Lexus LFA Nürburgring Edition shatters production car ‘Ring record

There has been no official word yet but according to multiple sources, the Lexus LFA Nürburgring Edition has shown that its name is more than a marketing scheme as this specially tuned Lexus supercar has reportedly set the new production car record on the Nürburgring Nordschleife course with a stunning lap of just 7:14.

This was the second time that Lexus took the LFA Nürburgring Edition to the ‘Ring this year with company test driver Akira Iida turning in a best time of 7:22.85 in June which put the LFA purpose built model behind the current top times by the Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR, two Chevrolet Corvettes (ZR1 and Z06) and the Porsche 911 GT2 RS. However, the folks behind the LFA just weren’t happy with their car being named after a track where it doesn’t hold the record so Iida and his special edition LFA headed back to the famed track and the result was an incredible lap time of 7:14 – roughly 4 seconds faster than the previous best lap time by a production vehicle. The lack of official information from Lexus leaves us wondering if anything was done to the LFA Nürburgring Edition between their 7:22 in June and the new 7:14 but it doesn’t matter because Lexus has set the bar very, very high for production cars on the ‘Ring. This time also puts the LFA Nürburgring Edition 5 seconds ahead of the Corvette ZR-1 and roughly 8 seconds ahead of the Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR and Corvette Z06.

While the Lexus LFA Nürburgring Edition now holds the bragging rights of being the fastest full production vehicle to lap the legendary German race track but with a time of 7:14, this specially designed LFA finds itself behind 3 other vehicles when it comes to the fastest time among street legal vehicles. The top spot in terms of street cars is the Radical SR8 LM with a time of 6:48, followed by the Radical SR8 at 6:55 and the Gumpert Apollo Speed at 7:11.57. It should be pointed out that while the Radical SR8 and SR8 LM are technically street legal, they are nothing more than street legal race cars but their blazing times should still be respected as no other company has ever gotten close to those times.

The Chrysler Group is currently in the process of perfecting their next generation Dodge Viper, which is expected to hit the streets mid-2012. The Viper has previously set all of its records without the driver aides used in vehicles like the LFA and the Corvette ZR-1, but when the 2013 Viper hits we can fully expect it to have some high performance driving aides that should allow it to shave some time off of its previous best ‘Ring time of 7:22.1 – but will it be enough to take down the LFA Nürburgring Edition? Only time will tell but for the time being, the car named for the famous race track holds the title as the fastest production car.

Other 'Ring News:
The 2012 ZR1 smashes the Viper ACR’s ‘Ring record – with video
The Chevrolet Corvette Z06 sets a new best at the ‘Ring
The Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR sets another track record