33 degrees Celsius, overcast sky , the sun is burning. The asphalt shimmers on the Goodwood Circuit, the famous motor racing circuit, 100 km south of London. Built on a military airfield in the 1930s. After World War II , more specifically from September 1948 here on the four kilometer long runway again instead of race , won the very first post-war racing Sir Stirling Moss. However, the racing legend lived here with many successes, including a bitter defeat.

In April 1962 Stirling Moss at Goodwood had a serious accident , so heavy that it had to end his career. Today, we here at Goodwood testfahren an impressive pre-production model . A real race car with road permission . But it is not a British automobile. No Lotus, not a gun , not Morgan, not a McLaren. Anything Italian from Maranello , Modena or Sant’Agata Bolognese. No, the angry looking , white super athlete with the bi-xenon headlamps schlitzaugigen and the three large air inlets in the front bumper is from Japan . From the refined and now sport Toyota subsidiary Lexus. His name LFA . His mission show , draufhaben what Toyota / Lexus Sun And it succeeds.

The LFA must not hide from Lamborghini , Ferrari and Co. . The performance , the chassis and the workmanship are top class . In the fast car industry , ten years of development indeed an eternity …

But unfortunately the world are only 500 hand-picked customers ( 14 in Germany ), acquire the benefit of an LFA 375 000 € to be allowed to . And the few copies have long since sold out, and that, although there are still only a few prototypes and three pre-production vehicles . To compensate for the interested customers could ever afford a deposit – 125 000 € cash down. As well as an assurance that the CAA does not vanish only in a parking garage , but is driven regularly. The strictly limited edition , incidentally, is fully configured until January 2011.

Also , the seating position is strictly in the electric leather sports seats. And that’s a good thing, because the LFA is just here on a fast and demanding track, not to be trifled with . I also feel like even when you press the start button . A mixture of booming and screeching coming from the three outlets arranged in a triangle of the exhaust. The raw sound is no surprise , because ten cylinder with 560 hp and 480 Newton meters of torque are the basic data of the 200 kilogram front mid-engine . After starting the engine must first important decisions are made. What mode should now be driven? Sport , automatic or veeery soft when wet ? I am of course SPORTS . From the speed of gear changes to be made , I choose the light- paddle ? Seven levels are available – down to 0.2 seconds. Fantastically is the declutching who yells a rich gas surge when changing down through the exhaust system.

I start from the pit lane immediately , yet the traffic light is red. With one click I put into first gear . Then green traffic light , brake off , gas pedal pushed . As with the launch as a fighter , I will hold in the seat. And after just felt milliseconds the speed limit is reached of 9000 tours. It beeps , the rev counter turns red , with the right paddle gear I switch in two. The tachometer is white again. Hey presto , by 3.7 seconds showing on the tachometer needle already 100 km / h . The whole can now upshift to sixth gear at a speed of 325, but the first right-hander is in 75 meters. And with the step on the brake pedal itself shows a further highlight of the CAA – the husky brake system from its own development department. Of course, with carbon -ceramic discs. The front brake disc diameter is 390 millimeters (with Sechskolbenzangen ), on the rear axle disks are 360 (with Vierkolbenzangen ) tires. The brakes retard so incredibly strong that I lap after lap later delayed .

The lap times to thank me. Beautiful it is quick through the chicane just before the long pit straight. Here I will benefit the facility and the weight of the LFA . Slim weighs 1480 kilograms, the racer with the chassis made of carbon fiber and titanium exhaust system. So is a weight distribution of 48:52 percent between the front and rear – the better it gets .

Conclusion : Lexus has developed with the 4.50 meters long, 1.89 meters wide and 1.22 meters high LFA genuine Ferrari – killer on the roads and racetracks of the world. We can only hope that the happy customers to move LFA really on the limit and often admired not only in the garage or in the living room .