05RollaXRS

LOL.

It was funny the cameraman getting tossed around turns with a heavy, big camera on his shoulder. LOL

05RollaXRS

Man I love this car.

I saw an LP640-4 today in the same jet black color just cruising beside me. A few times he downshifted and the automated blips from the V12 were simply glorious.

I was just wondering the day I will have the good fortune of seeing an LFA cruise beside me as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5o6M...layer_embedded

Vladi

AutoZeitung is the first magazine to do real LFA comparo on the track.

Please be patient for the scans results will surprise you (or not)

05RollaXRS

AutoZeitung is an amazing European publication. From what I heard, the LFA lapped the small race track circuit almost 2 seconds faster than the SLS AMG.

Oh Puhleeeeeazzee!! Anticipation is killing me. Can't wait to see the full results

gengar

No, no, no! Just no! This statement is everything that is wrong with spec driving which leads to all the silly fanboyism and trolling that happens on the Internet. The dynamics of a car are absolutely not quantified by Nürburgring lap times. You act like someone can just look at a single number and that will tell how well a car handles, how much power it makes, the quality of the steering feel, the accuracy of the throttle response, the road feel of the suspension, whether it tends to oversteer or understeer, if there is significant body roll/flex, its predictability during cornering, etc. etc. etc. The notion that the dynamics of two different cars can somehow be measured and compared based on a lap time is absurd.

Lexus didn't design this car on the basis of metrics such as lap times or other spec times; no, they wanted to build the most driver-oriented car they could. And the LFA's engineers, like Tanahashi, have said that from the beginning.

That's why trying to understand the LFA's dynamics by approaching from specifications is so wrong. You bemoan meaningless numbers like its hp, acceleration times, and top speed, as if were the LFA better at these than its competitors, it would be a better car than its competitors. And then, to take the cake, you say that because of these "disadvantages" it needs a Nür time - yet one more spec number to throw in there - to make up for it. I guess based on your criteria the X6 M is dynamically superior to an NSX.

Car enthusiasts - and I am using this term quite loosely right now, as this post perhaps demonstrates - need to move away from numbers and start caring about how cars drive, if for no other reason than that we want manufacturers to care about vehicle dynamics and not just how fast they can make a vehicle go around some arbitrary track that few if any of us are ever going to drive on. Otherwise, we'll just keep getting products that have amazing Nür times but that reviewers dynamically compare to playing a video game, whose engineers admit they intentionally and artificially increased understeer in to promote driver sense of stability, and that companies can't sell.

05RollaXRS

I agree that performance cars should always be about what heightens the driver's senses and makes the car feel an extension of the driver himself.

That is why I hate dual clutch automated transmissions and applaud Lexus' decision to go with a single clutch automated transmission despite the marginally slower shift speed. Ths shift sound of LFA is just phenomenal and gives goosebumps since it sounds identical to a three pedal manual.

Nearly every dual-clutch automated transmission I heard from 458 Italia to M3 M-DCT to RS5 DSG sounds identical to a damn torque converted automatic.

MR_F1

^kinda depends on what you want to do with the car as well no?

I totally agree with you, but I just need to point out that many enthusiast, just want to be the fastest guy on his block/ or on a given track day, and the numbers game plays a big part of that, because being an enthusiast does not automatically make you a great driver.

gengar

Although I was never able to catch the LFA there due to its busy summer tour schedule throughout Europe, here are the LFA-related pictures from Park Lane, as promised:

TF109B

Lap times are just a quick way to establish what car is 'faster'- well people wish for lap times of the LFA are coming to fruition. Even with the SLS up against it, the LFA is faster than it by almost 2 seconds. That's something! 570HP vs 560HP. I guess the dynamics of the LFA are superb. And these guys aren't even driving a production model. Contidrom was the track that they were testing the LFA vs. the SLS. A previous lap time by the SLS was 1:30.7- the record holder over the GTR with a 1:30.95. So I'm guessing if they were close to that time, the LFA did it in the 1:29's which would be the NEW record.

05RollaXRS

So let's see where LFA will be on the AutoZeitung race track lap times?

http://www.fastestlaps.com/track24.html

TF109B

Not sure, but it's about 2 seconds faster on the smaller track- Contidrom, so I'd say it could be about 3+ seconds faster around the other one.

05RollaXRS

So that means they will have two lap times. Both for contidrom and AutoZeitung lap time. Contidrom has SLS AMG as the fastest car ever. Faster than GTR, ZR-1, GT3 RS, R8 V10 etc.

Now, LFA comes along and spanks the SLS AMG by almost 2 seconds and dethrones it as a king.


It is looking very good for the LFA, I think.

TF109B

Sure is. I think this might be a better performing SLS compared to the one before I donno. Perhaps they had a prototype before when they previously tested it on their test track, maybe not. But if the LFA is faster around the shorter track maybe it just has good handling, the longer track is a bit different- but I'd still bet on the LFA spanking it.

05RollaXRS

True.

Vladi, can we please have scan of that article?? I am really anxious to see the test data??

Both LFA and SLS AMG hit 200 KM/H (125 mph) in 11.4 seconds. Since LFA trap speed is 124 - 126 mph, that means LFA is beginning to show its true 1/4 mile time of low-11 seconds. The 400 meter time will be able to tell.

TF109B

This is all WITHOUT Launch control as well. This is why it's taking 3.7 to 100kmh or 60mph. But once the LFA gets wound up it starts moving. If it hits the quarter mile times in the 11.3's I'm gonna be ecstatic, that's gotta be 125+mph trap speeds.