Lexus LFA Prototype at Nurburgring 24 Hour
In case you haven’t heard of them, don’t feel bad. Gazoo Racing is not quite what you’d call a household name. To certain members of the team, that’s actually preferrable. Morizo, aka Akio Toyoda, is one such member of the team. Grandson of Toyota founder Kiichiro Toyoda, Akio is the incoming president of Toyota and an avid racecar fan and driver.
For this year’s Nurburgring 24Hours race, Gazoo Racing is fielding two specially prepared Lexus LF-A racecars. With a release date not yet announced, but sure to be sometime with the car already racing, the LF-A is being “tested” with an entry into the endurance race. Company spokesman Paul Nolasco said, “it’s designed to be a sporty car. We put our prototypes to a test.”
LF-A / Gazoo Racing History
This is not the first time that the Lexus LF-A has raced, however. An unshrouded black prototype LF-A won its class in April 2009 at the Nurburgring 4-hour opening race in the VLN series. VLN stands for Veranstaltergemeinschaft Langstreckenpokal Nürburgring, or The Association of Organisers of the Endurance Racing on the Nürburgring. We’ll just stick with VLN. Those crazy Germans.
Team Gazoo’s No. 1 LF-A (the hotshoe team, aka the German all-stars) will be driven by Hiromu Naruse (JPN, Toyota test driver), Jochen Krumbach (GER), Armin Habne (GER) and Andre Lotterer (GER). The No. 2 car (the president’s team, aka the Japanese crew) will be driven by Morizo (Toyoda himself), Takayuki Kinoshita (JPN), Akira Iida (JPN) and Javier Quiros (Costa Rica).
LF-A Nurburgring 24 Hours Modifications
Team Gazoo Racing isn’t new to the concept of racing at the Nurburgring either, having fielded an Altezza in 2007 and an IS250 in 2008. But the LF-A is a whole other beast. Racing in the Division 2 SP8 class, which doesn’t allow any internal engine modification, the LF-A racecar will be sporting more than 500ps out of its 4.8-liter V10. The body is made out of CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced plastic), a feature that most likely won’t make it to production.
For a better polar moment of intertia, weight has been pushed close to the center. The engine is listed as a front-mid type and the transmission as a rear-mid type. The radiator is rear mounted as well and the transmission used is a full sequential racing unit. Huge 305/30/20 Bridgestone slicks are being used on the front and rear of the car for the Nurburgring race. And, of course, the car has been stripped out, caged and fit with a proper racing suspension.
Other than those select modifications, which will help the car last through 24 hours of trashing, the car remains fairly close to factory. That is, the unknown that will become factory. Toyota seems intent on sticking to their story that this race is being used as R&D for the supposed 200mph+ production LF-A.
We just hope that it does well against the hordes of Porsches, BMWs and Audis and the occasional Viper. Then maybe Lexus will start selling us cars that come with 500hp V10s under the hood.
