24hour runs to Vegas are not uncommon ‘round these parts. Sam does it on a weekly basis; I do it maybe 3 x a year. However, when Lexus propositions you to go for only a few short hours with the track, you say, “F it” and go. The F is a good thing, however, in the Lexus world as well as model provided with the premium F Sport range of upgrade packages is really a surefire good time. What could sweeten the pot even more? What happens if we name-dropped the LFA and IS F CCS-R? Loads more fun than theis actually a massive sprawl of land. Motorsports fans usually come here for any number of reasons: NASCAR, weekly drag races, drifting, race exotic rentals, so on and so on. Those who prefer to party know it best as the home of EDC. I prefer to step foot on these grounds when it’s a chance to go road racing. While we weren’t given highly modified race cars, F Sport models are still a good improvement over stock, as long as you’re equipped with the upgrades. But more on that later. Some people arranged to do their runs, I jumped at the opportunity to ride with my pal, Ken Gushi in his Pikes Peak IS F CCS-R, that orange thing you’ve been looking at and thinking oh shit for the past number of seconds. So when you’re sitting shotgun using a driver who knows you, you receive a few bonus oh shit moments thrown in for fun. It’s clear that Gushi is a master at what he does; though this isn’t a drift demo, his chops as a driver are solid. He muscled through the course brilliantly together with such finesse-there is a brief moment when the car did slip from his control but that knowledge of drifting allowed him to create it back. We laughed the moment off and I was back in the staging lanes to visit drive the conventional F Sport Lexus cars.
As you can probably guess, I have got driving skills that rival Ken marvelously…if he were a four year old and drove with one hand tied behind his back. But that didn’t stop me from enjoying just what the F can perform, something any one of us normal folk can do. Simply pick the S or S drive mode (wherever applicable) out from Normal and have busy. The suspension tightened up noticeably and the larger brake calipers found themselves right in your house. On the autocross testing portion, these differences were even more apparent because the tighter course forces you to use the car in a way that really tests its handling/braking limitations. My scores were somewhere in the middle of the rest, ahead of Motor Trend and Import Tuner’s editorial staff, though again, not to toot my own horn.
Jonathan wong charles trieu 05
Drift roulette
Lexus f sport models lexus IS F wheel 03
, although i love saving the best stuff for last The LFA: oddly enough, I’ve driven this more times than I should be lucky enough to be permitted. My first-time was during its press launch and several dozen journalists were all given two laps using a professional driver sitting shotgun; it was probably one of the most well-balanced and powerful cars I’d ever driven in that kind of speed, truly amazing. I can’t go into full detail about my second experience, aside from to say that I’d like to thank the individuals who graciously allowed me to have 20 minutes with it in every fashion and said to not fuck it up, please. I could honestly inform you that 20 minutes have never gone so fast before in my life (and for the record, I didn’t fuck it). The third time’s the charm (and hopefully not the last), and much like my first-time, it was a demo pass with a professional followed up with two laps of my own. That balance is still there. The power, raw-the engine winds up so nicely and I shift as though I have hardly any other care on earth other than to imagine, I’m driving an LFA and you’re not.
So when I brought the LFA to a halt, the dream ended yet again. I left the track, out of the glitz and glam of Vegas, and went right back to normalcy life. Lexus proved their point well and it’s no longer the question of what the F? Now it’s how the F do I have the F?