| 05-29-2008, 07:28 PM | #1 |
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Attended the Lexus Driving Event...my thought on it.
It was a BLAST. And it was free! The event was held at Fontana Raceway here in SoCal. Upon getting there, I noticed there was a lot of variety of cars! I parked next to an E46 M3 lowered on BBS CH's. There were fixed up 5'ers, G35's, and of course many Lexuses.
Upon entering, you had to sign the waiver and such. There were 2 virtual game stations with real working IS-F seats, lol..I thought that was pretty cool. Top notch catering service to provide finger snacks and sandwiches. After everyone in the time slot were all there, all 10 of us, we went to a 30 mins classroom style session on what to do and what not to do when we're driving. After the lecture, the 10 people are split into 2 groups. There happened to be 5 Lexuses per group as well. This is where we auto-x for a while. There were 2 regular IS350s, 1 IS350 with the F accessories, including exhaust, suspension and brakes..I believe the rotors are 14'' up front with 6 piston calipers! The other 2 cars were GS hybrids. We drove each car 4 times. The F sport exhaust on the IS350 simply sounds AMAZING. I was surprised at how loud it is for an OEM piece. The brakes worked extremely well too. I really like how ergonomically placed everything is in the IS. Needless to say the GS's didn't handled too well, lol. After the auto-x, the 2 groups rejoined to the big track where there were 12 IS-F's. 4 cars in each group, 1 professional driver with 3 of us leading behind. After pushing the IS-F hard, I was not that impressed. The power delivery was not instantly, and to me it only felt marginally faster than the IS350. However at the higher RPMs, the engine was ROARING. After that was done, we completed a survey and got the freebie bags with parting gifts. It was truly a fun event, I did not mind the 60 miles drive to get there at all! I wish more automakers would host events like this..for free! I didn't bring my camera, but here's a picture!   |
| 05-29-2008, 09:31 PM | #3 | |
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| 05-30-2008, 12:25 AM | #5 |
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So what did you think of the handling of the IS350 with mods and IS-F? The IS-F is like 300 pounds more than the IS350 with the same tires so it's no wonder that the modded IS350 can possibly outhandle the IS-F.
When I went to the one in Chicago, I was able to easily keep up and could've passed the pro driver in his IS250 but he's got 1/2 the HP I have. When I tried to keep up with the modded IS350 and pro driver, he was long gone after the twisties and I was "off-roading". LOL Fun event nevertheless. I'm thinking of actually taking it tracking now - something I've never really considered before. |
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| 05-30-2008, 12:50 AM | #6 |
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Sounds like fun, and when is Lexus supposed to offer those OEM accessories for the IS?
I wish BMW would do this.  I mean, I guess they sort of do, but they're not the exact parts from the M3. Oh well, H&R, KW, Brembo, Eisenmann here I come.
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| 05-30-2008, 01:15 AM | #7 | |
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| 05-30-2008, 01:23 AM | #8 | |
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The suspension was OK, but I would definitely go with aftermarket coilovers. I would love to own an IS350 with the F sport exhaust and brake kit though. Perhaps next car? |
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| 05-30-2008, 02:05 AM | #9 |
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Sounds a lot like an Audi driving event I did last year. I'm looking forward to drive the IS-F this Saturday.
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| 05-30-2008, 03:05 AM | #10 |
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Where did you get your invitation code?
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| 05-30-2008, 03:46 AM | #11 | |
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The whole purpose of the event is not to only invite a selective few..it's to invite whoever is interested in Lexus and they hope that you would buy one soon after attending the event. |
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| 05-30-2008, 06:26 AM | #12 |
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cool
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| 06-01-2008, 08:33 PM | #13 |
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I just got back from the driving event.. and the exhaust on the pseudo-F sounded great... and loud for an OEM exhaust. My best time on the mini track was 27.5 seconds in the pseudo-F and did 28.6 with the GS... I didn't particularly like the GS.. it was a bit bulky and kind of heavy. I only hit one cone, and that was with the GS.
The IS-F drive was intense.. especially the HOT LAP at the end with the professional driver. I *LOVE* the sound of the exhaust at 3700+rpms, but like he said before, there's no power in between 0-3500rpms.. its slow to pickup... The braking power is good... I asked the professional driver to drift, and he said he couldn't do it with an ISF because of some VDIM or VIDM or some crap. Overall it was fun... |
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| 06-01-2008, 08:56 PM | #14 | |
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He probably couldn't drift because like you said the VDIM was on. You actually have to be fully stopped to turn it off. Once you hold the traction control button for 2 seconds, VDIM turns off and you can be drift happy
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