Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Tanahashi Talks LFA

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Welcome to my first post. Over the coming few months, I plan to share my engineering and life philosophy. Hopefully, it will give you valuable, entertaining and thought-provoking insight into the development process of the Lexus LFA, and my approach.

Yes, the LFA. I’m honored and privileged to say that I am the chief engineer of this car. In fact, of the 34 years I’ve been at this company-can it really be that long?-one-third of that time was dedicated to the LFA. I admit, this sounds excessive, and I know that some of my

friends in the media thought the car’s gestation was never going to end, but in Japan our engineering focus is absolute. Yes, it took 10 years to create the LFA but, besides boasting world-beating performance, it is a car with distinct character. We built our own looms at the LFA Works to produce the carbon fiber-reinforced plastic that is used for the LFA’s body, and the pistons are made of forged aluminium and move at 25m per second. Believe me, this is unique, even in the supercar world.

The LFA's complex, compact V10 engine can rev from idle to redline in 0.6 seconds.

In fact, this is what I’d like to elaborate on in this first post. One of the guiding principles during the car’s development was the importance of being able to 'have a conversation' with the LFA. This isn’t as strange as it sounds. All great high performance cars are about driver interaction and the way the emotions are stirred up by the driving and ownership experience. These are dynamic, kinetic creations, not domestic appliances! The LFA isn’t just a machine; it has a personality.

So the driver feels a profound sense of integration, and the conversation you have with the vehicle is a rich one. Driving isn't just about reaching your destination; it is about becoming one with the car. In the LFA, this sense of togetherness is achieved via all five of one's senses. I recall how Lexus described the essence of an exotic sports car and I think we got it right. It's about creating a mixture of outright driving performance and sensuality-creating, say, the ability to corner at great speed and with total precision while immersing the driver in the pleasures of sound and feelings of security. It's an exhilarating kind of unity.

Most importantly, the LFA is also a car you really have to drive. It is highly developed, of course, but it's not a car to drive absent-mindedly. For example, we haven't even included features like automatic lights or wipers-they add nothing to the LFA experience. When you press the 'engine start' button, the experience is unparalleled. This is a car that comes alive. In fact, I describe the

LFA's engine sound as being like the "roar of an angel." I was told that the poet Alfred Tennyson coined this phrase, which disappointed me when I found out. But it still captures the car's spirit. (By: Tanahashi)

Courtesy of Lexus Magazine

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