The french website Endurance Info has some very nice exclusive photos of the Lexus LF-A racing prototype, including the one above this shot of the interior and engine:

Judging by the news date (May 21st) and the lack of emblems, it looks like this site might have had the first public engine shots.

The Lexus LF-A racing prototype finished the Nürburgring 24H race in 121st place, mostly due to some extended pitstops. Over the 24 hours, the LF-A managed 100 laps, 48 back of the winning Porsche 911 GT3 RSR.

Motor Trend has a nice recap of the race, including this bit on the Lexus prototype:

Did you get anyone to talk to you about the Lexus?” That was the question of the weekend as the primer-black V-10-powered Lexus LF-A made its way up and down the leader board at the 24 Hours of Nurburgring. It’s obvious that Toyota has used this race as a hide-in-plain-sight endurance test for its 2011 model year Lexus sports car.

When I approached a driver, as his co-driver took the cool-down lap, he tried to pass me on to a translator. No good. All I could do is get him to say it’s a V-10. It finished 134th, completing 100 laps, or 1,750 miles.

(Not really sure about the place discrepancy, I found my number on the race website.)

Update: Here’s a video of one of the LF-A’s pitstops:

The Nürburgring 24hour race is happening this weekend, which the Lexus LF-A is pretend-competing in, using the race environment to see how the supercar holds up over an intensive run.

Well, as it turns out, it’s probably best Lexus didn’t throw its hat fully into the ring, because one hour after the race started, the LF-A pulled into the pits with a transmission problem. This was eventually resolved, and the racing prototype is back on the track, though it’s no longer truly in the race.

Most importantly, Automobile Magazine managed to snap a photo of the LF-A’s engine while it was in the pits (click the image for a larger version):

(More updates as they become available, and if you’d like to follow along, the race can be watched live right on the official site.)

[Source: Automobile Magazine]

There’s been plenty of photos of the Lexus IS 250/LF-A duo currently racing in the ADAC Rundstrecken Trophy Endurance series, but I just wanted to feature these two images from Flickr user nordschleifenfan, a photographer seemingly stationed at Nürburgring:

nordschleifenfan has put together quite a collection of Nürburgring racing images, be sure to check them out to see the photos straight from the source.

The just-revealed IS 250 race car wasn’t the only Lexus to be part of the festivities this weekend, as the LF-A racing prototype also made its debut in the ADAC Rundstrecken Trophy Endurance series. Edmunds reports:

The race was run on the Nürburgring Nordschleife, combined with a sprint portion of the famous Grand Prix circuit.

During the four-hour race, the LF-A covered 23 15.13-mile laps, grabbing 77th place. Its fastest lap was 9:06. While that lap time may sound slow compared to the Nissan GT-R’s best ‘Ring time of 7:29, the GT-R was clocked on just the 12.9-mile Nordschleife without the additional sprint section. The LF-A drove in group SP8.

Saturday’s race was one of seven four-hour races this year, with a six-hour race and a 24-hour race rounding out the series. The LF-A is expected to continue competitive runs in this series, including the 24-hour race at the end of this month, as part of the LF-A’s development process.

Lucky for us, someone posted up a lengthy video clip showing the LF-A in action, though most of the footage is dedicated to the slowest pit-stop ever:

I wonder what the deal is with that askew decal on the hood, did someone just not want to take the time to do it right?

The mystery Lexus IS making the rounds round Nürburgring last week turned out to be the most obvious: it was a race car, and it appeared in the ADAC Rundstrecken Trophy Endurance race in Germany this weekend:

The TME/Team Gazoo IS competed in the first of seven four-hour endurance races. One six-hour and a 24-hour race complete the nine-race series. The newly identified IS race car is registered as a Lexus IS 250 in group SP5. Group SP5 consists of cars between 2.0- and 2.5-liters, with a minimum weight of 2,270 pounds. The race-prepped IS logged a fastest lap of just under 10:58, and an overall finish of 95th place with 21 laps covered over the 4 hours.

The much-mentioned engine bulge was nothing but a camouflage trick, which admittedly worked very well. Too bad the subterfuge didn’t translate into a better finish.

[Source: Jalopnik] (Thanks Jarrett!)