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Glad it's just not me! I used to think Autocar was bad, but Autoexpress make them look as even-handed as Solomon. But, speaking of Autocar, this is an interesting opinion piece: linky After all these years of castigating cars that don't major on 'on the limit' handling?! I'm surprised it got published, so perhaps the editors at Autocar aren't all bad. Perhaps they realise (but won't admit) that it's fundamentally their fault, a bit like how they routinely recommended diesel variants as the best option even if someone did 3,000 miles a year (which they also didn't admit to). Next they'll be saying a car that is reliable is preferable to one that spends eight weeks a year at the dealers! If this unlikely train of thought catches on, who knows, may be sales of Lexus will pick up?

Ha, yes! I remember my dad timing the moment his Austin 1800 clicked back to 00000 at a suitable location for a good 35mm photo shoot (he did well, to give him his due). Felt quite an occasion. Now I've personally taken four cars past this milestone with hardly a thought. Sign of the time though: my Proceed ticked over 40k this morning, and I'm starting to think I should be considering a change... 🤦‍♂️

I don't know why I keep going back to it, the UK motoring press.Perhaps I'm being paranoid. But I mean, it can't just be me, can it? I mean, are Lexus really so bad that they can lose every single UK comparison test? Or is something else going on? Latest one I've read - rather, skipped to the end in anticipation of it being negative - is this one: BMW 8 Series vs Lexus LC I haven't driven either (obviously), but I mean, really? A diesel over a petrol-hybrid because of better infotainment? Perhaps others can advise... As an aside (pointedly, perhaps), I notice that this story that was posted at 9 Apr, 2019 11:10am, already (as of 9 Apr, 2019 8:02pm) has had its Disqus comments section closed. Cynically, you could say it is to shutdown discussion of a major sponsors product. A bit like it has been on the glowing article on the new Skoda Scala...

Cheers fella, seems like an unlikely prospect while it is serving you so well! I might just keep £1k on one side though, just in case... 😜

Sounds normal, like Mark says. It's not a hill holder like a braked system as such, just a happy feature of TC gearboxes.

Still looking good there, Richard.

You see, all that has has done now is to justify your obsession!

From Provence to Florida! It's the Sebring 12 hours this weekend as the second round of this year's IMSA Weathertech Championship. The race starts tomorrow - from what I can work out - at 1430 UK time, and streaming will be available outside the US and Canada(?) at imsa.tv. Just the second outing for the new AIM Vasser Sullivan outfit with their two RC-Fs #12 and #14. It's a long race of course, so qualifying position not that important, except as a guide for outright speed of course. And the Lexus qualified in p8 and p14 (dead last), so it might be a very long race!

Wow. Pardon us. Thank goodness for DanD's perspective...

Hello friends, Blancpain GT news from the south of France. Sadly, not reporting in person (no time off for me!), but I was keeping an eye on the timing from the two day test at Paul Ricard at work. Just the single RC-F from the Tech1 Racing, driven by Fabien Barthez and Konstantin Tereschenko. Paul Ricard was of course the setting in 2018 for the first Blancpain win for Lexus, so you would hope for a strong showing here but as we know, testing isn't racing and there is a lot of serious competition this year. The new Porsche, the new Aston, the new Bentley, the already well-developed and potent AMG, etc... Anyway, here are the times: 13/03/19 Testing Session 1 (4 hours): 42 laps completed, fastest lap 1m 55.801s in p42 (fastest session lap was a 1m 53.132s) 13/03/19 Testing Session 2 (3 hours): 49 laps completed, fastest lap 1m 54.200s in p23 (fastest session lap was a 1m 52.856s) 14/03/19 Testing Session 3 (4 hours): 59 laps completed, fastest lap 1m 53.687s in p24 (fastest session lap was a 1m 52.801s) 14/03/19 Testing Session 4 (3 hours): 49 laps completed, fastest lap 1m 53.486s in p8 (fastest session lap was a 1m 52.765s) There were - from what I can make out - 46 cars at the test, although not all cars ran in every session. Solid progression by the team, then. Reasons to be cheerful! Oh, I should say there may have been third driver, but I missed that; scusi...

Sequential indicators? Too Audi. And "Too Audi" - since about 1984 - is the complete antithesis for me of anything "classy". [It would be a massive advance if more drivers would use their indicators whatever the flashing sequence (Lexus drivers excluded, obviously). Particularly Audi drivers...]

You might have seen over in the new ES forum, rayaans posted the other day Bob Flavin's review of the ES300h. Well, tomorrow he should be uploading his review of the UX which will be worth a watch on his channel here.

Meanwhile, on Autotrader: Anyone remember the old TV advert "...second class return for Dottingham, please..."?

It's been deathly quiet on the Tech 1 Racing / Panis-Barthez Compétition front since that announcement on 12th Finally more today, and a little underwhelming it is. An article is here in Sportscar365, but the summary is the RC-F will not be competing in the Pro category, and are likely to run a single car, at least for the first few races. Not to knock the new team before they have even started, but to me this seems a big step back for Lexus. It means we won't see the drivers of the calibre of Albert Costa etc. pedalling the Lexus, so a repeat of the glorious win at Paul Ricard last year will be a that much harder to achieve. Nothing at all wrong with the Am category, nothing at all but this will be the only Lexus representation in Blancpain. I could understand it if they were offering customer cars, but so far these are not been offered or aren't been taken up. May be the late switch from Emil Frey (which might have been acrimonious, who knows) meant there just weren't the pro drivers left available. Oh dear. Anyway, PMA. Let's see what happens at the pre-season test.

Amazing isn't it, get away from the UK motoring press, and Lexus get more favourable reviews. Or perhaps I don't mean "more favourable" (Bob has his criticisms), but rather "less dismissive". No, an ES isn't going to compete for the accolade of 'ultimate driving machine" as some self-proclaim, instead it offers something different. Cynically, you could also speculate if Lexus spent as much on magazine and website advertising as the VW group et al, then may be the reviews would be "more favourable" 😜

Distinctly underwhelming review appeared today on Honest John. In a bit of a Groundhog Day moment (see my previous post on this thread), I see they have managed to include the classic motoring media cliche of a CVT possessing a "loud, droning noise when you accelerate", and "too many scratchy plastics". Ho-hum, plus ça change... 🤦‍♂️ And yet another Lexus review on HJ that has the appropriate footer of:

I happened to watch this video a couple of weeks ago:

Phew, that's a relief! A welcome announcement today that GT3 spec RC-Fs will be racing in Europe this year. They will compete in the Blancpain Endurance and Sprint Cups (hopefully two cars) in a new team under the management of Tech 1 Racing and Panis-Barthez Compétition. Both have a proven [a-hem] track record but I can't quite fathom which name they will run under. I recall Monsieur Bartez (yes, that Bartez, he formerly of Manchester United) driving a Ferrari 458 in a GT series a few years ago, so perhaps his name will be the best fit for the Lexus effort as Tech 1 are more associated with single seaters. Panis-Barthez Compétition have also been running in European LeMans. There is pre-season test on March 13 and 14 at Paul Ricard. That's not that far away, so hopefully we'll get drivers names in the next couple of weeks. And you never know, may be we will be surprised by a second customer team. Elsewhere, more RC-F news! Racing Project Bandoh will run a GT3 spec car in SP9 in the 2019 Nürburgring 24 Hours. This makes two Lexus competing, this RC-F alongside the works Gazoo Racing LC500.

I had an email today from Emil Frey Racing, and it appears their involvement with the Lexus GT3 spec RC-F is over. 😢 Seems they are to run Lamborghini Hurican's in Blancpain this year instead. They say: "We were able to support Lexus with the GT3 Project from the testing and developing stages (2015/2016) to the finished, homologated race car (2017/2018). We are proud to have demonstrated the Lexus´ competence in the world´s most competitive GT championship by winning the six-hour-race in Paul Ricard and taking third place overall in the championship" ...which does sound like a sign-off, sadly. Understandably, this announcement came the same day as Toyota Gazoo Racing release their full program for 2019, which is perhaps more varied than you'd imagine. There is a line in the GT3 programme for Europe, but it is 'TBD'. I suppose 'TBD' could mean 'To Be Declared', hinting someone is waiting in the wings for an announcement in the next few days, or equally it could mean 'To Be Decided', which you might interpret as nothing will happen this year... I really hope there is a team ready to race the RC-Fs in Blancpain, GT Open, may be even a national GT3 series. It has its limitations as a platform sure, but it would be such a shame if it never turns a wheel again as it is a proven winning car. But may be the support that other manufacturers offer, for example AMG, Lamborghini and most notably Audi is too much for any prospective team to turn down. The low take up of McLaren, Nissan and Bentley GT3 cars may be a similar situation; either that or the factories want to control their efforts. Wish I knew more! That Toyota Gazoo Racing press release is here if you're interested. There's confirmation on there of the drivers and six teams for the LC500's last season in SuperGT, plus the three RC-Fs in GT300.

If you haven't seen it by now, I guess you aren't going to, but Daytona spoliers alert! The post-race exclusion of the Land Motorsport Audi R8 that finished second on the road at Daytona means the #12 RC-F of the débutante AIM Vasser Sullivan team is promoted one place from what was already an impressive third. Meanwhile, I read an Toyota Gazoo Racing press release this weekend (admittedly that's been out for nearly a month) which confirms that the new Supra will take on SuperGT duties in 2020. So, 2019 will sadly be the last we see of the bonkers LC500 in GT500 guise. Understandable why Toyota are doing it; it's pretty much a 'silhouette' series so the bodywork on top is interchangeable, and the Supra will need a motor racing presence rather more than the LC. Which begs the question, what is the long term racing plan for Toyota and by extension, Lexus? The RC-F is likely to be racing in IMSA until 2022, and hopefully in GT3 in Europe for a similar time. Disappointingly, there doesn't seem to have been any take-up by other teams, or may be Lexus just aren't making them available; perhaps they just aren't interested in flooding the customer market like Audi do with the R8. But by 2022, you'd imagine the RC-F will be out of production, or at least withdrawn from some markets. Is there a model in the pipeline to replace it in the Lexus range? Will the petrol GT car be as dead as a Dodo by then? May be the opportunity will be in the speculated replacement for the LMP1 category. The vaunted 'Hypercar' regulations are about as settled (and popular!) as a Brexit deal, but it could be a route for Toyota, and may be a good fit for the Lexus brand if the Supra is to be the chosen new GT3 model. I imagine it also depends how well the corporate investment in WRC goes the next few years. Ultimately though, I guess it will turn on customer focus groups and how effective the investment in motorsport is considered. I can't help feeling as we move towards an electric, semi-autonomous, wheeled mobile phone, car-leased-by-the-hour world, that motorsport will become even more of a minority sport than it is already. Which makes me a little sad.

Good luck to you! Hopefully the higher temperatures tonight and the promised rain will help. To be fair I think all the main roads were running again by midday Saturday, But this afternoon our little cul-de-sac was full of people digging out their cars ready for tomorrow morning...

With 11 inches of snow lying outside my house in sunny Hampshire, it was interesting to come across this article about a load of IS300s ice racing in Ontario (he official website is here). Looks like terrific fun! 😁 Five winters I had my IS300, switching to its winter tyres religiously every October, and it never once saw snow of any consequence. Typical.

Did a bit of digging about on my PC and found a text file with this snippet in it: How to tell if my IS300 has LSD? Look at the sticker on your driver door sill/jamb, look for the area that reads "A/TM" You'll see numbers such as B02A, B02B, B02C A = no LSD B,C = LSD No idea where this came from, almost certainly from some very wise owl on this site!

I seem to recall you can tell from the VIN number can't you?