Lexus LFA’s carbon fibre body is shaped by the wind tunnel, so every crease has a scientific justification.
Lexus could not have chosen a more inappropriate venue for the drive of the new Lexus LFA.
The Goodwood track is steeped in motorsports tradition. The loop has played host to the racing heroes through the ages.
It’s a place for the giants of speed, from Alfa Romeos to Ferraris, Bentleys to Maseratis.
The ergonomics here is straightforward and distinctly driver-oriented.
Lexus is no star in motorsports. Toyota, which created the brand over two decades ago, positioned Lexus to chase after the corporate car accounts of company execs in the US.
Racing was never on the agenda (whether it was truck racing in USA or the unsuccessful Formula One exploit, it was always with the Toyota brand, never Lexus).
The appearance of the Lexus LFA may hint of a change at Lexus’ headquarters.
Tacho turns white with a different scale, prompting cog changes nearer to 9K.
But we’ll have to wait and see what the company will do after this car. Today, the mission is to suss out if the Lexus LFA is worth its $1.3m asking price.
Worked into that lofty charge is the car’s exclusivity. But with production limited to just 500 units, Lexus won’t be laughing to the bank from the takings.
It’s rare that car companies knowingly get into loss-making projects, but when they do, the results are usually amazing.
Lexus LFA’s TFT screen renders the entire instrument cluster including the analogue tachometer (notice the phantom needle).
Think of the 1000bhp Bugatti Veyron or the Porsche 959 of the 1980s – these are the nightmares of accountants but also the realisation of engineers’ fantasies.
Like the multi-million dollar Veyron, the Lexus LFA has an exceptionally long gestation period, starting with the LF-A concept that was conceived back in 2000 and delivery won’t begin till later this year.
As if the lengthy development didn’t strain the bank account enough, the Lexus LFA also needed a whole slew of new technologies that Lexus needed to invest in. The bills just kept piling up.
One major bit of tech that Lexus shelled out for was in carbon fibre.
Lexus has been a bit of a late bloomer in embracing the racy weave, but it has more than made up here.
A (costly) decision was made mid-development to shave 100kg by making the main chassis tub out of carbon fibre instead of aluminium as planned. Lexus went on to develop a separate production facility – that’s how determined they were to get it right.
Aluminium is restricted to the suspension members but even here, there was no letting up on weight management.
The non-adjustable suspension dampers feature a separate reservoir to both help minimise weight hanging near the wheel hubs and also improve on-limit performance.
The LFA gets a carbon ceramic brake system, a first for Lexus.
As the test drive was restricted to the Goodwood circuit, there was no opportunity to ascertain if the system delivers the same level of modulation as Porsche and Ferrari, or display the unnatural on-off nervousness of Audi or the earlier Lamborghinis.
But for assessing everything else about the Lexus LFA, the track was an excellent test laboratory.
The Lexus LFA and its 560bhp claim isn’t going to raise many eyebrows in 2010 (a 4.5-litre Ferrari Italia has 570bhp as do the 5.2-litre Lamborghini Superleggera).
But like these top-flight exotic cars, Lexus has kept things pure.
There are no turbos or superchargers to boost outputs, just atmospheric aspiration, a clever variable valve timing system and a grin-inducing operating range, right up to a dizzying 9000rpm.
Lexus is quick to point out that it’s an extremely responsive engine too, needing just 0.6 second to get from idle to redline.
Sexy struts push the rear wing up when speed exceeds 80km/h.
The first time stepping on the accelerator is guaranteed to surprise (if not scare!).
There are probably other engines that rev nearly as quickly but the potential downside may be some lumpiness at low revs, which can be made worse with an overly light flywheel (aids revviness).
The Lexus LFA shows no such nastiness.
The wing mirror is profiled to feed air to the scoop behind the rear window while minimising drag.
There’s a proper key that needs to be inserted into the ignition barrel before pushing the carbon fibre button on the right spoke of the steering wheel to fire up the V10.
The starter motor makes a high-frequency whirl before the engine catches with a mild flare of revs.
Moments later, the fast idle settles into a smooth and deep rumble; it’s a mechanical symphony orchestrated to leave boys swooning.
Gear selection is pretty much the same as the logic pioneered by Ferrari.
There is no shift lever between the seats. Pulling the pair of paddles (hinged at the steering column and so do not urn with the wheel) sets the box in neutral.
Reverse is only accessible via a tab set on the side of the instrument binnacle.
Lexus LFA’s specially developed V10 makes a mechanical symphony that leaves boys drooling.
While we are on about the hood, on the right sprouts a pair of barrels to alter the gearbox settings.
Lexus doesn’t make any explicit mentions of their design, but fans of the Toyota Corolla GT, Celica, Supra and MR2 may find it vaguely familiar.
As for the instrumentation it houses, it’s fancy as you’d expect Lexus to be.
Everything is digitally rendered. The entire tachometer turns from white to green when the engine is nearing the pre-set shift point and bright red when it’s almost at the limiter.
It’s a bit PlayStation-like but also very legible and logical.
Accelerating gently out of the pits, the 6-speed automated manual gearbox seems almost at ease, apart from the noise from the actuators working the clutch and swopping the cogs.
It’s a bit clunky and nowhere as slick as the dual-clutch jobs we are getting so used to.
The gearbox offers seven different shift speed settings, an “Auto” mode to make all the decisions if you are feeling lazy and one more called “Wet” when, erm, the roads are not dry.
At its meanest, it takes 0.2 second to complete a change, which is quick but not quite as smooth as the conceptually similar F1-Superfast box in the Ferrari 599 GTB.
Toggling it to its most sedated mode, shifts feel a bit too sloppy for track use.
The most appropriate setting in this situation is at notch number five, which is brisk but not so violent as to upset progress.
The turns on the Goodwood circuit are all pretty quick, save for one tight left hook and a vicious chicane Lexus has set up ahead of the longest straights (it’s still possible to see around 240km/h before braking for the turn).
Lexus LFA’s 6-pot front, 4-pot rear calipers and carbon ceramic brake discs work brilliantly on the track.
The precision and linearity of the engine’s power delivery demonstrate their value when pulling out from those slower turns. You don’t get the punch in the belly on full-bore acceleration, but there’s also less of that unnerving fear that the tyres are struggling to contain the fury.
The pitch of the Lexus LFA V10 reaching for its 9000rpm redline is intoxicating.
Meticulous as only Lexus can be, the engineers proudly admit that the noise was modelled after the sound of a Formula 1 engine revving at exactly 20000rpm. From the cabin, it doesn’t seem too far off the mark in terms of pitch, if not decibels.
Vents on the flanks are precisely honed to not just cool the brakes but to aid high-speed stability.
The chassis feels incredibly taut and alert, especially for a front-engine car, and there’s really a lot of grip coming from the front-end.
To eliminate slack at the tiller, the carbon steering structure is bolted directly on the chassis. For most situations, it’s possible to dial in more steering mid-corner without the nose running wide.
But to get the most out of its stratospheric limits, the car’s ultra responsiveness demands the driver to put in maximum attention behind the wheel.
The Lexus LFA is easily the most colourful car to carry the Lexus name.
The circuit’s surface is really too bumpy for a racetrack (the IS F used during the familiarisation laps earlier was bobbing uncomfortably on the braking zones) but the LFA shows its poise.
It soaks up the bumps while keeping the body resolutely settled just enough to keep the tyres firmed plugged into the tarmac.
The ceramic brakes prove to be tireless too. This is despite repeated pounding – even when smoke was bellowing from all four ends, there was hardly any loss in brake feel or effectiveness.
Somebody at the drive commented that the Lexus LFA felt a bit clinical, which seems like a logical (if also cliched) criticism to level on Lexus.
It’s a brand that does nothing but obsess over “perfection” after all.
Well I don’t know what he was on about. The Lexus LFA is the most colourful car to carry the Lexus badge and also possibly its finest effort yet at creating something that isn’t a robot.
Lexus LFA 4.8 (A)
ENGINE 4805cc, 40 valves, V10
MAX POWER 560bhp at 8700rpm
MAX TORQUE 480Nm at 6800rpm
POWER TO WEIGHT 378.4bhp per tonne
GEARBOX 6-speed automated manual
0-100KM/H 3.7 seconds
TOP SPEED 325km/h
CONSUMPTION Not available
PRICE INCL. COE $1,300,000 (as of August 2010)
