Joe Z

iTrader: (10)

Thank You for you very informative responses.. !!!

~ Joe Z

flipside909

No they didn't. Stay tuned.

Joe Z

iTrader: (10)

The suspense is killing me....

Joe Z

05RollaXRS

Gengar: Did you ever get a chance to bring up the ability for the driver to retract the spoiler at high speed acceleration (or not allow it to come up at 50 mph) since testing reported issues with too much drag past 160 mph severely reducing the acceleration rate??? (even in 'Battle of the supercars' Tanner Foust said the samething about the spoiler costing him atleast 6 - 8 mph).

The other scenario is highway cruising where the spoiler will stay up all the time when you are cruising at 70 - 80 mph.

TripleL

Gengar, I've read and enjoyed your OP and subsequent responses multiple times. Thank YOU for sharing this experience with us.

Also congratulations again on your purchase and I have to agree that seeing your car on the assembly line while being built is priceless.

Koukir32

I can totally see that they with the existing LFA running in the Nurburgring 24hrs be in the FIA GT1 series, but possibly with more engine mods in order to stay competitive. Cause the two race car they have running now is actually fairly stock... more along the lines of a GT3 category car. They need something that is much more powerful and even less weight in order to compete in higher end of the spectrum I assume.

05RollaXRS

The cars are not stock. They are actually less than stock with restrictors on and weight penalties for the SP8 class. The power is around 500 PS. 560 PS puts it in the GT2 or GT1 class since SP8 4.0 - 6.2 Liters should not make that much power. The C6-R ZR-1 makes 450 PS from 5.5 Liter V8.

Still, strangely I remember in one lap a duel with GT3 RSR Cup car. LFA completely decimated the 450 PS GT3 RSR cup car in that particular lap.

TF109B

Yeah, the SP8 class stipulates that you run at 'close to production' as a matter of fact, I posted a link on another forum, forget what it is now, but it was the rules for the LFA in it's class in last years N24. The car ran at 3300lbs. with air restrictors reducing power to around 480hp, maybe less. But it did have slick tires.

Joe Z

iTrader: (10)

Yes SLICK TIRES...

Here a video of a Gazoo Racing LFA @ Fuji Speedway (April 2010)




Joe Z

TF109B

Remember that vid, thnx for sharing again, maybe you can make the LFA's exhaust sound like that!

TRDFantasy

Also the N24 LFA race cars ran steel brakes instead of carbon ceramic. Not sure if those are the rules, or if Toyota simply chose to run steel vs carbon ceramics.

TF109B

Yeah, those are the rules. The brakes alone could save a lot of weight. It was said on Lexus Europes twitter account that the 'race car' and the Nurburgring edition would do about the same lap time around the course, and perhaps the Nurb edition would be faster. If that's true, we might be looking at 7:10's for the 'Ring.

TRDFantasy

Also forgot to mention, for 2010 specifically, the LFA N24 cars obviously had wider bodies and had a different exhaust and diffuser setups compared to a production LFA.

If this is accurate information regarding the performance of the N24 LFAs in comparison to a 'Ring Edition LFA, then the 'Ring Edition LFA with a good driver should be able to do a lap in the 7:12-7:15 range, which would be quite astonishing.

TF109B

The N24 cars ran an 8:55 as their best time, which was probably due to traffic and weather conditions. Take out around 1:45 or so for the GP track, and you're left with around 7:10 for the Nordschleiffe. That's where I got my estimates from. Funny thing is, they ran faster in the VLN races. With the same car. And last year (2009) they ran an 8:48 or 8:49, that had the 20" wheels and no widebody fenders. So I believe with a skilled driver that knows the limits of the LFA, and the correct tires, the Nurb' edition could be around what we think, in the 7:10's

gengar

Thanks everyone for the positive feedback so far. As I mentioned in past threads, I'm a pretty low key guy and I only decided to start posting about my experience with the LFA because Club Lexus members told me how much they would enjoy knowing about those experiences - so I appreciate the feedback in furtherance of my goal.

To begin, two details from my tour that I forgot to mention in the OP: First, there were a few criteria that were set as priorities of LFA engineering. At the top of the list was cornering dynamics. Based on reviews so far (especially in track comparisons to the 458) it's pretty clear the LFA has achieved this. Second on the list was the driving experience in its entirety, which includes not only steering feel but also factors like the sound that the driver hears. Obviously steering feel is quite subjective (Chris Harris for example, despite liking so much about the LFA, didn't think the steering feel was quite Ferrari-like), but reviews on this point have generally been positive (e.g., C+D rating the LFA over the 599 in this category) and obviously the sound has been praised extensively.

Second, there were two benchmark cars for the original design for the LFA. Not surprisingly, they were the McLaren F1 and the Carrera GT. When I asked, Haruhiko Tanahshi declined to comment on whether they obtained a McLaren F1 and Carrera GT and if so, how much track and engineering testing they did on them - in typical Toyota-speak this means that they did so and did extensive testing on both. While obviously the LFA does not surpass these in power-to-weight ratio, according to Tanahashi the LFA far surpasses either of those legendary exotics in chassis rigidity (the testing results comparing the LFA chassis to the others are not even close). This helps explain the exemplary cornering dynamics.

I didn't get a chance to ask, but I'll relay this on. My suspicion is that Lexus would not want to allow manual control of the spoiler because it would risk stability issues during high speed cornering, but who knows.

Unfortunately no. Last year, I was actually given two potential drive dates (both for the currently orange car), but both dates were scrapped due to cold and/or snowy conditions. I will admit I was a bit annoyed that they did several test sessions in the Miami area earlier in the Fall - it would have made more sense to me to do warm season drive sessions in geographical regions where winters are cold/snowy, but I understand Lexus' desire to prioritize huge exotic markets like Miami.

I will also relay this question on. I think SuperGT makes a lot of sense, especially since SuperGT regulations (as I understand them) require FR vehicles, which may have some bearing on why Lexus decided on FR for the LFA.