Oz gives rise to world’s first chrome Lexus LFA

AS IF the $700,000 V10-powered Lexus LFA hypercar wasn’t exclusive and individual enough with just 10 of the 500 produced making their way to Australia, one anonymous owner from Queensland has had theirs chromed.

The world’s first – and possibly last – mirror-finish LFA went on show at the Meguiar’s MotorEx auto enthusiast show in Sydney at the weekend, among hundreds of other modified and collectible vehicles.

Vehicle wrapping specialist Exotic Graphix based near Frankston in Victoria coated the Queensland-registered LFA in chrome vinyl film – a process costing around $10,000 – before its trip up to New South Wales for the show.

On the show stand the LFA’s eye-catching finish was offset by a white-on-black numberplate with risqué private registration.

The wrap was applied to each of the LFA’s lightweight carbon-fibre body panels, the exotic race-bred material accounting for 75 per cent of the body structure and the remainder being aluminium.

Although the chrome surfaces deflect light, the LFA’s aerodynamics are unlikely to be affected by the treatment, meaning the 4.8-litre engine’s 412kW peak power and 480Nm of torque will deliver the same 3.7-second 0-100km/h time and 325km/h top speed.

The weight increase is unknown, but expected to be negligible against the beastly powerplant, which revs to a sky-high 9000rpm.

None of the 10 Australian-delivered LFAs are the lighter, hotted-up Nurburgring Edition, which account for 50 of the 500 produced.

The ’Ring-rampaging special set a record production car lap time of 7:14:64 at the famed 20.8km, 154-turn Nordschleife circuit in Germany, beating the previous title holder, the Porsche 911 GT2 RS, by more than three seconds.