InsideLine roadtrip with LFA, GT2 and GT-R (merged threads)
 

...updates to come

http://blogs.insideline.com/straight...next-week.html

Who lent IL their LFA? :p

It'll probably be #32.

Can't wait! However, it was only a matter of time until some numbnut would post something like this:
GT-R fanboys are so predictable, lol!

lol lol lol.

So they are giving a production LFA to these guys?? Grudge matches?? Wow!

I hope there are luscious praises for LFA and great numbers to back them up so that the image can get a much-needed boost.

they'll hopefully silence critics with this one. I hope!

lol thats too funny. You should know though!

and so it begins...

they have the Lfa for an entire week. Lexus is serious.

That definitely a step in the right direction. Only if now Lexus could release the video of the infineon driving experience.

Well it's a complete guess and has no basis in any fact or evidence whatsoever, but I have been on Lexus' case about getting their production model out there for all the magazines.

I mentioned that to Paul Rohovsky at Infineon as well. I guess he must have changed his mind. :thumbup:
You should watch IL blog for potential misinfo and correct them. After all, you have had your LFA a lot longer than a week now :)
Someone overthere said Lexus has indirectly confirm 7:22 ring time :rolleyes:

i would love to work for insideline. on a more relevant topic go lexus for getting the car out there so they can test it.

I really hope the videos are somewhat similar in their footage quality as this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mCV6-xOm1c

The older 997.1 GT3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybrF_...F6F804B4303E51

As seen from the pics from their twitter, it sure seems to be #32. Initial comments are very positive, unsurprisingly.

It looks like a 3 car comparison test. Porsche GT2 RS, Lexus LFA and Nissan GTR. I am very nervous now since A LOT of people are following this on twitter and people will going to the dragstrip to watch the LFA drag race.

I have been following their twitter page and they strapped the LFA to the dyno this morning. They will be going to the Vegas dragstrip to drag race the Lexus LFA.

I wish they conducted tests on their own track where they do elevation corrects to the time as Vegas is 200 feet above sea level.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq7po...ature=youtu.be

I reckon LFA dyno'ed at 480 - 485 wheel HP.

Pulled over by a cop already:

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._4284637_n.jpg

How much do you reckon these two cars dyno'ed at??



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBCD016K9Yw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGunL...el_video_title

Lexus LFA Dyno: LFA production underrated! Makes nearly 590 - 600 HP
 

515 wheel HP to the wheels

That is nearly 590 - 600 HP to the crank considering FR layout has a minimal 17 - 25% drivetrain loss!!!


http://blogs.insideline.com/straight...lexus-lfa.html


http://blogs.insideline.com/straight...x477-84018.jpg


We've spent many an hour dyno-testing cars here at MD Automotive in Westminster, CA. High horsepower cars, muscle cars, modified cars, you name it. However, none of them are like this 552-horsepower, 354 lb-ft LFA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjhocJ4QgBk


This car is special, and it clues you in the moment you thumb the steering wheel-mounted 'Engine Start' button. There's a very rapid starter whine vreeee like a race car rather than the usual chunter chunter. Then the engine explodes to life with a whomp before instantly settling into a slightly busy idle, the timbre of which telegraphs that this is no ordinary 9000-rpm V10.

There's practically no inertia -- or so it seems -- to the LFA's 4.8-liter power plant. You touch the throttle, the revs soar instantly. You lift, they die. Instantly. Normal cars aren't like this. Normal cars have soft engine mounts, sluggish tip-in, obvious electronic throttle manipulation, delayed engine braking, lots of suck. Not this one. Again, special.





At 2000 rpm, there's not much going on. This thing would get walked by a Camry down here, and that's only a slight exaggeration.

Good thing there are seven thousand revs remaining with which to do something.

By the time the LFA hits 5000 rpm the hairs on your neck are standing at attention and the short-stroke ten-pot is just hitting its stride. The intake and exhaust notes commingle and cavort, producing a texture that is somehow more than simply an aural phenomenon. It's no longer making a sound, it is orchestrating a mechanical symphony.





The tach needle brushes past seven -- where most engines have long since checked out for the evening -- and the LFA is now reaching its torque peak of 346 lb-ft (as measured at the wheels). Its sound hardens, taking on a shriek.

Two thousand revs left. It's still charging towards the redline with barely-restrained enthusiasm. Still plenty more gravy in the decanter. At 8000 revs you wonder how it is possible that this is a street-legal production car engine.





9000 rpm. The engine has ceased being a mechanical device and is now an organism, absolutely shredding the air around it with its howl. Here it reaches its power peak of 514 horsepower. Bam! The LFA hits the rev limiter like a wall. You have tunnel vision and your jaw is slightly agape. Your brain is the consistency of oatmeal.

This engine is gobsmacking. There are engines with more power, more torque, sure. But there is nothing on the planet like this engine. Its output as measured at the wheels -- which is slighly ahead of expectations -- is secondary to the experience it delivers. Raise a glass and wish it well, dear readers, as the 171 examples of the LFA that will be sold stateside will house the only known examples of this scintillating V10. Shame that something so good is limited to so few.

Pretty awesome. I wish they'd take it to the scales too.

That is Porsche Carrera GT territory since the highest stock dyno of Carrera GT I have seen is 530 wheel HP SAE. That is on a RR layout, which has a lower drivetrain loss than FR cars.

Shocking!!!

Really surprising. 515hp is much higher than I'd expected.

I love watching the coolant temp gauge rising as the dyno goes on.

I wonder if Lexus quietly increased the output on the production cars in the wake of stiffer competition from other cars since the white pre-production prototype dyno'ed at 435 wheel HP 1 year ago by MotorTrend???

The highest SAE corrected dyno for Carrera GT I found was 530 wheel HP.

The highest SAE corrected dyno for 458 Italia I found was 455 wheel HP.

515 wheel HP from a N/A tiny 4.8 Liter V10 is just nuts!! No words to describe it. This tiny engine is so highly tuned and highly strung, it is a pure race motor.

Hopefully facts like this will silence some of the LFA critics regarding its performance nature parallel to its price. The LFA is right up there with the best of the exotics. The LFA did not take ten years to make for nothing. It shows in the engine. :thumbup:

wow and speechless! LFA FTW!

The video is speechless, but the article is overhype. IMO
The car is definately a beauty.

I'm impressed, but I'm taking it with a grain of salt CONSIDERING that dynocharts can be all over the place with different units spitting different results.

Just that sound alone in the LFA makes it priced right for me. Incredible!

True, especially considering they are hand built. However, I'd think that this much of a difference would be fairly outside standard deviation no?

I don't want to get caught up in the hype either, and of course I'll temper my expectations till a few other owners take a trip to the dyno, but it's pretty hard not to be flabbergasted by what seems to a 4.8l engine spitting out around 600bhp. Makes me wonder if the N ring version will get an actual 10hp bump or if the bump will be on the spec sheet only.

I wish they'd get it to a scale :D

MR F1 (I love that handle, BTW), didn't Car and Driver have a chart showing 75 HP less on their dyno? That's a huge variance, although it was on a Mustang dyno IIRC. However, this test shows that this particular motor is strong and common sense tells me it's hard to tweak a high-strung motor. If the LFA has 600 HP, it will show in Inside Line's upcoming drag and acceleration tests. I hope it, at the minimum, matches the Italia's times and smacks the GT-R in all tests. There's nothing more that I can't stand than a GT-R fan boy.:p

I wonder what kind of fuel they were using. Since it's in Cali, wouldn't it be 91? Over here 93 is premium.

Interesting development. I hope they have the LFA up to 650 HP by 2012 :)

These numbers are probably true as I recalled that both the instructor and I had a hard time getting clean acceleration runs in this very same LFA at Infineon. We were losing tractions in 2nd and 3rd gears. They blamed the track surface, but perhaps LC was required to handle all this power?

:thumbup:
A quote from the LFA designers
"The LFA's F1-inspired soundtrack is designed to bring a smile to the hearts of all those who experience it"

I'll take mine in white please! :D

lol, thanks. WRT C & D's dyno, I dunno if that can be drawn down to the fact that it was a prototype... I guess we will have to wait on more dynos to see. I too hope it can smack the GT-R and the 458, though I'd rather keep my expectations low and be pleasantly surprised.

I also find it interesting. :uh:

If it was so underrated out of the box, should it not have been beating "lesser" cars a la the GT-R surprising everyone at "450" hp?

Or do you think that they've changed the production cars from the way they set up the original test cars that have been shown over the past year?

If it is underrated in the production cars, it will sure be interesting to see what some of these comparisons look like now. ;)

2012 Lexus LFA: 3546 lb. with full tank. 50/50 front/rear. Front wheel and tire weigh: 58 lb.

Looks like they're doing the testing at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. Maybe I should swing by today and see whats up. :D

http://blogs.insideline.com/straight...x477-84102.jpg

http://blogs.insideline.com/straight...x477-84104.jpg