Lexus LF-A mule unseats Porsche GT2 as King of the 'Ring
click above for more images of the Lexus LF-A Concept
A Lexus LF-A mule has unofficially recorded a lap time on the Nordschleife of 7 minutes, 24 seconds. This is not in dispute. What is in dispute is how many seconds faster the LF-A's lap time is than that of the 2008 Porsche 911 GT2, the previous "King of the 'Ring" record holder. Wikipedia notes that the fastest 911 GT2 driven around the Ring posted a lap time of 7 minutes, 32 seconds and was driven by Walter Röhrl, Porsche's company test driver and accomplished WRC driver and road racing pilot. Porsche was so proud of the feat that it produced a snazzy video of the run that you can watch here. AutoExpress, however, which reported on the LF-A's remarkable lap time, claims that the fastest 911 GT2 lap time on the Nurburgring is 7 minutes, 25 seconds, but we could find no evidence on the web of a stock 911 GT2 ever posting a time that fast. Also note that a handful of other cars have posted lap times, but all are either tuner cars or limited production boutique cars like the Pagani Zonda F.
Nevertheless, the Lexus LF-A's time is remarkable and puts it in a class normally populated by purpose-built tuner cars. Its 4.8L V10 churns out a reported 552bhp while slapping the needle against a 9,000 rpm redline. A 210 mph top speed is said to be the car's upper bound, which makes us shake our heads. This is, after all, the brand that brought us the sarcophagus of a car that is the LS sedan. The production LF-A should be able to repeat the performance, but we'll have to wait a while longer while the Lexus supercar finishes baking in the oven. In the meantime, for Pete's sake, someone ship a Corvette ZR1 to Germany!
[Source: AutoExpress]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
SiddiVega 6:33AM (2/16/2008)
The Radical SR8 and the Donkykart are really just high-powered go-karts given street legal status. Anyone with half a brain can see that they're not like an ordinary sports car, so their nurburgring lap times aren't particularly worthy of any serious attention in terms of sports car performance.
Reply
Kevin 12:24PM (12/28/2007)
I'd be curious to know what tires the Lexus was running on versus what the Porsche was running on.
Reply
Temple 2:12PM (12/28/2007)
The GT2 comes with semi-slick Michelin Pilot Sport Cups; the car really is a track car. It lacks a rear-seat and you can specify the "Clubsport package" which comes with a roll-cage, six-point harness, and fire extinguisher for free.
The LF-A probably has tires that are close to what it wants in production. Likely a custom compound specially designed for the LF-A by the manufacture. There is no point testing a mule on anything else.
Harajoshi 12:26PM (12/28/2007)
Ha ha... well, is there any verification? I mean, a mysterious testmule with unknown data sets a good laptime...?!
It is funny how the biggest carmaker of the world has to compete with little Porsche, haha!
Reply
Pouya 1:31PM (12/28/2007)
"little Porsche"
Yes, little ol' Porsche. . . you know, that little ol' car manufacturer that is little ol' Ferrari's main rival. . . that little ol' car manufacturer that is one of the most successful car manufacturers, across many branches of auto racing, in history (scoring a total of more than 28,000 victories). The world's largest race car manufacturer. The most prestigious automobile brand by Luxury Institute, New York. The benchmark of performance vehicles. 30.9% owner of little ol' Volkswagen AG, which owns a bunch of nobody car manufacturers such as Audi (which owns little ol' Lamborghini and SEAT), Bentley, Bugatti, and Skoda.
R 1:32PM (12/28/2007)
Don't forget porsche's crazy profit margins.
Michael Ishigaki 3:12PM (12/28/2007)
Hard to believe that a very large company with an incredibly small performance division has to compete with a large company dedicated to performance cars?
I don't get your point.
Vinny 1:33AM (1/01/2008)
"Don't forget porsche's crazy profit margins."
----------------------------------------------------------
I expect Ferrari's margin of profit per car to be greater than Porsche's. But if we were to talk about net profit in one fiscal year, no one is even close to Toyota's. In fiscal year 2007, Toyota is expected to earn $15B in net profits. No other automaker can even come close to half of that. Toyota is the king of profits and sales!!!
Bumbaclut 12:31PM (12/28/2007)
Well, if Porsche is that small...Why u think it bought VW?
Reply
Reuben 12:33PM (12/28/2007)
This must be some car to burn the 599GTB, GTR, and so many others that badly..
Reuben 12:34PM (12/28/2007)
GAH didn't mean to click reply
Reply
Nico 12:34PM (12/28/2007)
Of course Lexus must compete with Porsche when building a sports car. Porsche sents a benchmark by which others are measured, and not only in terms of speed. Why do you think Nissan took a Porsche everywhere the GT-R went to be tested?
Reply
asdf 12:38PM (12/28/2007)
Nah, Im sure the Z1 Corvette will have too much torque steering to do any turns at the ring...Jus kidding
Reply
Franz 12:40PM (12/28/2007)
The great debate begins. And I'll bet we'll hear the usual "'Ring times don't mean squat" comments. Well, the fact that all the fastest, best handling cars on the road today all do pretty well at the Nurburgring says it all. Any car that handles that bumpy, twisty track with all it's elevation changes and mix of high and low speed turns will pretty much handle very well anywhere else.
I love where this is going. The Japanese supercars are on the comeback trail. Let's hope Toyota can put this thing into production soon, with near identical performance to this test mule, and kick some GT-R and ZR1 butt along the way too. Let the records fall, and the competition heat up. It only means good things for the consumers who are in the market for performance cars of this caliber. Are you listening Honda? Where's our NSX? It'd better be bloody good if you want to play with these big boys. Competition is such a lovely thing.
Reply
J.Crew 12:06AM (12/29/2007)
Yes, Toyota is spending lots of money on a toy that will sell in very low volumes while dropping the ball on their most important highest volume car of all time - the Corolla:
http://www.caranddriver.com/carnews/14300/official-photos-info-2009-toyota-corolla.html?al=126
Body cladding, cheap interior, and not moving forward vs its main competitors older designs...
Kiiks 6:08AM (12/29/2007)
And that damned NSX better be mid-engined too.
Tool 12:43PM (12/28/2007)
No matter how fast it is, it's still a tarted up Toyota. I'll take a real performance car any day.
Reply
2004m3driver 12:52PM (12/28/2007)
With the name Tool I wouldn't expect anything less haha.
Professional troll?
Pouya 12:54PM (12/28/2007)
Your name is very appropriate.
Franz 12:55PM (12/28/2007)
I thought the whole idea of a "performance car" was that it had to perform. So you're saying that this isn't a "real performance car" because of the badge on the front? What if it out performs all of your beloved "performance cars"... is it still not a real performance car then? It amuses me the way some people just hate on particular cars for no sensible reason.