Lexus LFA Nurburgring: Spotted

When half a million pounds can look good value; a very rare LFA surfaces in the classifieds

Time is money, so they say. In the case of the Lexus LFA Nurburgring Package, you can work out the value of time. It's about £2,700 a second.

What a masterpiece

The first record broken (and still held) by the LFA Nurburgring Package was that of 'most expensive Japanese car ever put on sale'. We can't be too exact about the price, sadly, because at the time of writing even Toyota couldn't confirm it. Contemporary press releases were coy. Car magazine said £411,700; Autocar reckoned £403K, and we're going with that figure, making the NP £63,600 more than the standard machine.

For that you got track-optimising aerodynamics in the shape of a larger front spoiler, fin-type side spoilers, a canard fin, fixed rear wing, bespoke mesh-type wheels and dedicated high-grip tyres. Revised suspension settings brought a 10mm reduction in ride height and transmission shift times were cut to 0.15 sec. Because additional downforce reduces a car's out-and-out performance stats, the Nurburgring LFA got a 10hp top-up to 570hp to make sure that the headline 0-62mph acceleration time of 3.7 seconds and general performance levels were maintained.

It worked. In August 2011, an NP driven by Akira Iida brought the LFA's 'Ring time down to a new production car record of 7min 14.6sec, then the fastest lap time for a current, regular production car around the Nordschleife circuit and knocking more than 23 seconds off Horst von Sauma's 7min 38sec in the stock car.

Best like Alcantara

If £63,600 still seems a big hike, remember that it also brought major exclusivity, a key element in assessing the investability of any limited numbers car. Some more figures now.

The production run of the hand-assembled, carbon fibre-tubbed Lexus LFA lasted two years and was set at a strict worldwide limit of 500 cars, with 50 to be set aside for the Nurburgring Package treatment. Focusing on Europe alone, 40 regular LFAs were sold here; Germany being the largest market with 15 units, followed by Switzerland (six), the UK (five), the Netherlands (four) and France (three). A pair of European owners liked their LFAs so much, they bought two. One bought three.

Of those 40 European LFAs, only four were to Nurburgring Package spec. Buyers received one-to-one driving tuition from a Nurburgring chief instructor, plus a year's Nordschleife pass.

Now for some possibly upsetting context. Ferrari built 39 250 GTOs, and £20 million won't secure one of those nowadays. You might baulk at the idea of a Japanese car being in the same paragraph as the GTO, but the concept is the same: a gentleman's racer that you can drive to and from the track, with the strong likelihood of a win in between.

Spoiler alert

The standard LFA is an awesome drive. The Nurburgring Package ramped that V10 experience up to another level. Autocar described it as "artillery shell quick in a straight line", noting that it made Desert-Island-Disc-grade noise at 9,000rpm and stopped so fast it hurt. They also found that the NP mods made the LFA easier to drive around the 'ring, which was a gratifying result for Lexus.

It's difficult to have any real idea about future LFA values: so few cars come up for sale as owners are generally too busy having fun with them. But taking everything into account, it's hard to ignore the Lexus LFA Nurburgring Package as a potential super classic of the future. Maybe it won't ever reach Ferrari values, but something rather more than a 10 per cent return on your investment isn't an unreasonable expectation.

So this one at Joe Macari's should be pricking up the ears of moneyed investors. If there was ever a time when £440,000 could be described as a bargain price for a car, this might be it.

LEXUS LFA NURBURGRING
Engine: 4,805cc V10
Transmission: 6-speed automated manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 570@8,700rpm
Torque (lb ft): 353@7,000rpm
MPG: N/A
CO2: Many. Worth it
First registered: 2012
Recorded mileage: 6,300
Price new: £411,752
Yours for: £440,000