Greetings, Fellow F-Rodders!

Greetings! I've been a die hard muscle car hot rodder for almost 30 years. I've built several engines, and designed many interface electronic gadgets for anything car related over the years. My main auto sport of participation is drag racing, & also do some SCCA autocrossing and open road racing as well - mainly with my daily driver of the last 16 years - the '92 Z28 Camaro. I have done just about every mod possible to it, and my '84 Berlinetta Camaro - bringing them to normally aspirated power outputs of 550 hp & 400 hp respectively - not including the nitrous installed on each. They run in the 11 & 12 second range in the ¼ mi @ 3100 ft, respectively, on the motors alone.

My wife recently wanted an IS to replace her LS 400, and after picking up a 350 for her & driving it for a few days, I was hooked & had to have an F. Needless to say, the car is totally awesome - it does not have the straight line acceleration that my '92 Z has, but is an all around magnificent piece of auto engineering. I am an electrical engineer, so I can't wait to get this exotic 5.0 L engine into my head & understand its every function & make it go faster. The only things I'd change to date - I've only had it for 3 weeks - are the exhaust system - way too quiet for my taste - perhaps add the functionality of the IS 350 programmable shift indictor - that is, if it turns a better 1/4 mi et by shifting at a lower rpm than 6700 - and I plan to build a circuit that automatically enables "Sport" mode every time the car is started. I'm going to run the car at the track as is, here in Tucson (3100 ft), before I have another exh system made for it, to benchmark its ability as is. I've run the F through the Desktop Drag 2000 simulator tool & get near 13 flat at 3100 ft - we'll see what she does.....

I am also a moderator on the electronics forum for www.thirdgen.org - dedicated to third generation ('82 - '92) F-Bodies (Camaro, Firebird, Trans AM) autos, and am the president of the "R1320 Drag Race Club" where I work, at Raytheon. I'm glad to see that Lexus has finally decided to depart from the typical "couch on wheels" mentality and build something that appeals to the hot rodder market - a market where they have real potential to shine. I look forward to learning more about these awesome rides from all of you F fanatics!

Tim