" It's a plainly simple car to drive fast, where as the Z06 is much harder to control as it can easily have too much wheelspin & slow the launch."
EXACTLY, that's the point!! I'm not going around a track or even the 1/4 mile, I said we raced(on the street) and yes I got a better jump on him and was able to keep my lead.Now IF we did race on a 1/4 mile for sure the vette would win!!, but this was my friend and I on a street.I also used 99 octane which helps the car run a little better.I'M STATING FACTS NOT PHYSICS!!
So now some more data to the story comes out... you never said you got a jump on him the 1st time. At least that makes more sense, but if he knew how to drive & launched anytime close to your launch he should have caught up & passed you if you ran it for more than a block. He probably saw you get a jump on him & over reacted, got too much tire spin, then when he finally hooked it took him longer to catch up. And the laws of physics are what governs how any car goes, so you can't really have one without the other. But that's also why I don't place much credit in street blasts, as it's tough to know how it really goes down. Many times it does turn into the luck of the draw & who goes first. Somewhere near me there's probably some punk kid in a Corolla that thinks he's as fast as my Z06, since he was trying to pass me and I just gave it just enough gas so he couldn't, but not enough to pull ahead of him. Other times I just hit the gas for about 3-5 seconds and I'm so far into the "arrest me now" zone that I lift & brake... then the other guy goes flying by a few seconds later. Does that mean he's faster too? Cause he can pass me after I'm slowing down after I put 5-10 car lengths on him?
I am anxiously awaiting the TRD supercharger. Once installed, my F with 625 +/- hp and with the right tires should give any Corvette (including the ZR-1) a run for their money.
I'm sure that will be one h**l of a kit! On the street that should give anything a run for the money. But on the track or any kind of sustained use, where you open it up for a little while I don't think it will be as fast as you think, or as fast as the ZR1. Remember that thing is conservatively rated at 638HP and 604LB/FT of torque and is approx 600+lbs lighter than your IS-F will be with a s/c. Physics still applies here too, and A=F/M, so his greater force & less mass wins. It also has larger tires for better traction. The only real chance you'll have is to catch him in the wrong gear since the IS-F auto will downshift reasonably quickly.
Also, even if the TRD kit makes 625HP (which would take around 8-10lbs of boost), how long do you think the cast pistons of an 11.8:1 engine like the 2UR-GSE in the IS-F will handle that? Everything I've seen says the pistons are cast, so you really can't push it too much with boost. That kind of peak power will have to be short lived. They will have to pull it back to keep the engine & the rest of the drivetrain alive. But I'm sure it will make for fun street blasts!
Don't think I'm slamming the IS-F... heck, we just added one to our small fleet of cars, I just want to keep it real with the claims. The IS-F is a very fast & cool ride just as it rolls off the showroom floor. The simple fact that it's a toss up as to whether an M3 or IS-F will win at most any given track event is a great compliment to Lexus, especially for a first effort. There's no need to do more brow beating to hype how fast it is. Someone else will always build a faster, cooler car next week, so just enjoy the ride!