Lexus LF-A...322km/h!

[Nero]

Front engine and rear rad...weight distribution. Good in one respect but a folly in another. You do not want to try ground effects (see diffuser) which rely on low pressure and then reduce said low pressure with Hot air from a rad...hot air greater volume thus lower pressure...still I assume that they have worked all of this out with engineers so what do I know....coffe time I think.
I like it.

[BigMuz]

The thing is, the diffuser provides a small amount of downforce by creating a lower pressure at a certain point under the car (due to its shape and length etc). If it is designed well it can make a major amount of downforce, which increases with speed and is at the rear, so the handling tends to be more understeery the faster you go= much safer and more stable than the other way around..

But if you look at say Pilbeam Hillclimb cars, they use the exiting airflow from the diffuser to drag air down over the rear body work and wing, to really make the wing work by placing it out into smooth air. The diffuser is made to drag air down rather than letting it detach and break away. Then you can either use a smaller wing, or get more downforce. Plus flow seperation tends to happen later with the air being sucked down over the rear of the car. I have a good diagram somewhere which I could dig out.

Geez that was a bit of a ramble.

Have a look at
this link for a profile view of the diffuser and rear bodywor, and the rear wing. This wing is tiny compared to the inefficient but effective multi layered wings used on flat bottom cars.

Muz

[260BC]

Muz getting technical again

No look, those fans at the back of the Lexus work on the principle developed in the F1 Brabham fan car which got banned, suck the car down on the road. Now that is probably bullshit, but prove it wrong, he he

Lexus looks good, problem with Japanese manufacturers is that they are not consistent in the high performance area. They come out with a hi-po car and then it languishes, get dated, is not properly promoted. Which is why the Germans piss all over them in the hi-po market.

[BigMuz]

Can't help it 260!

The fans would be doing the same job as on the Williams, as long as they are drawing air from a higher pressure area under the car, and not from side vents or at the front. But to make it really work you need skirts that touch the ground like this


Problems with going over speed bumps though, and when the car gets a little bit away from the ground over a hill, Hello Mark Webber in Mercedes Sports Car at LeMans...

Muz

[Sockz]

Nice.

[Sturmovik]

Since that shitbox turd SC430 goes for $160k (be lucky to be worth half that), then this will be atleast $250k+

[260BC]

Since that shitbox turd SC430 goes for $160k (be lucky to be worth half that), then this will be atleast $250k+

Perhaps sir would prefer the MB dealership down the road, where they sell cheap cars? .sniff.

[Sir Revalot]

You have to admit (well you don't have to, but it would be in your best interests if you did :D ) that the SC430 is a pretty ugly POS considering how much it costs..

[Merry Vanly Stan]

sydney spec rims, rofl
dont like the arse, the rims or the instrument cluster.. and the nose job looks a little retro.. but overall the thing looks farken horn. top work.

[Sturmovik]

260DET the SC430 costs $60k in USD...And it hasnt got nothing on a Merc (the same amount will get you a CLK500 Convertible)

[Evo_Lee]

Regarding the wing, the test car around the ring had a pop-up wing much like the Audi TT IIRC from the spy pics.

Yeah, the rear vents makes the rear end look weird but it's still a concept look, though I'm sure some shop will released an aftermarket kit for a different looking end.

Also the name 4500GT sounds nicer ... wtf is LF-A?

In the detroit news link, it mentions possible pricing...that would be about AU $165,000, not bad for a V8 I guess.

If Lexus decides to produce a car based on the LF-A, it would be priced around $125,000.

"That's a sweeter spot than anything north of that,"

http://www.detnews.com/2005/autosins.../09/-54848.htm

[jesus]

this car needs a montage

[Sturmovik]

In the detroit news link, it mentions possible pricing...that would be about AU $165,000, not bad for a V8 I guess.

But thats twice the price of a SC430 in the US. So that would make it $300k+ here.

[Vtecoupe]

Makes about 500hp yeah ?

[Evo_Lee]

2005 Detroit: Surprise! Lexus does a sports car with LF-A concept
WES RAYNAL
Posted Date: 1/9/05

If you’re like us, you have wondered just what benefit Toyota gets from spending hundreds of millions of dollars to be smacked around by Ferrari, Williams, McLaren and Renault in Formula One. Sell more Priuses perhaps? Doubt it.

Well, wonder no more: Toyota dropped the Lexus LF-A sports car concept on the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. A sports car from stodgy old Lexus? Yup. And, as we tend to say around here, but wait, there’s more: The company claims a strong link between the concept and its move in to Formula One.

Is that for real or just public relations BS?

Toyota insists it’s for real. The company began testing its F1 prototypes in 2001 and entered the fray in 2002. Since the F1 involvement began, rumors have floated around the company was working on a two-seat road car, and one that might have supercar aspirations. And indeed Toyota designers and engineers have dreamed about doing a car such as the LF-A since the F1 program’s launch. They say today it is not so much that members of the F1 team actually spun wrenches putting together the concept car, but more that F1’s image—the notion of competing in and learning from the world’s highest form of motorsport—will be reflected in the show car.

So what exactly is the LF-A?

It is a two-seat concept Lexus hopes will raise the worldwide awareness of what used to be an American-only nameplate. In addition to the United States, the Lexus name is now used in Europe and is being introduced in home-market Japan. LF-A has another mission as well. Lexus says the car points at the luxury brand’s future styling direction, which the company refers to as L-Finesse. The L-Finesse theme will become evident in the production version of the GS, shown as a concept at last year’s Detroit auto show (AW, Jan. 19, 2004).

L-Finesse will be further driven home in a new IS, due in a year, and an all-new LS sedan, due in about a year and a half.

“L-Finesse is simplicity and elegance,” says Toyota executive vice president Jim Press. He says the exotic LF-A is worthy of the company’s F1 commitment, and wants you to think of it as a good indication of how Lexus might do a sports car.

Wahei Hirai, president of Toyota’s European design center, said the idea behind L-Finesse is to introduce a fundamental shift in Lexus design. The intention is to add some spark to Lexus’ admittedly staid styling, with designs that are “uncluttered and void of extraneous elements.

“Inside and out the focus is to avoid exaggeration,” Hirai says, “and to prioritize understated luxury that is intriguing, subtle and seamless.”

Actual work on the LF-A began a year ago, while the final shape you see here was finalized just two months ago. The show car itself is two inches shorter than a Porsche 911 with a nine-inch-longer wheelbase. At 48 inches high, it is about the same height as a Ferrari F430; at 73.2 inches wide, it splits the difference between the Mercedes-Benz SL55 and the Aston Martin DB9.

The minimalist approach is seen inside, too. There are few switches and knobs on the dash and center console, for example. There is no evidence of anything like those one-knob-controls-it-all contraptions such as BMW’s iDrive or Audi’s MMI.

Will LF-A happen as a production car? Sources say there are “a lot of people inside the company who want it to, and a lot of people inside the company who don’t.” Officially Toyota says the car is being “carefully considered” for production; that if it is produced, the street car will look a lot like the concept.

Of this much we’re pretty sure: Our spy shooters and moles say the LF-A gives strong hints about a production sports car, which we’ve captured flying around the Nürburgring in tests (Dec. 27, 2004). Sources tell us a production version of either the next Supra (possibly called TXS) or a Lexus sports car, depending on which Toyota decides to build, might be shown at the Tokyo show this fall before going on sale a year later.

Show-car and production-car specs are closely guarded secrets. Toyota won’t give up suspension details, nor will it even say which end of the car the engine sits in, though further digging indicates it’s probably a mid-engine car.

The rumors alone are enough to get you excited, though: Power might be in the 500-hp range from a V10 engine of less than 5.0 liters of displacement. A V8 might be used if F1 rule changes, set for 2006, reflect that. The target weight is said to be less than 3000 pounds, with a top speed upward of 190 mph.

That’s all well and good. Of course, none of it means jack if Toyota doesn’t build the car, though insiders strongly hint it will. Keep your eyes on the Detroit show and the Tokyo show this fall.

http://autoweek.com/news.cms?newsId=101568