V8 Supercar performance for Lexus IS F

Visitors to gala motor and sporting events may have noticed a Lexus IS F looking suspiciously like a V8 Supercar. It’s not.

While it comes close in many respects, it’s not close enough for Toyota’s luxury arm to look at joining Nissan and Mercedes-Benz in expanding the V8 Supercars competition gene pool.

The marque’s Brisbane dealership acquired three of the high-performance IS sedans from Swiss specialist Mauer Racing, passing one on to Lexus Australia and keeping the others.

Built for Italy’s Superstars International touring car series, the cars don’t comply with the local V8 competition regulations, and Lexus Australia has no plans to pull them into shape any time soon.

The Italian series pits the cars against V8 competitors from Audi, BMW, Chrysler, Jaguar, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz and a Chevrolet Lumina, better known Down Under as a Holden Commodore (well, actually an HSV Clubsport R8).

For the time being, they’re restricted to promotional duties at events like the Brisbane International Tennis Tournament in January and the recent Top Gear Festival in Sydney. Only one has been assembled so far.

Peter Evans, Lexus Australia’s Corporate Manager for Marketing and Communications, told motoring.com.au he expects the trio will be useful in building profile for the F Sport line the company is relying on to draw younger buyers away from European products.

“It fits neatly with what we’re imparting with the F Sport portfolio, plus it’s a great experience thing for customers and prospects -- you’ll see them out at all sorts of events through 2013,” he said.

True to touring car form, the IS F racer bears virtually nothing in common with its street-legal counterpart. Under the bonnet lurks a naturally aspirated 4.7-litre V8, purpose-built by Toyota Racing Development (TRD).

It’s a version of the same engine that’s claimed several Daytona NASCAR victories in TRD racing prototypes, and in the modest tune we see here it’s good for 450kW.

Power reaches the rear wheels via a carbon-fibre tailshaft and rear-mounted six-speed Hewland SL-600 transmission with launch control. Dressed in carbon-fibre, the package weighs in at just 1290kg.

After a couple of laps in the passenger seat round Sydney’s Eastern Creek circuit with four-times Australian rally champion and long-time Toyota associate, Neal Bates, we can confirm the car makes no concessions to the Lexus street values of smoothness and silence.

Not even (yet) equipped with power steering, it stood in marked contrast to the stock LFA in which we grabbed a lap with 1980 F1 champion Alan Jones. Each driver told motoring.com.au afterwards that they’d extended their car to “about 80 per cent” of its abilities.

It was Lexus of Brisbane that first eyed the chance to procure three of the tourers from Swiss builder Mauer Racing in 2012. Nobody’s talking about the price, but they cost Mauer about a million dollars apiece to build.