good Dealership Experience

Someone remind me whats left on offer?

The LC that you are driving is literally because of Akio Toyoda.

lol...