If you’re wondering where one of the rarest Lexus IS-F’s is located it’s surely this Racing Concept at its new home in the Nurburgring.
When it comes to Lexus unicorn’s, Lexus has a knack for making a couple of rare one-offs due to the experimental and risk-taking nature. As per Chronos Racing based in Germany on their Facebook post earlier this week (Oct. 23, 2018) they’ve located and snapped a couple of photos of one of the rarest Lexus IS-F’s to grace planet earth, this ultra Widebody Racing IS-F that debuted more than ten years ago at the 2008 Tokyo Auto Salon, did a couple of test runs, and was never heard from again. Take a gander at some of these rare photos below.
If you’re a car enthusiast and are ever at the Nurburgring, you’re going to find yourself at the ‘Ring Boulevard, a sort of welcome area where vendors, food caterers, and racing simulators set up to sell you things while you’re there. In addition, there are a handful of rare and one-off race cars just sitting there, like this aforementioned widebody IS-F concept.
In 2008, with the debut of this car, rumors abounded that a Japanese manufacturer, would for the first time, enter a fleet of racecars in the famed DTM series, a popular touring car series known for its fierce competition and steeped in rich racing history.
Although no details about this particular engine are known, like its namesake, it’s most likely packing a similar motor to the 2UR-GSE under the hood with its 417 HP and 371 lb-ft, stock. Looking at the similar DTM cars of the time Lexus would probably tweak power output to match the 476 HP and 376 lb-ft found in the Mercedes and Audi DTM cars of the time.
What makes this particular Lexus IS-F racecar even more potent to look at has to be its massive widebody slapped on it with Lexus designers trying their best to massage body panels to make it look as smooth as possible. In all-black, it’s one of the most sinister looking IS-F’s I’ve ever seen.
Although this car never raced, its lived on thanks to Gran Turismo where you can race this one-off.
So, if you’re ever at the Nurburgring, you’ll know a little more about this descreet looking Lexus hanging out next to the strudel hut.
Source: Chronos Racing.
