Lexus claims Nordschleife production car lap record with LFA Nürburgring Edition on Astini News

Toyota is continuing to make its mark at the Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit. Just over a week after its Toyota Motorsport GmbH division claimed the lap record for an electric vehicle at the circuit in the TMG EV PV001, its Lexus luxury vehicle division is claiming the even more illustrious lap record for a production car. The record run came in a Lexus LFA Nürburgring Edition driven by Japanese LFA race and test driver Akira Iida, who clocked a time of 7 minutes 14.64 seconds on the 22 km (13.7 mile) circuit to eclipse the previous record time of 7 minutes 18.1 seconds set in a Porsche 911 GT2 RS in April 2010.

The track-focused Nürburgring package used in the record-breaking lap adds a carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) front spoiler and fixed rear wing to enhance the aerodynamic performance of the standard LFA. To counter the slightly increased drag coefficient resulting from the aero downforce package, the LFA Nürburgring package also raises the standard LFA's output of 412 kW (552 hp) to 420 kW (563 hp). It also adds track-tuned suspension and custom wheels to improve maneuverability and stability.

"For us, it is always very special when a car is developed to meet the needs of the Nürburgring-Nordschleife," said Dr Schmidt, COO of the Nürburgring Automotive GmbH. "The lap time driven demonstrates impressively that Lexus has done an excellent job in matching the challenges of the track with the needs of an exclusive sports car."

Exclusive is right, as the Nürburgring package will be limited to a run of just 50 vehicles in the already limited production run of 500 for the LFA - which begs the question of just exactly what can be classified as a "production car."

Video of the 7:14.64 run can be viewed below. It's interesting to contrast with the video of the TMG EV P001's run, where the soundtrack was dominated by wind noise.