Toyota announces trio of entrants in 24 Hours Nürburgring race
by Canadian Manufacturing Daily Staff
Lexus LFA, Toyota 86 and GAZOO Racing Lexus LFA Code X will take to gruelling road course in June
TOYOTA CITY, Japan—Toyota Motor Corp. plans to enter three vehicles in this year’s 24 Hours Nürburgring endurance race, including a full carbon-framed version of the Lexus LFA supercar.
According to Toyota, its GAZOO Racing team will enter full race versions of the Lexus LFA and Toyota 86—better known as the Scion FR-S in North America—and a research vehicle known as the GAZOO Racing Lexus LFA Code X in the 42nd running of the gruelling endurance event held at Germany’s 20.6-kilometre Nürburgring Nordschleife course.
While few details about to LFA Code X are being released, Toyota said it was built to “enable study of future sports car technologies.”
What that entails is unclear, but the car features a larger V10 engine than road-going models—5.3 litres of displacement compared to 4.7 litres—and a full carbon frame.
Toyota said the 5.3-litre engine has had its horsepower and torque number “fine-tuned to better suit” the Nürburgring track, which is widely considered the most challenging road course in the world.
The automaker uses its own engineers and technicians for the race team in order to cultivate “automotive seasoning” personnel able to develop ever-better vehicles for the market.
The race runs June 19-22.
