Riding Shotgun in the LFA
 

I had the opportunity to get up close to the LFA recently. Seeing this car on the ground allows you to appreciate many more details that are otherwise missed. I saw it in NYIAS and is not the same...

The most impressive to me was the sound this car manages to make. Not only the sound coming from the engine, but the car as a whole! I haven’t seen a video/sound bit YET that has been able to even closely match the sound this car makes. That includes the sounds recorded by Yamaha!

In real life, the LFA driving-by sounds to me like a 20 feet wide tire rolling at 150mph with an F1 engine in the middle. It’s absolutely amazing! I’m not sure what’s making the noise, but I like it! I presume there’s so much down force at those speeds, the tires are actually being pressed against the blacktop at an incredible rate, and thus making it sound like an 18 wheeler just drove by; Also the car breaking through the wind.

A couple of interesting things I didn’t know about the LFA are:

http://www.supraholics.com/lfa/l29g_copy.jpg

Exhaust vents allow heat to escape from the headers through the hood while the car is standing still. The opposite happens when the car is moving. Fresh air is fed through the vents to lower the manifold temps.

Two Oil filters placed in front of the engine are the ONLY two things the LFA shares with any other Lexus.

The washer fluid fill-up tube is next to the gas tank fill-up tube behind the gas door.

I also tried to capture things I had not seen on pictures before, as pretty much everything else has been covered. If you would like to see more pics, or want more details, go to: http://www.supraforums.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=446881. Everything else is there.

http://www.supraholics.com/lfa/P4290032_small.jpg


I also got to ride shotgun... video below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXkwCR2jqxg


Miguel.

Awesome. Must have been one hell of a ride.

man i would kill to drive that beast

that sounds great

YES!
YES!
YES!

:mrgreen:

There is also 8 drain plugs for an oil change, ITB's as well.

Not sure about the two oil filters on top, no other Lexus has that.

The oil system is a dry sump. The drain plugs you're referring to are probably for repair purposes and not maintenance.

The two oil filters on top are the only two things shared with any other Lexus, not in the same place, but same part number. The ISF has the same oil filter.

I was only posting the things I DIDN'T know about the car. I pretty much know everything else about it, or at least read about it - Don't ask me to remember everything though...that's too much to ask :mrgreen:

an incredible car for sure, i just wish the price could somehow be justified. but then again, as with any limited edition, especially of only 500, the price is to be expected.

Truly amazing as expected!

Yup, you answered yourself on that one. Toyota developed every single piece for this car, that includes a carbon fiber looming machine to make carbon fiber parts.

I just can't wait to get the trickled down Tech Toyota gained from doing this.

They can easily make this a higher production number car, outsource a few parts and make it for 100-150K.

It really is.


Another interesting point about my ride, and the potential left in this car, Scott was shifting below 8K RPM. You can actually hear this on the straight when we hit 140MPH in 4th. According to the speed sheet we have where it lists all the gears and their maximum speed, you can see that 140 is @ 7300rpm exactly. 147MPH in 5th gear was our maximum speed. The sheet lists that at 6K rpm exactly.

Based on that, you can see how safe they were keeping it, and still the car delivers quite good to be honest.

By my calculations, it takes the Gallardo a hair over 4 sec to get from 110-130mph. It takes the LFA a hair under 3 sec (in manual mode, which is what it was on during my ride, not in sport mode. Not sure what it would be in sport mode).

All these little clues are telling me the car has more power than Toyota is willing to tell.

Also, if you go by the LFA website, it states that the 0-60mph will be in 3.6 sec (with equivalent weight to two people.)

My guess is Toyota took this car to the worst possible conditions and grab the lowest possible numbers and published them.

The Gallardo honestly is not that fast. I think you would be surprised how many tuned cars can take it.

Of course the guys tuning the gallardos are making some serious power.

Love it

You're comparing apples to oranges. I'm pretty sure those same "tuned" cars can't take it around a track though. Anyways, not comparable.


:mad: STAY AWAY! It's MINE! :mrgreen: