Lexus Announces LF-A Super Car to contest 24 Hours Nurburgring

Lexus LF-A Spied in Race Ready Trim / AUTOMEDIA

Spies Prevail

By Brian Potter
April 22, 2008 1:23 am
Filed Under: Japanese, Lexus, Motorsport, Spy Photos, Toyota

Confirming last weeks spy story of a race prepped LF-A photographed at Nürburgring, Toyota has now issued a press release on their Japanese global site announcing luxury subsidiary, Lexus, will make a racing/public debut for their LF-A supercar at the legendary 24-hours race at the German Nürburgring in May.

Lexus wants to keep expectations low, by stating they have no intentions of winning the challenging endurance race which will put them bumper to bumper with well established competitors, but instead focus on extracting valuable development data under real world racing conditions.

Since the LF-A road-going production version will not be present, it is easy to speculate that the work being done at the 24-hours of Nürburgring is for a future race version and not the LF-A production road car. With all of the huge press received by Nissan's new halo car, the Nissan's GT-R and it's supporting Super GT race car, Toyota is feeling a bit envious.

[UPDATE 23/04/2008 - Press release in English has been added. Click "Press Release" link below to expand.]

Source: Autoblog.com

Press Release (Click to expand)

LEXUS LF-A CONCEPT TO PARTICIPATE IN NÜRBURGRING 24 HOUR RACE

The Lexus LF-A concept car will participate in the Nürburgring 24 Hour Race on 24–25 May 2008 as part of ongoing development.

Testing the vehicle on the famous Nürburgring circuit for 24 hours under gruelling race conditions will provide Lexus engineers with a unique opportunity to acquire knowledge that can be used to further the vehicle’s overall development.

The vehicle is not a dedicated race car and will only be equipped with the safety equipment (roll cage, fuel tank, etc.) necessary to meet racing regulations.

A team of experienced Japanese drivers will have the aim of providing feedback to the Lexus development team rather than achieving a race result.

For race support, Lexus will assign a team of young mechanics as part of the company’s commitment to the development of personal and technical skills.

The LF-A concept is powered by a high-revving, 500+ bhp V10 engine. Its front mid-engine placement, along with a rear mounted transmission and rear mounted radiators, allows for excellent weight distribution and agile handling. The horsepower and refined aerodynamics make a top speed of 200 mph not only possible, but probable.

The LF-A concept was originally shown in 2005 to express a bold new direction in styling for the Lexus brand. The goals for the current LF-A are no different than they were with the original concept; to build a supercar with world class performance that is uniquely Lexus.

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Lexus Returns to 24 Hours of Nurburgring with Production Based LFA (9 comments
Lexus LF-A Prototype to Enter 24-hour Nürburgring Race Again (4 comments
Lexus LFA Racecar Testing at Nurburgring (15 comments
Lexus LF-A Production Version set for Tokyo Unveiling? (19 comments
Lexus LF-A Nürburgring 24 Crash, Engine & Interior Spy Photos (8 comments

Comments

asif

April 22, 2008 6:36 am

it will have a lot to live up to if it wants to beat the GTR. personally i hope it doesnt.

davethepetrolhead

April 22, 2008 7:03 am

I don't think the Germans will let a couple of Jap cars win on their home turf expect a fair fight from the german brands.

BDSawicki

April 22, 2008 7:22 am

to asif: I hope it does :-) Any in any case, I hope the Japanese car makers will beat the German rivals...

asif

April 22, 2008 1:14 pm

the japanese have already beaten them!!! dont get me wrong i admire lexus. i just want nissan to be out in front on this one...

_M7_

April 22, 2008 1:37 pm

I dont see where this car can beat the GTR anyway I like this one too

Speedoholic

April 22, 2008 1:46 pm

I don't think Audi will fall for this ...

keithxp

April 22, 2008 2:04 pm

we should hope these cars beat their german rivals just like they did during the supra/300zx days. its time the german cars manufacturers up the anti in terms of tech and not just horsepower.

Joe_Limon

April 22, 2008 3:59 pm

by tech, I hope you mean not bolt on better technology, but use newer lighter weight stuff. German cars are pigs when it comes to weight. Sure they optimize what they got to the nth degree, but that comes at the price of increased weight.

Indykat

April 22, 2008 6:31 pm

I have worked for BMW and Audi (currently). The Germans are light years ahead when it comes to engineering, the Japs simply copy there technology. Japanese cars lack sould and generally are imitations of true German sports cars. That is why Audi has been so dominant at real world driving races and BMW is quickly climbing in F1....where are your Jap cars nowÂ¬

Joe_Limon

April 22, 2008 7:18 pm

Where are they? I think they are out pwning german nurburgring times. That being said japanese cars are more reliable/cheaper to fix then any german car. So if you are talking about germans being light years ahead... in what deparment? The lets cram as much stuff into our car as possible type engineering? Or the qualitative weighing of pros/cons of each aspect of the car so that in the end you get the most reliable cheapest car on the market that can still kick everything elses ass kind of engineering?

out4ride

April 22, 2008 10:46 pm

There is a true i both of what you guys are argue about. We all know that Germans have the need to have everything new every time they come out with new model which has plus and minus to it. Plus is that technology progresses which is great from future point of view but on minus side everything new must be tested for reliablity. If you don't like German cars you won't have a good japanese car. Even if Japps don't come out with many new things we all know they can improve on anything they can. At the end saying "you get what you paid for never fails". If you have maney you won't care if your car breaks down I guess.

Indykat

April 24, 2008 6:45 pm

Joe_Limon......Laping Nurburgring, alone, doesnt prove anything......Lets see them win at Lemas (every year) even the Americans dominate with the Corvette....japanese......well they make nice little tin cans that replicate, like a cheap Rolex knockoff what a german car does. I would rather have a broken down BMW then a relaible boring Lexus.

DeRay

April 25, 2008 10:02 am

I don't understand why we get into these discussions about japanese cars being inferior to German cars. I just want to say PERCEPTION IS REALITY. German this, Japanese cars that. Toyota could win every race for the next two years and people who love german cars will still say that japanese cars suck. and the same for german cars. now you can't discredit either company because if you stay up on your racing you would know that the SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 won the GT Class at the Rolex 24 at Daytona in which it competes with Porsche, Corvette's and BMW's. Then you have people like Pierre Kleinubing from RealTime Racing who races an Acura TSX in the SPEED Touring Challenge who goes up against Audi's, and BMW's and has won. Again I love both lets just make sure we deal with facts.

dimeNickel

April 27, 2008 6:04 am

Agree. But in street performance, germans do make good cars, i must admit. As of japanese being inferior, i seriously disagree. Every gtr that was made kicked the 911's ass in terms of price and performance. horsepower does not determine speed, brand does not determine your lap times. if the commentors above that believes a german car is superior to a japanese car, you are just not accepting the truth or is just ignorant.