Lexus has head in the clouds with IS-F hill climber

Seems Lexus is willing to pit its IS-F sports sedan against anything in the wide world of motorsport. Last month it was the gruelling Nurburgring 24 Hour endurance race and now the Japanese carmaker wants to test its mettle at the Pikes Peak hill climb event in July.

The Lexus IS F has been turned from stylish street stalker to seriously light hill climber, with application of carbon fibre bodywork and polycarbonate windows, taking 314kg off its 1700kg weight in 'usual' form.

Called the IS-F CCS-R, the hill climb car uses a monocoque with roll cage, racing brakes, modified race suspension and racing exhaust system. It is powered by the road-going IS-F's 2UR-GSE 5.0-litre V8 good for 311kW/505Nm and drive is sent to the rear. It also uses the standard IS-F's eight-speed Sport Direct Shift automatic transmission with paddle shift.

The man and time to beat at the Peak is Nobuhiro Tajima who broke the 10min barrier last year with 9:51.278 in a modified Suzuki SX4.

Pikes Peak is the world's highest hill climb course at 4302 above sea level in Colorado, USA and incorporates several switchbacks attempted at very high speed by several keen competitors from around the globe.

The route was made popularly recognisable after the release of the 'Climb Dance' short film featuring Ari Vatanen and his Peugeot, rising swiftly and swerving to the top with the sun at eye-level and dust clouds trailing. Now, less than a kilometre is unpaved.

This year's event will be the 90th running of the hill climb. 200 competitors are expected, across 16 categories dependent on car class.

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