gdh300

Evening friends. LeMans is in full swing and is entering the evocative evening stage. I'm keeping an eye on the in-car feeds from the two Toyota LMP1 cars, and the speed is simply staggering: No.7 here: And No.8 here: Toyota hybrids, boring eh? Meanwhile, looking to the future good news that Toyota are - by the looks of it - seriously planning a car for the newly released ACO regulations. Who knows, it may end-up wearing the Lexus badge, given the exulted company... article here

Ooo, lover-ley! Any chance you could buy an orange Saab 99 like the mum-of-my-best-friend-at-primary-school had? Just for old time's sake? It seemed very exotic (in a Scandinavian way) in the late 70's, what with everyone I knew driving an Austin or a Morris (apart from someone posh we knew, who had a Wolseley).

Come on, spill the beans, what is it? Just to help us Lexus converts feel righteously smug! 😉

I'm a bit late to this post but I had what might be a similar sound on my IS300. Again, you couldn't hear it from isnside the car but it was bl**dy annoying when driving with the window down! Changing pads and ensuring all the anti squeal shims and clips were present didn't seem to make a difference. However, I did find that the disc shields would often get bent and end-up in very light contact with the disc. Usually this would be after driving heavy rain when you get those powerful jets up inside the wheel arch. It doesn't help of course at the age they were, both had heavy corrosion (in fact one just fell asprt when the wheel was taken off!). Not saying this is what you have, but worth a look.

Done a quick search here, but haven't found another post about this : https://www.lexus.co.uk/finance/lexus-one/ Might be of interest for some. Dare say it is the most expensive way to run a car!

Leaving to your own conscience the mixing between axles (I have done it myself when a lowly paid local government officer!), hate to be boring but another vote from me for Avon ZX7s. Also, from my own experience, possibly Toyo Proxes? Admittedly I don't know what sizes they are available in, but they had good grip and water-clearing. They wore relatively quickly but who knows when that next pothole or 6" nail is going to get you?

Ha, small world, I'm in Hatch Warren! Not seen that GS-F, but there are few Lexus locally I recognise, even if I don't really spend much time in Basingstoke. I'm not in a Lexus myself at the moment but keeping a keen eye on the market for GS250 and IS250s...

Me again, sports fans! Two lots of Lexus action this weekend. Firstly, in IMSA - state side - it's the next round of the Weathertech Championship at Belle isle Park for the Detroit Grand Prix. Bit of an unusual race in that only the Prototypes and GTD take part in a short race of only 1hr 40mins. And (for reasons I forget) a number of GTD teams have opted to stay away; fortunately not the two AIM Vasser Sullivan RC-Fs. Streaming of qualifying and the race will be available on imsa.tv but don't forget qualifying is Friday at 22.10 BST and the race Saturday at 17.30 BST. Meanwhile, back in Europe, a race of rather more duration is taking place with the Blancpain 1000km at Paul Ricard. You may remember this was the scene in 2018 of the Emil Frey run RC-Fs first - and admittedly only - victory in the highest level GT3 racing series. I wouldn't hold your breath for a repeat this year, as again Lexus have their public perception presented by the single car run by Monsieur Bartez in the AM Cup. Live streaming will be available on the SRO Blancpain website (with timing, importantly) and the Blancpain YouTube Channel. The race starts at 1700 BST on Saturday, but you might find that qualifying is also streamed tomorrow (Friday). Good luck, Lexus!

Well, somehow I managed to fail to prompt you about the latest race in Japanese SuperGT; apologies for that. However, I have at least found (too late!) that the 2019 season is being streamed somewhere, and that is on motorsport.tv. The next race is in Thailand on 30th June. I have not though looked into the costs but I suspect you'll need to pay for live streaming and certain other content. But the good news is, this last race (amongst others) is available to view gratis, not even requiring a sign-up. You can see it here: Suzuka SuperGT Look away now if you're going to the stream! SPOILERS: Turns out I missed what was an excellent weekend for Lexus at Suzuka (which must have been a bit annoying for Honda!), both in GT500 and GT300. A rare 1-2-3 for the LC500s, and a win in GT300 for the GT3 spec RC-F. Well done au TOM'S and K-tunes! I shall be better prepared next time...

Linas, you must be very happy! Rejoice!

You have absolutely no shame...

...

Yes indeed. The young lad is a bit a star by all accounts, certainly some good performances last year in IMSA. He was at Silverstone this weekend and - SPOLIERS! - was running in a comfortable 3rd place in the Strakka Mercedes before being punted off in the final few minutes of the three hour race by a Lamborghini. Meanwhile, here is a poor picture of the Barthez RC-F in the Silverstone pit: I'm not one for driver adulation (I'm with Enzo on this one, I'm there for the cars), but it was strange seeing someone as famous as Fabian Barthez looking a bit grumpy and painfully ignored at the autograph session.

Blancpain moves from Brands to Silverstone this weekend. The solitary Lexus of Monsieur Barthez will be competing in the 3 hour race on Sunday. Qualifying is tomorrow, and the series is supported by the Super Trofeo Lamborghini which has one of the biggest, best sounding grids in all of motorsport. As usual, streaming is on the SRO's Blancpain website (this may be geo-blocked in the UK) Weekend tickets are a snip at £30 'on the door'. I shall be there both days, may be see some Lexus in the car park? SPOILERS! A very good weekend for Lexus in SuperGT and IMSA, I'd recommend catching up on both, if you can!

A couple of cars back, I dithered over buying a similar one (in white) that was local to me. Hard to imagine a few years later they are now being advertised on classic car website!

Is that "...my eldest..." as in "the-eldest-OAP-with-a-Lexus-I-keep-imprisoned-in-my lock-up-until-I-let-them-out-to-collect-their-pension-and-run-a-DVLA-check-and-then-they-may-be-so-grateful-they'll-give-me-their-car"? Unbelievable.

After the disappointingly low-key début for Monsieur Bartez's Lexus at Monza (hardly saw it during the whole 3 hours!), there should be a higher profile opportunity this weekend for the GT3 RC-Fs at the Acura Sports Car Challenge. The race takes place on Sunday at the Mid-Ohio circuit in Lexington, so a start time in the UK of 6.30pm. Streaming should be available on imsa.tv (qualifying will also be streamed later today). At least you can watch Blancpain; very disappointed that SuperGT from Japan is not currently being streamed anywhere. Hopefully an agreement will be reached soon, be that with Nismo or someone else. By the way, you might pick-up that Blancpain is at Brand Hatch this weekend. This is as part of the series of shorter sprint races, in which Lexus are not competing this year. Still, worth a visit if you have the chance, or watch on the GT World YouTube channel. Finally, can you believe it is 25 years ago that Ayrton Senna died on that horrific weekend at Imola?

I was that old man....

I can just imagine your spiel to the elderly gent... "Yeah, they're all right the old Lexus, but not a patch on an Audi. Do you read Autocar?. Yeah, I'd be doing you a service taking off your hands, and you know, the problem with these old cars, they can be a death-trap. Do you have grand-kids? Yeah, and accidents can happen. They do happen, at any time. I'd hate for you to get hurt. Or the grand-kids. And one night, who knows, 'Whoomf!', there it goes, up in smoke. Anyway, have a think about it, take care now. There's a lot of dangerous people out there..." 😁

"...cost nothing to own..." Count me in! (I assume this promise is unwritten by Autocar?)

Man, you sure is ugly!!! But - looks aside - I imagine in this you wouldn't be able to humiliate (and therefore annoy) the perpetual dumb pushy-in-a-straight-line SUV driver when you get to a roundabout, so it's a no from me...

Ha! Yes, it's good enough, but it's no Lexus. The base Ceed are perfectly fine but I promised myself I wouldn't have just a 'perfectly fine' car again, hence I only considered the Kia because of needlessly boosty engine and the stylishness of three doors. Unfortunately at the time I wanted to replace the IS, no Lexus really ticked all the boxes for me. The Proceed feels like a fun diversion, but not something I'd keep as long as I did the IS300.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not blinkered to thinking everything Lexus do is the best you can get. The CT200 gets panned even on this forum, for example. But what riles me is that what is better for one person, may not be better for another. A comfortable, non-sport, hybrid Lexus that will last for 20 years may be the best car for Driver A, while an uncomfortable, sporty, diesel Audi that will last 10 years may be best for Driver B. But the ratings the UK press always seem to give weight to the Driver B type. Which kind of comes back to what you said about how most people don't read the motoring press and just want 'the best', so don't look beyond the usual suspects. In the American and Australian motoring press, Lexus seem to come out better in comparison to their European counterparts. Why is that? And the same is true for all Japanese marques, which are similarly negatively reported in the UK.

Haven't watched TG for years and years, and never seen TGT. All seemed a bit like rich boys smashing up used cars. I used to like Chris Harris's YouTube stuff, before he took the TG gig. His review of his 2CV, his tribulations in the N24 race and his time with the criminally undervalued Alex Buncombe on the Mille Miglia are three of my favourites. But all that is spoiled now, until he gets the boot by the BBC. Thanks goodness for Harry Metcalfe!

It's been a while but Lexus are back on track this weekend, on two continents! No IMSA action for the RC-Fs at Long Beach, as their GTD category don't compete in the Bubba Burger Sports Car Grand Prix. The AIM Vasser Sullivan team will next be in action over the weekend of 4th and 5th of May; hopefully they won't be running into each other this time... So we flit instead to Japan, and the start of the new SuperGT season. Rather than me waffling on, you can read a preview here and here. The six LC500s will be competing for their last season in GT500, while there is an increased presence in the GT300 category with three RC-Fs. Hopefully, live streaming will be provided again by Nismo on their YouTube channel, now childishly named 'Let's Go Racing'. Interestingly, as the two series closer align, there will be some joint races with the DTM later in the year. Meanwhile, back in Europe Blancpain GT starts with a three hour endurance race at Monza. Sadly, just the one RC-F competing, and one driver will need to double stint. All a bit underwhelming from a Lexus point of view, but seeing the positives it is a monster 49 car grid competing at a magnificent circuit in glorious spring sunshine, for three hours! There is increased TV coverage this year, but it will again be streamed on the Blancpain website (with timing) and on their YouTube channel. Good luck, Lexus!