Driving the 2011 Lexus LF-A

It's been almost 20 years since a Lexus first went on sale in Europe, and yet it has never managed to build a car to consistently rival the best of its European opposition. And that's why the 2011 Lexus LF-A is rumbling here next to us in the pit lane at the Goodwood Motor Circuit in the south of England.

Fresh from its second foray to the Nürburgring 24 Hours, the round-the-clock race on the old Nordschleife, the LF-A is moving toward its official introduction at the 2009 Tokyo Auto Show. It appeared here at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. And now we're going to drive it.

The Long Road to Tokyo
We're in select company, because Akio Toyoda, the new president of the Toyota Motor Company (and grandson of the company's founder) tested the car before the race this year. In fact, the 53-year-old Toyoda has secretly competed at the Nürburgring himself in the past, and his enthusiasm for the LF-A project has helped it navigate through corporate waters since the project first began in 2002 as a response to the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren.

Of course, Europe is a mere sideshow as far as Lexus has been concerned. From the very start, its focus has been on the U.S., and the brand wasn't even introduced into the Japanese market until 2005. But now Lexus is serious about playing the supercar game in Europe.

One of the few real benefits of being a very young marque is that you can do what you like with it without risking die-hard traditionalists getting into a lather about it. When Porsche decided to build a huge and ugly SUV, it was not short of people hopping up and down, bursting with righteous indignation. (We know; we were among them.) But if Lexus decides it wants to build a 500-horsepower supercar to rival the best in Europe, the only thing we'll jump to do is get behind its wheel.

Research and Development
Though the 2011 Lexus LF-A will be a street car, its first public outings have been at the Nürburgring 24 hours in 2008 and 2009, an enterprise meant to "aid research and development." Though various mishaps denied the car the finish line this year, the Lexus people claim that it was 30 seconds a lap faster than the Aston Martin V12 Vantage RS that competed in the same category. And that Aston is bloody fast.

Surprisingly little is known about the LF-A, even though it was first revealed as a concept in 2005. Officially Lexus won't even concede that it will be offered for sale, yet it is universally accepted that it will reach the market next year priced at around $400,000 for the lucky few who secure one (production will be limited to a few hundred). We can only tell you that it's built around a carbon-fiber chassis, carries the 4.8-liter 1LR-GEU V10 rated at around 550 hp, and features a six-speed automated manual transaxle.

Take a Seat
It should be said now that the 2011 Lexus LF-A is not a pretty car, but when it comes to exuding menace, few cars do it better. The engine has been specially created for the LF-A alone, and while it runs innocently enough at idle, it sounds simply savage as the car warms up on the track.

The driving position is ultralow, recalling the 700-hp Dodge Viper GT1 car we drove at the Paul Ricard circuit in France long ago. You can tell this is a race-prepped road car in a number of ways, though. There are several blanked-out buttons on the dash, there's a speedometer in the central display, and the steering wheel adjusts for rake and reach.

But when you fire it up, the engine responds like few that we've ever encountered on a public road. Revs rise and fall so fast that we can't believe this V10 is carrying much of a flywheel, and when we look closer at the tachometer, we realize that today we'll be shifting up at nothing less than 9,000 rpm, higher than any comparable supercar of our acquaintance.

Track Time
For all its take-no-prisoners appearance in pit lane and the ferocity of its acceleration onto the track, it seems that just a little bit of what we might expect of other Lexus cars has been left in the LF-A, for this is a fabulously easy car to drive, even flat-out around a track as unforgiving of error as Goodwood.

The 2011 Lexus LF-A is quite heavy for a racing car (Lexus admits to 3,300 pounds), and you can feel it in the slower corners like Lavant and the chicane. But in the high-speed bends that comprise most of this circuit, the combination of extremely tight body control and superb aerodynamic balance gives you the confidence to work it harder and harder.

How fast will it go around Goodwood? We once lapped a Porsche 911 GT2 road car here that was equipped with a wing, racing-spec suspension and slick-tread racing tires in a very cautious 1:27, and we'd expect the LF-A to lap a substantial number of seconds quicker than that. More important, though, the LF-A is fun, accommodating and predictable where the GT2 was difficult and intimidating. The Lexus LF-A is the sort of car in which you could spend hours whittling away at your lap times while confident it would never misbehave. You would emerge fresh from your stint, already anticipating your next turn at the wheel. In other words, this car drives like the perfect long-distance racer.

Despite the paucity of hard facts surrounding the 2011 Lexus LF-A, the only matter of real importance that has yet to be quantified is how different the road car will be from this race-prepped example. Privately we have been told that the race LF-A is very close to the road car. We hope so. Some 20 years ago Lexus stunned the world with a luxury sedan, and now it has the potential to do the same with a supercar. It is an opportunity that should not be missed.

Portions of this content have appeared in foreign print media and are reproduced with permission.

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