LexFather

I said it 18 months ago when I rode in it..

"Don't doubt me, crown me"

The car is a technical masterpiece, the greatest car from Asia that we might likely ever see.

Lexus & Toyota, I salute you fine gentlemen.

Thank you

05RollaXRS

05RollaXRS

7:14

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOg5F...layer_embedded


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A2rT...layer_embedded

rominl

iTrader: (4)

news pouring in, this is good!

05RollaXRS

I wish they had done a lap time for the standard LFA as well.

ydooby

+1

The track condition was almost perfect that day. They should've let Akira Iida do one for the standard LFA just to set records straight.

MR_F1

Somebody somewhere says 7 seconds slower than the nurburgring version?

05RollaXRS

Yeah, the chief engineer said that. But, then again it goes to show "walking the walk" does all the talking.

MR_F1

Oh, I agree. However, when Auto express broke news of an independently timed 7:24 at the end of 2007, that was good enough for me. Not losing sleep over people who are in love with brands and not cars and what they have to say.

07grIS350

Maybe they can do the regular LFA run to close out the production next year?

05RollaXRS

'Ring coverage from Ben Barry via Twitter and Car Magazine's website.

"Aug 30
To the Nurburgring! Never did learn it on YouTube
Toyota you are insane and brilliant.
Sitting on nurburgring hotel balcony trying to write. Getting distracted trying to guess cars from engine sounds below."


Video of our white-knuckle ride in Lexus LFA Nurburgring

CAR was recently invited to the launch of the Lexus LFA Nürburgring at, where else, the Nürburgring. The special-edition LFA is a simple evolution of the regular LFA, so on top of a 4.8-litre V10, front/mid-engined, carbon-tubbed supercar, you also get stickier tyres, grippier bucket seats, extra aero, 11bhp extra and lashings of carbon trim. At £411,752, it’ll also cost you an additional £65k over the standard car.

But while it would have been easy for Lexus to fob us off with some laps of the relatively safe and easy-to-learn GP circuit, we were actually let loose on the fearsome Nordschleife.

The first video shows CAR’s Ben Barry on a high-speed passenger lap with Toyota test drive Iida-san who scared our staffer senseless and then, the very next day, posted a record-breaking 7min 14sec lap.

And now for the perspective: in the second video, Nürburgring newbie Ben Barry gets behind the wheel of a standard Lexus LFA and follows GP2 driver Dani Clos in a Lexus ISF. ‘It was really useful to follow someone who knew the place so well,’ says Barry. ‘Prior to this I’d only done two laps, so it was a great way to learn the lines plus, more importantly, I had advance warning from his brake lights!’"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKsJCfBfhy8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yr_n311CFY

Video of our white-knuckle ride in Lexus LFA Nurburgring | Car Blogs | Car Magazine Online

"Aug 31
Thanks to Duncan mcmath and mr tanahashi. Lexus lfa nurburgring at nurburgring - best launch ever"


'Ring coverage from the Drive section of Australia's The Age:

"Driven: Lexus's $750,000 supercar

September 10, 2011

David Morley tackles the famed Green Hell in Lexus's manic V10 supercar

It costs $750,000 in Australia and has the credentials to win just about any technological bragging match. In standard form, its 4.8-litre V10 engine produces 412kW and 480Nm and everything else, from the aerodynamics to the clutchless six-speed transmission and the computer-generated instrumentation, is aimed at one thing: going very fast.

It is, of course, the Lexus LFA. As if that wasn't enough, there is an even hotter version called the LFA Nurburgring Edition. With less weight (down about 100kilograms to 1480kilograms), more power (420kW) and details such as race seats and carbon fibre trim, the Nurburgring Edition also boasts a fixed rear wing and sits 10millimetres closer to the ground on lighter wheels and tyres.

As statements go, it is a pretty unmistakable one. But, like most supercars, there is always the question mark over what would happen if you called its bluff — really called its bluff. After all, making progress on the road is one thing but what happens when you call all that technology to attention? What would happen if you took a Lexus LFA Nurburgring Edition to its namesake circuit, the famed and feared Nurburgring racetrack in Germany's Eifel Mountains?

The 21-kilometre Nordschleife circuit of the Nurburgring is the strip of hot mix upon which all supercars now seem to be judged. Manufacturers arm-wrestle each other over lap-time claims and the world's car nerds can rattle off the top-20 Nordschleife times by rote. A group of 10 Australian customers have been lucky enough to secure one of the 500 LFAs that will be made but just how lucky are they? Only one way to find out.

The 21kilometres of the Nordschleife include about 180 corners and it rises and falls 300 metres in its journey across hills and valleys. It is so large, you really have very little sense of it running anti-clockwise. The big problem is you are now mixing modern-day speeds (the LFA's top whack is 325km/h) with run-off areas conceived when the track was built in 1927. In many places, the Nordschleife is a strip of bitumen with a narrow slash of grass on either side and exterior steel barriers. At speed, it is like driving through a Colorbond tunnel. The track claims about one life a month, partly because the Nurburgring is open to anybody with a road licence and a car or motorcycle almost every day.

Today, though, we have it to ourselves. Lexus has insisted on a helmet for our test drive, which I'm not unhappy about. Unlike many a supercar, there's enough head room to wear it. A conventional key and a starter button (which makes no sense) will bust the V10 into life, with a delicious blatt from the three exhaust tips the instant it fires up.

Select auto mode for the gearbox and first gear via the paddle shifters (which don't move with the tiller) and you're away. Similar to other single-shaft clutchless manuals, there is a fair bit of jerking and jolting — especially when cold — as the gearbox shuffles through the six ratios. It is accompanied by plenty of clunks and rattles and is no LFA highlight. Switch to manual mode for the track, however, and things improve. There are seven separate settings for the speed and aggression of the shifts, with the highest setting fine for a racetrack but far too in-your-face for usual traffic. The lack of a clutch pedal frees you up for left-foot braking, while the computer blips the throttle for downshifts. The gearbox also has that rare ability — for this type of transmission — to remember and execute multiple gear changes.

The huge brakes — at the front they are 390millimetres — are carbon-ceramic units that need a little heat in them to really perform and are a bit noisy on light application. But the brake pedal — a gorgeous, floor-hinged forged-aluminium job — has tremendous feel and progression.

The 20-inch wheels and tyres impart enormous cornering grip, yet for all the car's racetrack potential, the ride is exceptional. It is no limousine but for a supercar, the LFA's ability to absorb large and small irregularities with no fuss or noise is remarkable.

The beefier V10, meanwhile, is probably the highlight for those who like their cars raunchy. It is smooth yet animated, even at idle, and revs like crazy. Lexus says it had to adopt a digital dashboard (and tachometer) because a conventional analog gauge simply couldn't keep pace with an engine that can buzz from idle to red-line (in neutral) in just 0.6seconds. Under load, it has a slightly offbeat low-rev sound that rises to a glass-shattering holler as you pass about 5000rpm — and there is still 4000rpm to go at that point. V8 engines might be their own aural treat but the shriek from the LFA's V10 is pure formula one.

But even that furious engine note pales a little once you crack open the taps and start attacking the Nordschleife. Even without knowing the track — there are lots of blind crests and curves and truly learning it would take months — the LFA is masterful. It hangs on long after you expect it to run out of grip and only an overly optimistic entry speed will cause its tyres to screech.
Lines can change quite late into a corner and the chassis and steering forgives; get it right and power out hard and the V10 rewards. Bounce it off the kerbs and the relatively supple suspension will cope, yet the LFA can dissect a corner in the most clinical way. All the while, the manic V10 is howling away in front of you, filling the cabin with its exquisite noise and hauling you forward at the same time.

Perhaps the most amazing thing is you can actually feel the aerodynamics working. The LFA Nurburgring's wings and scoops are the real deal, sticking it to the surface like the upside-down aeroplane it becomes at speed. The aero-package probably most distinguishes it from the standard LFA. The stiffer suspension helps, too, as does the reduced unsprung mass, but as a mass-produced car with real aero-effect, the Nurburgring is inspiring.

Drive's lap time? Hard to say because of the standing start and cool-down procedure for the last kilometre or so. But our guide for the day reckoned on about eight minutes, 30 seconds. That's not an LFA record by any means but we will take it. (By comparison, Lexus claims factory driver Akira Iida completed the full circuit earlier this month in a time of 7minutes, 14seconds, the third-fastest time for a production car.)

The irony here, of course, is twofold. First, no Australian speed limit will allow the LFA Nurburgring to legally tap into that enormous aero force. Second, with a projected price tag of $890,000 (our estimate based on foreign prices), no Aussie buyer has yet ticked the Nurburgring Edition box."

Lexus LFA Nurburgring edition test drive in Germany

GS69

2013 Lexus LFA Nurburgring Package

If you want a measure of just how far the supercar art has come in the last generation, consider this: When safety concerns closed the gates of the old Nurburgring to top-level racing back in 1983, the lap record stood at 6 minutes, 25 seconds. It was set by Stefan Bellof, one of the brightest talents of his or any other era, driving a purpose-built Porsche 956 Group C racecar weighing less than 1,750 pounds, powered by a 650-horsepower engine and wearing huge slick tires and utilizing full ground effects.

Now, however, if you have a reasonable idea of which way its 140-odd turns go and are not a complete idiot at the wheel, you could get in this new Lexus, go around the same circuit and be back before Bellof had time to do much more than take his helmet off.

No, the 2013 Lexus LFA with the new Nurburgring package is not quite the fastest road car ever to lap the 12.9-mile circuit in the Eifel mountains, but when you consider it comes with normal treaded tires rather than the lightly cut slicks some rivals wear, its seven-minute, 14-second lap gives you some idea of its potential.

More of Everything, Please
To turn an LFA which, let's not forget, is still a rare and special thing, into one fit for the 'Ring, Lexus has taken an approach not dissimilar to that Porsche adopts when turning a 911 GT3 into a GT3 RS. There's no single huge change to grab the headlines, just a thorough reworking of the car from end to end.

Most obvious is the new aerodynamic package. It consists of a far deeper carbon front spoiler, balanced at the back by a large fixed rear wing in place of the standard car's extendable item. At the sides you'll notice small winglets have sprouted ahead of the front wheel arches, to give the 2013 Lexus LFA some extra front-end bite through the Nurburgring's many fast corners. Harder to see are revised side skirts, designed to better control the flow of air from front to rear.

At each corner you'll find new forged aluminum wheels covered by Bridgestone tires of the same size as the standard car, but made of a different compound, construction and tread pattern more suited to the hostile environment of the racetrack but still perfectly sensible in all but monsoon conditions on the road.

What is more difficult to see is that the whole car has been dropped by 10mm to lower its center of gravity and reduce airflow under the car. It isn't obvious by looking, however, that the engine is tuned to produce another 11 hp and the gearbox has been coaxed into shaving 0.05 second off the shift times.

Lexus freely admits the purpose of the extra power is simply to offset the additional drag that was an almost inevitable consequence of adding 30 percent more downforce to the car — so it still needs 3.7 seconds to hit 62 mph and top speed remains 202 mph.

The 'Ring
No prizes for guessing where Lexus decided to introduce us to its newest, maddest motor. We're grateful for one sighting lap in a stock LFA. Not only does it give us a reference point against which to judge the new car, but having not raced at the 'Ring for eight years it was useful to be reminded which way the track went.

As we drop down into the driver's cell of the new car, several things occur at once. There's very little to the simple, stylish interior and it's all the better for it. There's none of the confusing clutter you find in Ferraris these days. The replacement of all the leather with either Alcantara or carbon fiber works well, but its new super-thin race seats are just a touch too figure-hugging for us.

The man on the gate waves us through without a second glance. He's been doing this all day. We have not. Here we are, 571-hp supercar at our command, and the entire length of the world's longest, greatest racetrack to ourselves. When we die, this is what we hope heaven looks like.

We flick the controller into Sport, dial up the quickest transmission map and turn off the electronic safety nets. Then common sense sets in and we turn them back on again.

Like Jerry Maguire
It's got you before the first corner. Show me someone who can listen to this engine shriek to 9,000 rpm without a deep emotional response and we will show you someone in urgent need of a hearing aid. In the last couple months we've driven the Ferrari FF, Lamborghini Aventador and Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0. And, aurally at least, the 2013 Lexus LFA's Yamaha-designed V10 has the lot licked.

Now we're into the tricky turns at the start of the lap. There's clearly more grip, but something else, too: Even given its higher limits, this LFA is easier to drive than the standard car.

The track opens out into a section so fast it might even be quicker than the main straightaway if we could remember where it went. The extra power isn't apparent, but as the car steams through curves and over crests at more than 150 mph, it feels more settled and stable as the wings, suspension and tires work together to help maintain its attitude.

All the fabled corners come and go: the Foxhole, Adenau Forest, Bergwerk and then the rocket up the hill to the horrible Karussel. It is a tribute to this car that we're able to drive it this hard on a track so dangerous and faded from memory. It doesn't make it easy for you, but it's a damn sight more accommodating than you have any right to expect from such a powerful and ferocious thing.

And then we're into the section that confused us even when we used to spend several weekends a year here. This is the part of the track the cameras never reach because it's so far from the pits, where the road never runs straight for more than a second or 2, combining 30 or 40 turns into one bewildering ride. If we're going to throw it off, it will be here.

But it takes care to treat us right — the constant twinkle of its traction control light evidence that it's working as hard as we are. And then there's a right-hand curve from which you are spat at around 100 mph onto a straight stretching seemingly to the horizon. The LFA gets to 180 mph easily enough but you can now feel the big wing holding it back.

The kink under the bridge should be flat but we've not been away so long to have forgotten the merciless bumps awaiting those who inadvertently stray offline. We lift, streak through at 170 mph and curse for not going faster.

The next lap is a little quicker but toward the end it's clear the tires are less keen than we are to continue, so we dawdle down the straight at an inconsequential 140 mph and think about this machine.

Other Considerations
On one side, there's no denying you could buy a ZR1 Vette for a fraction of the money and go pretty much as fast. Does that knowledge make the Nurburgring LFA less special? Not to us. It's not just about how fast you go, but how you go fast. More important is the way it's built, the way it delivers its performance, the sound it makes and its ability to involve its driver in every action. The 2013 Lexus LFA stands out as an ultra-rare piece of precision engineering. And if that's your thing and you can afford it, it's worth buying even at its crazy price — not least because you'll be 1 of just 50 people on earth who will have that opportunity.

Personally, we'd save a fortune and have just as much fun going hardly any slower in a Porsche 911 GT3 RS, but that probably says as much about us as the LFA.

Ultimately, this isn't a car for a hooligan. It's for someone who appreciates (and can pay for) the finer things in life — the sort of person who'll happily spend $10,000 on a Swiss chronograph knowing it hasn't a hope of keeping time as well as a bit of battery-powered junk costing 1,000 times less. It is a car for connoisseurs and collectors.

And they, we think, will love it forever.