Lexus claims top speed

The long-awaited LF/A supercar is racing ahead of the competition.

The road-car lap record at the Nurburgring race circuit in Germany has been claimed by Lexus. It is not an official claim, but the coming LF/A supercar is said by company insiders to have bettered the mark set by Porsche with its turbocharged GT2.

The existing mark was 7 min. 25 sec, set by former world rally champion Walter Rohrl in a GT2, and Lexus insiders say the LF/A managed 7.24.

The Lexus mark easily beats the previous Japanese star, the new Nissan GT-R, by about 12 seconds.

But, as there is no official timing at Nurburgring — which is used by most major carmakers for testing because of its long and demanding layout — no one is really sure.

Porsche still claims the outright mark for a production car with its Carrera GT, a supercar in the Ferrari class, though its rivals tend not to include it when claiming kudos for their cars. And it denied claims at the Tokyo Motor Show in October that the GT-R had bettered its GT2 lap time.

Lexus is now pushing hard with the LF/A, which has been delayed since it was first previewed at the Tokyo Motor Show two years ago.

One source close to Lexus says the test mule has a 4.8-litre V10 engine co-developed with Yamaha, and pumping an incredible 420kW. Spinning to 9000 revs, the engine uses Formula One technology and is installed mid-ships in the LF/A, but just ahead of the cabin.

The rear-drive LF-A's performance and handling are said to be closer to that of a racing car than anything Toyota has built before.

With a slippery drag co-efficient of only 0.26, against most production cars in the 0.29-0.30 range, the LF-A is rumoured to have a top exceeding 330km/h.

The car is expected on the road in 2009 and Lexus Australia is holding firm orders in the hope that it will get cars for local owners.