ydooby

Can you tell us where or from whom you heard this murmur? Definitely hoping it to be true, but at the same time, they need to make these Sport Cup tires an official option on the the production LFA NE now or the new record lap won't be considered a production car record. This is THE trick the ZR1 used for its record run, using optional Pilot Sport Cup Zero Pressure tires, so why not the LFA?

Wouldn't hurt if they make these tires optional on the standard LFA (and try for a 'Ring lap) too.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

seriously mike, don't get so tied up on that already. it was in production, period. if anything that makes the viper even better coz' it's "old" and still faster.

but at the same time, i don't discredit lfa one bit for what they have achieved either.

05RollaXRS

The standard LFA is in dire need of half decent tires. The Bridgestone S001 have proven themselves to be terrible for track performance and proper grip. The IS-F suffered badly since Lexus decided to switch from the excellent PS2 tires to Bridgestone RE050A tires.

They still do OK on the LFA due to the massive downforce, but Ferrari simply kicked Bridgestone out and hit the door in their a** and switched to Michelin Super Sport tires (which Ferrari said give almost R compound like grip).

p.s. I pray Lexus does not stoop down to the level of getting into these silly games of lap times, which is only for companies in desperate need of publicity and some hype to sell their mass produced cars. Lexus has proven what they needed to and leave these "lap time battle" games to Chevy, Dodge and Nissan.

TF109B

You keep thrashing Bridgestone, but there not at fault. It's the type of tires that Lexus uses from them. While S001's might not be the best on track, you can drive them everyday. Bridgestone make tires that're better than Pilot Sports etc. But why use them when they'll last a whole week? It's a Lexus, it's supposed to be driven everyday. The ACR stands for American Club Racer. It's basically a race car. The LFA is a Lexus, the Viper is a race car. There's the difference. While the Viper sets its time with a massive wing and a huge splitter on basically cut slicks, the LFA has 'street' tires, a couple aero mods and some weight loss. But it's still a Lexus. It's still on street tires. It can be driven everyday, maybe a Viper can be a DD, but probably not in the same way a Lexus, even the LFA could be.

05RollaXRS

Let me just say, no other car uses S001 as OEM tires even when we put 300 HP cars in the mix. Does that give you a hint?

Well, there are choices from other brand that are non R-compound that can be driven daily that are much better than S001 and RE050A. They all offer nearly as good daily drivability with much higher grip on the track.

The switch from PS2 to RE050A on the IS-F instead of picking the successor Pilot Super Sport was for no other reason than cutting back costs. Insideline said, IS-F will all the new performance updates actually performed worse than the 1st generation IS-F because the tires became greasy very quickly on the track.

socalrebel

The subject was bantered around on the www.viperally.com site in the "anything goes" section, they were mentioning that the LFA was going to get a set of Pilot Sport Cups and make another run at the ring.

jupa28

exactly!....

ydooby

Thanks. You misspelled the website as it should be www.viperalley.com though. Since it is just words from the Viper owners/fans, it most likely is just a purely made-up rumor from someone who thinks Lexus will come back with a revenge.

RaceSC300

It is one man's opinion. Just like you have an opinion. Just that you are trying to shove down it everyone's throat.

Also, a guy who sits behind a computer keyboard , who has never driven anything in anger in full race competiton, to be calling someone with credentials a "questionable character", is seriously questionable. Have you ever driven a mid-engine, 550+ HP supercar on the ragged edge of adhesion? I am going to wager you have not. So what license do you have to question someone who does it for a living?

You are hung up on "could have", "would have" or "should have". The car comes with these tires, he laid down those times and he made his opinion. Do you have to like his opinion? No. But to question his character and intentions is completely ridiculous.

Also, so what if the Viper beat the LFA's time? It will never have the prestige and respect the LFA has. An Ariel Atom V8 could probably blitz around the 'Ring in under 7 min and that is techincally a "road car". Ask anyone what they would want to drive everyday between the two, the LFA or the Atom, and the resounding answer will be LFA. there will ALWAYS be faster. Live with it.

oohpapi44

iTrader: (1)

Very well said. Its in every thread along with complaints about cars sitting in dealerships and it's probably one of the reasons traffic has died down in this thread. Lets just enjoy the LFA for what it is. The best that Lexus has ever done, but not the best that's ever done.

gengar

Why is this thread still in the LFA section? I don't get it.

The LFA will never come with PSCs, whether standard or as an option. In my discussions with people at Lexus, it's clear they already consider even the base model OEM S001 as borderline for a road vehicle because of iffy wet performance, and the RE070 has even worse wet performance. The idea of equipping a car with race slicks engineered so they just barely and minimally meet road legal standards seems impossible to fly with Lexus.

In any case, Lexus clearly has their priorities in order. The reality is that the Nürburgring lap time was only done because the LFAs were there for a special owner event. Lexus didn't even publicize the time intially - it had to be broken here by insiders (a nice exclusive for Club Lexus, btw) and didn't go viral until I relayed the post on twitter.

The mere fact that so many internet fanboys and spec chasers exhibit such an inane and paradoxical war over tires (i.e., there is a huge dichotomy when the knowledge that tires make a huge difference in lap times is coupled with the presumption that a car's lap times are only "valid" on tires offered by the manufacturer) really shows how stupid the whole lap time thing is.

Make no mistake - I certainly think the LFA is the best car that's ever been made (and by LFA, I refer the base model, not the Nürburgring Package). Naturally, "best" is always subjective. And of course, for the sake of vehicles and internal combustion, I also hope that the LFA will not stand the test of time to remain the best car ever made.

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

Guys some of the posts here are getting a little personal... Please keep the discussion on the vehicles and not the people posting in this thread.