The SEMA show is a place that automakers go each year to show off their new vehicles and what they can do to tune them up and bring more performance to the market in a variety of ways. At the beginning of the year Lexus showed us the new LC500 as a model that would become a production sports car and offer us some exciting style and high end performance to be a luxury sports coupe that anyone would want to drive. This unveiling at the Detroit Auto Show at the beginning of the year got our engines churning about Lexus, but this new model that was taken to SEMA revs up the excitement in a big way.
Gordon Ting and Beyond Marketing were tasked with the job of tuning up this already amazing race coupe to see what they could add to the mix. What they came up with is nothing short of awesome and gives us a car that will certainly be the choice of some race teams and hopefully will be offered as a production model for us to buy, even if only in limited numbers.
On the outside this car has been upgraded with a custom aero kit that offers more dramatic fender flares, a front diffuser, side skirts a rear diffuser and a rear wing. Brembo brakes are added for more control and a new stance is what you see with the 22-ich wheels and the drop in the suspension. ON the inside you’ll see new carbon fiber seats and an upgraded race cage to make this a car that looks and feels like a planted and serious race car that you would want to drive on any track and feel confident you could win some races.
Adding to the confident feeling is an engine that’s been overhauled. this engine has been redone to increase the displacement from 5.0-liter to 5.6-liter and is capable of putting out 525 horsepower compared to 467 in the stock version and 440 lb.-ft. of torque compared to 391. No doubt this new tuned up LC500 model is one that any of us can enjoy driving on the road or track. This car is also going to help Lexus gather the information needed from driving on the track for their entry into the GT3 race program that will be using the new RC F.
It will be interesting to see what the tuned LC500 will cost, but with all the custom parts and the tuned engine it certainly won’t come cheap. This car put on a great show at SEMA and let us see what a performance model will be from this group. If you get a chance you should check out this video and see what this new LC500 actually looks like. This car is one that may make it on the posters on many walls in the future as the favorite performance car of many who love to drive and want to have a highly tuned Lexus model for their drive.
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