For the tuner crowd, the Specialty Equipment Market Association Show (SEMA) was like a Las Vegas VIP room. They knew Lexus had it going on inside, but they couldn’t get in! That’s because SEMA is industry-only, but the word is the Lexus SEMA project cars were hot and sweet.
This was Lexus second year at the show. With the Lexus exhibit tent located within steps of the Motor Trend Proving Ground, a 416-hp IS F and an F-Sport equipped IS 350 were giving test drives.
The real eye-candy was inside, under the Lexus big top.
The Lexus Project GS was a head-turner. Crafted by the tuners at Five Axis, it rides low on 20-inch alloys and wears a very trick wide body kit, a custom dual exhaust, sport shocks, performance-lowering springs and even bigger brakes than the stock GS. It had a six-piston, two-piece setup on the front wheels and a four-piston design in back. Not content with the GS, Five Axis also supplied the Lexus Project IS F. This was last year’s car, only new and improved and called the Phase 2. Five Axis bored and stroked the motor taking the direct-injection engine to a whopping 5.8 liters. Titanium intake and stainless steel exhaust valves took over breathing duties. The suspension was tweaked with an adjustable coil-over configuration. Five Axis slammed the bling department with satin-bronze 20-inch custom wheels.
Fox Marketing and Artisan’s 600 horsepower Lexus IS F packed twin turbos and even more boost from a nifty compressed oxygen system. To deal with all that huff and puff, the IS F received a completely new bottom end with JE pistons and Crower rods. The stock IS F wore a subtle body kit, slick-looking iForged FS Imola 20-inch wheels, Toyo T1R performance tires and a bodacious Sunset Orange Pearl paint scheme.
Three other IS F customs strutted their stuff with impressive tuner tweaks. The Import Tuner Magazine/TEIN project had a lot of exciting stuff under the blue paint job - great suspension, brakes, exhaust, seats and 19-inch wheels.
MotorworldHype.com brought a hopped up and buttoned down IS F in Starfire White equipped with a sleek aero package, high-performance Brembo brakes, a TEIN suspension system and 19-inch wheels.
Lexus was showing off a bright orange F-Sport IS 350 with nicely turned out with ground effects, 19-inch wheels and suspension and brake upgrades. The Lexus F-Sport catalog was depleted by a performance air intake, carbon-fiber engine cover, exhaust, shocks and a chassis brace to name but a few enhancements.
Of course, the SEMA trade show crowd went crazy over the performance fashion show at the Lexus stand, but what’s luxury carmaker Lexus doing courting the tuners? The answer is Lexus is looking for street credentials and finding them with upscale-oriented tuners discontented with tweaking economy cars. Nothing hypes a Lexus IS F like four tuner project cars at SEMA.
