Lexus Pulls LC Prototype from 24 Hour Nürburgring Race

[krew]

For the first time in 13 years, Lexus will not participate in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring. The race had been rescheduled to September, and an LC prototype was expected to participate — from the press release:

…the global spread of COVID-19 has resulted in travel restrictions and the [Toyota GAZOO Racing] team did not have enough opportunities to conduct driving tests in the Nürburgring on track, and this has had a substantial impact on the development of the race car.
This year, the team was planning to run a new engine and peripheral technologies in the Lexus LC. In the present circumstances, however, and given how demanding the 24 Hours of Nürburgring is for race cars, it would have proven more difficult for the team and...

Continue reading...

 

[Sebass]

Does this mean the LC F has been postponed another year? I know this isn't really Lexus's fault, but I am really starting to lose all excitement for this car. It feels like by the time it comes out, it will be outdated and irrelevant compared to its competitors.

 

[spwolf]

Does this mean the LC F has been postponed another year? I know this isn't really Lexus's fault, but I am really starting to lose all excitement for this car. It feels like by the time it comes out, it will be outdated and irrelevant compared to its competitors.

nobody knows what it means, they are not going to 24hr race because they could not travel to Germany to test their car.

 

[Faisal Sheikh]

Does this mean the LC F has been postponed another year? I know this isn't really Lexus's fault, but I am really starting to lose all excitement for this car. It feels like by the time it comes out, it will be outdated and irrelevant compared to its competitors.

Quite possibly since the racing is used to fine tune the engine/chassis in prototype form. For example, LFA was racing for 2 years before it went into production. The RCF chassis/engine was disguised as ISF CCSR before production etc.

 

[zeusus]

Totally understandable, I'm sure the Gazoo team is just as disappointed as we all are. I doubt its going to stall development, they can race this car in Japan 24/7 if they wanted to, and with what we've seen so far, the LC F and Gazoo Racing variant has been testing.

There was a video of the TT-LC running around a track. Too bad the full version got taken down. IIRC, it was about 13 minutes of LC Gazoo content? Luckily somebody clipped a small portion of it though.

Patent drawings suggest Toyota twin-turbo V-8 is still alive

Toyota's Lexus brand has already announced plans to offer a twin-turbocharged V-8, and now patent drawings for just such an engine have surfaced.

www.motorauthority.com