The Lexus we’ve been hearing about most lately is the new GS, and rightfully so. The GS is a mainstream product that Lexus hopes will greatly increase its market share in the mid-size luxury segment.
Before that though, the LFA super car was the center of attention for a long time. Now, news of a record-breaking Nurburgring run is shifting the spotlight back.
The Nurburgring is one of the world’s toughest tracks and a pretty universally-accepted measurement of a vehicle’s capabilities. Almost every performance model is tested on the track, and increasingly more production cars run the ‘Ring.
For those looking for better handling characteristics in cars across the board, that is indeed a good thing. Thanks to its prominence, Lexus released a special edition Nurburgring version of its LFA super car.
The front-engined LFA has received criticism for not having enough sense of occasion to match its $375,000 price tag, as well as not turning in a world-beating specifications. Lexus is looking to counter that with what looks to be a record breaking run. The news was reported by Lexus Enthusiast via the Twitter account of Lexus Europe and EVO magazine writer Chris Harris.
The run was undertaken by Lexus driver Akira Iida, who posted a time of 7 minutes and 14 seconds. That is good enough to break the standing record for a vehicle produced currently by a mainstream manufacturer, and the fourth or fifth all-time fastest lap at the track. Vindication? Could be. The Porsche 911 GT2 RS has held the record since April 2010 with a time of 7 minutes and 18 seconds.
We’d like to see what Ferrari could pull off at the track with a factory-sponsored driver. Would be interesting. For now, this isn’t official. But if true you can expect an official confirmation and possibly video coming very soon. No doubt about it, this is something Lexus will want to crow about.
