Lexus LFA- Discussion, Pictures & News (new colors gloss black, blue, yellow)
#736
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Agreed. There is tons of tech in the LFA both inside and out that most car makers can only dream about. I will share more technical info that was passed onto us at the Press Event on Wednesday.
#737
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I would love to own ANY of those V-10 Audi/Lambo's cars. They are sensational. They were brilliant in sharing such a great engine in different vehicles, great business move.
Clearly the LFA's engine is in another realm in regards to exclusivity thus one of the reasons it costs more.
#738
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To those that continue to mention certain other cars as competitors (those cars shall remain nameless), I have some simple questions to ask.
First off, do any of the competitors make their own carbon fiber in-house? Looking at any other cars, are they completely made, designed, and assembled in-house at their respective makers?
Save for a few parts (like wheels/tires and shock absorbers), pretty much everything on the LFA was designed, made, and assembled in-house by the Toyota Group.
I had a nice list of technical tidbits ready post yesterday when my computer crashed
. I will try to post some of them when I have some time.
First off, do any of the competitors make their own carbon fiber in-house? Looking at any other cars, are they completely made, designed, and assembled in-house at their respective makers?
Save for a few parts (like wheels/tires and shock absorbers), pretty much everything on the LFA was designed, made, and assembled in-house by the Toyota Group.
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#739
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Damn I forgot those too.
I would love to own ANY of those V-10 Audi/Lambo's cars. They are sensational. They were brilliant in sharing such a great engine in different vehicles, great business move.
Clearly the LFA's engine is in another realm in regards to exclusivity thus one of the reasons it costs more.
I would love to own ANY of those V-10 Audi/Lambo's cars. They are sensational. They were brilliant in sharing such a great engine in different vehicles, great business move.
Clearly the LFA's engine is in another realm in regards to exclusivity thus one of the reasons it costs more.
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#740
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2011 LEXUS LFA : First Drive
The 2011 Lexus LFA isn't the fastest car ever made, nor the most powerful or even the quickest to 60 MPH. It can't even match the ZR1 around the Nürburgring. So why will this Toyota cost nearly $400,000?
You've probably been bewildered by how much attention one car from a previously maligned automaker is getting on this and other enthusiast sites. But the attention we've paid pales in comparison to the attention to technical detail Toyota's displayed in the design and construction of the LFA. The car's gestation has taken nearly a decade not because the program had problems or limited resources, but because Toyota decided to design and build nearly every element of the LFA, its first ever supercar, in-house. Where most companies — Bugatti, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche included — contract out things like gearboxes and the design and construction of carbon fiber components, Lexus chose to teach itself how to make those things better than anyone else, then build its own tools in order to make them.
Take the carbon fiber, for instance. To make the LFA's, Toyota created one of only two circular looms in the entire world, then used it to simultaneously weave one tube of carbon inside another. They built this system just to make the A-pillars on the car.
This all sounded like little more than corporate grandstanding to us. It's the largest car company on earth patting itself on the back for being able to use the money it got selling the automotive equivalent of beige orthopedic shoes to build some fancy tools.
That attitude lasted all the way to turn 6 at the Homestead Speedway road course. An over enthusiastic application of the sharp throttle had the 552 HP, 4.8-liter V10 spinning rapidly towards its 9,500 RPM redline and the tail sliding out towards the grass. Normally that'd have been an oh-****-I'm-going-to-break-a-$400K-car moment, especially in an unfamiliar supercar, but in the LFA it barely requires conscious correction as it just blended into rocketing down the following straight at three-figure speeds. In fact, oversteer in the LFA doesn't feel so much like oversteer as it does like the rear tires are sitting on castors and being pushed around by a couple of assistants. There's no body roll, no drama, just complete communication and smooth recovery. The reason for that? The impossibly **** approach Toyota took when building the LFA.
The LFA has an unprecedentedly low center of gravity of 17 3/4" — located directly beneath the steering wheel's rim. So far a conventional attribute executed perfectly, but how that CoG got there is way more complicated. First, the engine is located way back in the engine bay and mounts to a 6-speed rear-mounted transaxle through a carbon torque tube. The oil coolers are in the front fenders, while the radiators are at the rear to aid weight distribution, they're fed by the shoulder scoops. That creates a 48% front, 52% rear distribution for the 3263 Lb curb weight. That accounts for the CoG's position front-to-rear, but not vertically. That was achieved by using a world's first counter gear to raise the relative height of the torque tube, allowing the engine to be mounted incredibly low in the car, accounting for the CoG's height.
Of course, that's still only part of the story. The rigid drivetrain assembly (engine, torque tube, transaxle) is connected to the car by four mounts positioned at the geometric extremes of the unit. With no twist in the assembly due to torque, this arrangement eliminates the effect of power delivery on the chassis, there's no torque reaction.
You see where this is going?
Of course, the reason I was over aggressive with the throttle is that the engine revs extraordinarily quickly. From idle, it can be bouncing off the 9,500 RPM fuel cut off in just 6/10ths of a second. That's thanks to an incredibly low reciprocating mass, but achieving that wasn't simple either. They used technology developed by Toyota's F1 program to develop the block, for example, which was cast in the same foundry, using the same technique as the F1 engine. The same goes for the gearbox. The paddle-shifted hydraulically actuated 6-speed features a traditional H-pattern over the more popular dual clutch design because it was determined that the two clutch plates of the latter would negatively impact that low reciprocating mass. Shift speeds are adjustable, taking just 2/10ths of a second a their fastest, but can be slowed to "smooth" for everyday driving; at their fastest, they're anything but.
Transitioning off the incredibly powerful brakes — 15 1/3" diameter carbon metallic discs at the front with Brembo Monoblock 6-piston calipers — and onto the super sensitive throttle isn't currently as smooth as easily driving on the edge of grip requires. But these LFAs are pre-production prototypes and will be continually refined before production begins December 2010. Lexus plans to "break the molds" after just 500 LFAs and plans to build each car for a customer's own bespoke requirements. The company half-jokingly estimates that there's "30 billion" potential combinations of spec.
With only a 202 MPH top speed, a 3.7-second 0-60 MPH time and a 7:30 ‘Ring time, the LFA isn't going to be a bench racer's dream. But we actually admire Toyota for eschewing the conventional, numbers-based approach to supercar success. The LFA's 500 lucky customers aren't buying bragging rights, they're buying the most comprehensively complete supercar package ever made. As a statement of technological ability and performance intent, the LFA firmly establishes Toyota firmly within the upper echelons of sports car manufacturers. The real payoff to us enthusiasts isn't going to be the the incredibly rare LFA, but the trickle down reaching forthcoming Toyota FT-86 sports car and other future Toyota performance models. If the FT-86 can be 1/20th the car the LFA is, us everyday enthusiasts are in for a real treat.
The 2011 Lexus LFA isn't the fastest car ever made, nor the most powerful or even the quickest to 60 MPH. It can't even match the ZR1 around the Nürburgring. So why will this Toyota cost nearly $400,000?
You've probably been bewildered by how much attention one car from a previously maligned automaker is getting on this and other enthusiast sites. But the attention we've paid pales in comparison to the attention to technical detail Toyota's displayed in the design and construction of the LFA. The car's gestation has taken nearly a decade not because the program had problems or limited resources, but because Toyota decided to design and build nearly every element of the LFA, its first ever supercar, in-house. Where most companies — Bugatti, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche included — contract out things like gearboxes and the design and construction of carbon fiber components, Lexus chose to teach itself how to make those things better than anyone else, then build its own tools in order to make them.
Take the carbon fiber, for instance. To make the LFA's, Toyota created one of only two circular looms in the entire world, then used it to simultaneously weave one tube of carbon inside another. They built this system just to make the A-pillars on the car.
This all sounded like little more than corporate grandstanding to us. It's the largest car company on earth patting itself on the back for being able to use the money it got selling the automotive equivalent of beige orthopedic shoes to build some fancy tools.
That attitude lasted all the way to turn 6 at the Homestead Speedway road course. An over enthusiastic application of the sharp throttle had the 552 HP, 4.8-liter V10 spinning rapidly towards its 9,500 RPM redline and the tail sliding out towards the grass. Normally that'd have been an oh-****-I'm-going-to-break-a-$400K-car moment, especially in an unfamiliar supercar, but in the LFA it barely requires conscious correction as it just blended into rocketing down the following straight at three-figure speeds. In fact, oversteer in the LFA doesn't feel so much like oversteer as it does like the rear tires are sitting on castors and being pushed around by a couple of assistants. There's no body roll, no drama, just complete communication and smooth recovery. The reason for that? The impossibly **** approach Toyota took when building the LFA.
The LFA has an unprecedentedly low center of gravity of 17 3/4" — located directly beneath the steering wheel's rim. So far a conventional attribute executed perfectly, but how that CoG got there is way more complicated. First, the engine is located way back in the engine bay and mounts to a 6-speed rear-mounted transaxle through a carbon torque tube. The oil coolers are in the front fenders, while the radiators are at the rear to aid weight distribution, they're fed by the shoulder scoops. That creates a 48% front, 52% rear distribution for the 3263 Lb curb weight. That accounts for the CoG's position front-to-rear, but not vertically. That was achieved by using a world's first counter gear to raise the relative height of the torque tube, allowing the engine to be mounted incredibly low in the car, accounting for the CoG's height.
Of course, that's still only part of the story. The rigid drivetrain assembly (engine, torque tube, transaxle) is connected to the car by four mounts positioned at the geometric extremes of the unit. With no twist in the assembly due to torque, this arrangement eliminates the effect of power delivery on the chassis, there's no torque reaction.
You see where this is going?
Of course, the reason I was over aggressive with the throttle is that the engine revs extraordinarily quickly. From idle, it can be bouncing off the 9,500 RPM fuel cut off in just 6/10ths of a second. That's thanks to an incredibly low reciprocating mass, but achieving that wasn't simple either. They used technology developed by Toyota's F1 program to develop the block, for example, which was cast in the same foundry, using the same technique as the F1 engine. The same goes for the gearbox. The paddle-shifted hydraulically actuated 6-speed features a traditional H-pattern over the more popular dual clutch design because it was determined that the two clutch plates of the latter would negatively impact that low reciprocating mass. Shift speeds are adjustable, taking just 2/10ths of a second a their fastest, but can be slowed to "smooth" for everyday driving; at their fastest, they're anything but.
Transitioning off the incredibly powerful brakes — 15 1/3" diameter carbon metallic discs at the front with Brembo Monoblock 6-piston calipers — and onto the super sensitive throttle isn't currently as smooth as easily driving on the edge of grip requires. But these LFAs are pre-production prototypes and will be continually refined before production begins December 2010. Lexus plans to "break the molds" after just 500 LFAs and plans to build each car for a customer's own bespoke requirements. The company half-jokingly estimates that there's "30 billion" potential combinations of spec.
With only a 202 MPH top speed, a 3.7-second 0-60 MPH time and a 7:30 ‘Ring time, the LFA isn't going to be a bench racer's dream. But we actually admire Toyota for eschewing the conventional, numbers-based approach to supercar success. The LFA's 500 lucky customers aren't buying bragging rights, they're buying the most comprehensively complete supercar package ever made. As a statement of technological ability and performance intent, the LFA firmly establishes Toyota firmly within the upper echelons of sports car manufacturers. The real payoff to us enthusiasts isn't going to be the the incredibly rare LFA, but the trickle down reaching forthcoming Toyota FT-86 sports car and other future Toyota performance models. If the FT-86 can be 1/20th the car the LFA is, us everyday enthusiasts are in for a real treat.
*source
http://jalopnik.com/5388538/2011-lexus-lfa-first-drive
Overall, a very positive review
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The LFA's 500 lucky customers aren't buying bragging rights, they're buying the most comprehensively complete supercar package ever made. As a statement of technological ability and performance intent, the LFA firmly establishes Toyota firmly within the upper echelons of sports car manufacturers. The real payoff to us enthusiasts isn't going to be the the incredibly rare LFA, but the trickle down reaching forthcoming Toyota FT-86 sports car and other future Toyota performance models. If the FT-86 can be 1/20th the car the LFA is, us everyday enthusiasts are in for a real treat.
I think the reviewer summed it up pretty well
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#742
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*source
http://jalopnik.com/5388538/2011-lexus-lfa-first-drive
Overall, a very positive review![Thumb Up](https://www.clublexus.com/forums/images/smilies/thumbsup.gif)
I think the reviewer summed it up pretty well![Thumb Up](https://www.clublexus.com/forums/images/smilies/thumbsup.gif)
http://jalopnik.com/5388538/2011-lexus-lfa-first-drive
Overall, a very positive review
![Thumb Up](https://www.clublexus.com/forums/images/smilies/thumbsup.gif)
I think the reviewer summed it up pretty well
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#743
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on sharing engines, here's my take though. i don't think there is anything wrong sharing engines, especially if it's a good engine. it helps on the cost and production efficiency. i actually give vw props for able to apply similar engines on different cars. lexus (toyota) doesn't have that luxury so they had to develop their own v10 and also the higher cost
but exclusivity is another factor of course. i can see how some lambo owners aren't entirely happy their brother engines are used in the s8
but exclusivity is another factor of course. i can see how some lambo owners aren't entirely happy their brother engines are used in the s8
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#744
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Some info passed along to us at the LFA Press Event in Miami:
1LR-GUE 4.8-LITER V10
1. All-new 4.8-liter LFA-exclusive V10
A. Developed in conjunction with Yamaha
B. Compact size and light weight
I. smaller and lighter than a Lexus 3.5L V6
C. 72° cylinder bank angle
2. Key features
A. Durable and lightweight valvetrain and engine rotating assembly
I. solid titanium intake & exhaust valves
II. forged titanium connecting rods
III. forged aluminum pistons
IV. lightweight, high strength crankshaft
V. aluminum viscous crank damper
VI. super-lightweight Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) coated rocker arms
B. Racing engine-like response
I. Independent electronic throttle bodies
a) Control logic response prioritized
II. lightweight flywheel
C. breathtaking sound
I. bqual-length exhaust system
a) separate left and right exhaust banks avoid exhaust interference
b) refined sound quality
Originally Posted by Lexus College - Technical
1LR-GUE 4.8-LITER V10
1. All-new 4.8-liter LFA-exclusive V10
A. Developed in conjunction with Yamaha
B. Compact size and light weight
I. smaller and lighter than a Lexus 3.5L V6
C. 72° cylinder bank angle
2. Key features
A. Durable and lightweight valvetrain and engine rotating assembly
I. solid titanium intake & exhaust valves
II. forged titanium connecting rods
III. forged aluminum pistons
IV. lightweight, high strength crankshaft
V. aluminum viscous crank damper
VI. super-lightweight Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) coated rocker arms
B. Racing engine-like response
I. Independent electronic throttle bodies
a) Control logic response prioritized
II. lightweight flywheel
C. breathtaking sound
I. bqual-length exhaust system
a) separate left and right exhaust banks avoid exhaust interference
b) refined sound quality
#745
Lexus Connoisseur
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A few more items...
1LR-GUE 4.8-LITER V10
1. 4.8-liter 40-valve DOHC V10
A. 552 hp (412 Kw) @ 8,700 rpm
B. 354 lb.-ft. (480 Nm) @ 6,800 rpm
C. fuel-cut point = 9,500 rpm
2. Top-level output-per-liter
A. Vertical intake ports, equal-length tubular exhaust manifolds for maximum scavenging efficiency
B. 12.0:1 compression ratio
C. dual VVT-i (intake & exhaust),
D. cam profiles for super-lightweight valvetrain
3. World-class dynamic performance
A. accessories positioned for low center of gravity and reduced yawmoment
B. Dry sump oil system
C. Compact and lightweight for a lower center of gravity
Originally Posted by Lexus College - Technical
1LR-GUE 4.8-LITER V10
1. 4.8-liter 40-valve DOHC V10
A. 552 hp (412 Kw) @ 8,700 rpm
B. 354 lb.-ft. (480 Nm) @ 6,800 rpm
C. fuel-cut point = 9,500 rpm
2. Top-level output-per-liter
A. Vertical intake ports, equal-length tubular exhaust manifolds for maximum scavenging efficiency
B. 12.0:1 compression ratio
C. dual VVT-i (intake & exhaust),
D. cam profiles for super-lightweight valvetrain
3. World-class dynamic performance
A. accessories positioned for low center of gravity and reduced yawmoment
B. Dry sump oil system
C. Compact and lightweight for a lower center of gravity
#747
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Yeah they showed us an overhead view of the engine with the covers removed. 10 ITB's nicely lined up. The heads on the engine are made of Magnesium. Exotic materials for an exotic car!
#748
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A few random tidbits
:
- the rocker arms have a diamond-like carbon with silicon coating
- the rocker arms also have oil jets
- the fuel tank is shaped like a horse saddle; it is located closer to the car's center
- the battery is mounted directly over the rear axle
- the braking system, instead of using engine vacuum for the brake booster, uses an electric pump that operates independently of the engine
- this ensures consistent, effective braking under any conditions and does not depend on the engine
- the electric pump provides hydraulic pressure for boosting brake force
- the dry-sump oil system is a 7-stage twin-fed system
I actually posted that very same tidbit earlier in this thread
. The V10 is smaller and lighter than the Lexus 2GR-FSE 3.5L V6 engine.
![Wink](https://www.clublexus.com/forums/images/smilies/wink.gif)
- the rocker arms have a diamond-like carbon with silicon coating
- the rocker arms also have oil jets
- the fuel tank is shaped like a horse saddle; it is located closer to the car's center
- the battery is mounted directly over the rear axle
- the braking system, instead of using engine vacuum for the brake booster, uses an electric pump that operates independently of the engine
- this ensures consistent, effective braking under any conditions and does not depend on the engine
- the electric pump provides hydraulic pressure for boosting brake force
- the dry-sump oil system is a 7-stage twin-fed system
![Wink](https://www.clublexus.com/forums/images/smilies/wink.gif)