In a time in which Lexus has surprised, all and sundry, with a new sports high-flying, the Lexus LC 500, it is not bad to remember the last great sports brand, the Lexus LFA. Well it is true that the latter cannot be considered as the predecessor of the coupé introduced a few days ago in Detroit. But you will be with me in that both will share a very important aspect, that of having marked an era for the japanese brand. And that is why we believe that it is a good time to remember one of the big keys to the Lexus LFA, which is not its amazing V10 engine with a sound that enrojecería to the Formula 1 modern, nor the fact that it was one of the sports most exclusive of the last decade, and the double of expensive than a Ferrari. One of the most interesting aspects of the Lexus LFA was at its construction in carbon fiber, and this huge loom, which for a long time, Lexus did not want, that you knew, was the great responsible of this.
Initially, Lexus had planned to their brand new supercar with an aluminum chassis. But then he noticed the need to save even more weight. It was then when decided to conceive their structural components on the basis of a combination of carbon fiber (which represents 65% of all of them) and aluminum, to save weight and gain in structural rigidity. According to Haruhiko Tanahashi, the chief of development of the project LFA, that decision meant a saving of 100 kilograms, with respect to the design of aluminum initially proposed.
To construct many of the pieces that later would compose the chassis, and a good part of the structure of the car, different body panels, interior coverings, and even your key, they would resort to a huge machine, something like a loom of the century, for work pieces of high technology, using threads of carbon fiber.
As I said, there was a time that Lexus hid this machine with zeal in their facilities, to prevent that knowledge becomes your competition. Years ago, Jalopnik remembered as Lexus had politely asked to remove a video showing its operation. Today, those videos showing us the work of this loom are used for advertising purposes, which do not have any problem in showing the world the technique employed to build the parts from carbon fibre for the Lexus LFA.
Source: Lexus
In motor: