Lexus Looks to Take Over the GT Circuit with the LC GT500

Lexus Looks to Take Over the GT Circuit with the LC GT500

Published: September 10, 2016 | By: American Luxury Staff

For a couple of years now, Nissan has dominated Japan’s Super GT circuit series, but Lexus is hoping to overturn that hierarchy with a new marque: the Lexus LC GT500. Modified to meet competition requirements for the GT500 class, the racer—developed by TRD Japan—is a variant of the Lexus LC 500 that debuted at the North American International Auto Show in January.

The 5-liter V8 that comes with the general public’s GT500 has been scaled down to a category-compliant 2-liter, turbocharged 4-cylinder engine mated to a 6-speed sequential gearbox. The new racer is rear wheel drive, and sports aerodynamic alterations that include highly articulated wheel arches, a pronounced rear wing and spoiler, and air intakes and outlets throughout the sculpted body that lend both a performance and an aesthetic advantage. Just looking at this thing, it’s easy to imagine it flying down the track.

For the upcoming 2017 Super GT season, the LC GT500 will replace Lexus’s current entrant, a version of the RC F model, in pursuit of the brand’s first championship since 2013.

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