There I was, kicking myself for getting all excited over the automotive anti-climax that was the Team Gazoo IS250. Then I remembered a post I saw on Ben Schaffer’s blog and I realised that all along there was already a PROPER Lexus racing sedan doing the rounds in Super GT and boy, does it look mental.

If the two cars were human, the Team Gazoo car would be the kind of guy you could trust to clean the pool while the wife was home. The Team Takeuchi IS350, on the other hand, looks like something that wouldn’t think twice about kicking your head in and stealing your phone. The wild (and wide) body of Team Takeuchi’s GT300 entrant is like something from Germany’s DTM touring car series and it looks a hell of a lot more purposeful than the IS-F Racing Concept Lexus showed off earlier this year. As for the Team Gazoo IS250, it ain’t got a patch on the sheer bad-assedness of this machine.

Here’s some stats on it:

The engine is a Formula-Nippon derived RV8J 3-litre V8, which produces 300 metric horsepower (as per Super GT regulations, GT300 cars may produce a maximum of 300PS. GT500 cars - as you’d guess - are permitted 500PS). The motor pushes all 300Nm of its torque through a a 6-speed sequential manual and just like the road-going car, only the rear wheels are driven. The whole lot weighs just 1200kg, a saving of 370kg over the regular IS.

The Team Takeuchi Green Tec Kumho IS350 has yet to score any points in this season of Super GT, but honestly I couldn’t care less. I just wanna look at it. In fact, I’m disappointed there’s no coverage of Super GT on Australian TV, as the GT300 category is quite diverse, with everything from Ferraris to Toyotas competing. The closely-monitored parity system also ensures the races are fairly close too, which makes it far more interesting to watch than some of the more predictable racing series, like Formula One. Sigh.

[Source: SuperGT.net]
[Images courtesy of The Real JDM, JDMego and SuperGT.net]