WEBVTT - Shimoyama 0:00:15.316 --> 0:00:25.476 Pushkin. If I were to give you a blindfold and 0:00:25.596 --> 0:00:30.836 I line up, UH, the LC and three of your 0:00:30.876 --> 0:00:37.756 competitors Mercedes s l Uh. I don't know what the AUDI? 0:00:37.836 --> 0:00:39.956 A eight? Who you know? You name them? What they 0:00:40.036 --> 0:00:43.156 whatever they may be? UM, could you and I sit 0:00:43.276 --> 0:00:46.796 you inside the car? Can you tell? Can you tell 0:00:46.836 --> 0:00:48.956 them apart? Do you know which one is the LC? 0:00:49.116 --> 0:00:51.756 If you? If you have your h if you if 0:00:51.796 --> 0:00:57.476 I give you a blindfold, yes, I'm confident I will 0:00:57.516 --> 0:01:02.556 know LC right away from Lexus and Pushkin Industries. This 0:01:02.676 --> 0:01:15.596 is go and see. I'm Malcolm Glabba. In the last 0:01:15.596 --> 0:01:19.236 two episodes, we investigated the sound of the Lexus LC 0:01:19.476 --> 0:01:23.196 sports car. In this episode, we're heading to the track 0:01:26.796 --> 0:01:31.596 and in preparation we got a briefing from Yessushi Muto Mutusan, 0:01:32.076 --> 0:01:35.996 the chief engineer of the LC, in his fifties, salt 0:01:35.996 --> 0:01:38.516 and pepper hair, a little bit of an athlete's swagger. 0:01:39.156 --> 0:01:41.036 It was the day before we went to the track. 0:01:41.596 --> 0:01:44.556 We were at the main Lexus building in a conference room. 0:01:44.716 --> 0:01:53.516 Mutusan came early. The Lexus people were always early, remember 0:01:53.556 --> 0:01:58.116 O Mutanashi, mindful hospitality. These are not people who would 0:01:58.196 --> 0:02:02.516 dream of inconveniencing their guests. Mutosan spent years working on 0:02:02.596 --> 0:02:06.636 the LC, obsessing over every detail. So I asked him 0:02:06.716 --> 0:02:08.716 if he would know whether or not he were sitting 0:02:08.716 --> 0:02:12.876 at an I'll see if he were blindfolded. He said absolutely, 0:02:13.196 --> 0:02:16.476 and of course he would. Mutosan knows how the car 0:02:16.516 --> 0:02:22.716 sounds and moves and feels, but that wasn't his point too. Yeah, 0:02:22.756 --> 0:02:24.836 it's explained to me the meaning of the of the 0:02:24.916 --> 0:02:28.956 drawing on the whiteboard. Halfway through our briefing, Mutosan stood 0:02:28.996 --> 0:02:31.756 up and drew a simple stick figure of a seated 0:02:31.836 --> 0:02:36.596 driver on the whiteboard, both legs extended. He wanted to 0:02:36.636 --> 0:02:40.596 demonstrate how designing a car at a place like Lexus works. 0:02:41.596 --> 0:02:44.436 You don't design the car then fit the driver in it. 0:02:44.956 --> 0:02:48.716 You do the opposite. You start with the driver yea 0:02:49.036 --> 0:02:52.996 from the side. So when we decide on the package, 0:02:53.316 --> 0:03:00.236 we first decide on a driver's position. It's a heel 0:03:00.316 --> 0:03:06.036 point of the axel point to your hip point. Heel point, 0:03:06.396 --> 0:03:08.956 Mutosan drew a line between the hip point of the 0:03:08.956 --> 0:03:11.876 stick figure driver and the floor of the car. The 0:03:11.956 --> 0:03:16.196 heel point meaning the position of the foot on the pedal. 0:03:19.156 --> 0:03:23.036 In every car that distance is different. In a big 0:03:23.076 --> 0:03:26.516 sedan like the Lexus LS, it's two hundred and forty 0:03:26.516 --> 0:03:30.196 five millimeters from the driver's hip to the car's floorboards. 0:03:30.836 --> 0:03:34.756 In an LC, it's two hundred so two inches lower, 0:03:35.036 --> 0:03:38.636 which changes the angle of your hips, a subtle difference, 0:03:38.716 --> 0:03:41.796 which in turn changes the entire geometry of the car 0:03:42.196 --> 0:03:46.196 and the driver's position. And from there we went deep, 0:03:46.516 --> 0:03:49.716 deep into the weeds, until I felt like I too 0:03:49.796 --> 0:03:53.636 could climb blindfolded into an LC and know exactly where 0:03:53.636 --> 0:03:58.196 I was. You may remember from two episodes ago that 0:03:58.276 --> 0:04:01.156 the origin of the LC came when the head of Toyota, 0:04:01.396 --> 0:04:05.196 Akio Toyota, went to a product launch at the legendary 0:04:05.236 --> 0:04:09.436 Concourse to Elegance in Pebble Beach, California, and an auto 0:04:09.476 --> 0:04:13.716 writer told him in front of everyone that Lexus was fine, 0:04:14.276 --> 0:04:19.916 but boring ta and never boried, never boried. At least 0:04:19.956 --> 0:04:24.196 one well respected journalists you know was was doing an 0:04:24.196 --> 0:04:27.476 interview with doctor sonn mentioned his feeling that the Lexus 0:04:27.516 --> 0:04:30.356 brand was boring, and that was both a surprise and 0:04:30.396 --> 0:04:34.396 a shock Tokyo son And so when he came back, 0:04:35.156 --> 0:04:37.156 he said to all of these guys here, you don't 0:04:37.156 --> 0:04:39.076 never want to hear that maybe he has a very 0:04:39.516 --> 0:04:42.836 Step one in the anti boring campaign was making a 0:04:42.876 --> 0:04:47.796 sports car that sounds exciting. This episode is about step two, 0:04:48.756 --> 0:04:52.276 a sports car that feels exciting to drive, which is 0:04:52.276 --> 0:05:04.916 a far more involved process than you might think. Lexus 0:05:05.236 --> 0:05:08.796 has six test tracks, most of them in Japan. There's 0:05:08.836 --> 0:05:12.076 one at the main facility in Toyota City, another in 0:05:12.116 --> 0:05:16.156 the Gulf of Nagoya, one in Higashifuji, one way up 0:05:16.196 --> 0:05:20.036 north near Sapporo where they do winter testing. There's one 0:05:20.076 --> 0:05:24.396 more in Whitman, Arizona, outside Phoenix, a massive track that 0:05:24.556 --> 0:05:29.076 Lexus shares with Toyota that's ten miles around, the biggest 0:05:29.116 --> 0:05:31.356 test track in the world. You can land a jumbo 0:05:31.436 --> 0:05:33.836 jet in the middle of it, and every morning the 0:05:33.956 --> 0:05:37.076 sweepers have to go out and get the rattlesnakes off 0:05:37.076 --> 0:05:39.996 the tarmac where they gathered for warmth during the night. 0:05:40.436 --> 0:05:44.876 But the crown jewel of Lexus test tracks Ishimoyama, about 0:05:44.876 --> 0:05:48.196 half an hour up into the hills outside of Toyota City, 0:05:48.636 --> 0:05:54.636 brand new, sixteen hundred acres across two mountaintops. Eventually there 0:05:54.636 --> 0:05:58.116 will be ten thousand people working there. The whole thing 0:05:58.156 --> 0:06:01.156 is so hidden away you'd never find it without directions. 0:06:01.356 --> 0:06:04.076 It's not on Google Maps. You can't get in unless 0:06:04.076 --> 0:06:06.596 you work for Lexus, and you can't drive on the 0:06:06.596 --> 0:06:12.476 track unless you're certified Lexus driver. Lexus let Us in 0:06:15.676 --> 0:06:18.956 Shimu Yama is inspired by the most famous racing course 0:06:18.996 --> 0:06:23.356 in the world, the Nordschleifa at the Nurburgring in Germany's Rhineland. 0:06:23.756 --> 0:06:26.916 The Nurburgring is not a flat oval like the Indie 0:06:26.956 --> 0:06:31.316 five hundred. It's a road course twelve point nine miles 0:06:31.316 --> 0:06:35.036 of twists and turns, a thousand feet of elevation, changes, 0:06:35.356 --> 0:06:40.076 dense forest, medieval villages, the Eiffel Mountains. Current lap record 0:06:40.316 --> 0:06:44.236 is held by a Lamborghini Aventador. Second place is a 0:06:44.276 --> 0:06:47.396 portion of nine eleven g T two rs. Race and 0:06:47.516 --> 0:06:52.876 sports cars are perfected here. Every curve is numbered and mythologized. 0:06:53.156 --> 0:06:59.516 The Nurburgring Nordschleifa is petrol Head Nirvana, former course record holder. 0:06:59.556 --> 0:07:05.436 By the way, the Lexus LFA Bananas Limited Editions supercar 0:07:05.556 --> 0:07:10.196 that Lexus made back in twenty eleven. So Shimo Yama 0:07:10.476 --> 0:07:15.236 is Lexus's answer to the Nordschleifa, a European style road 0:07:15.276 --> 0:07:19.756 course in the hills of southern Japan. It's insanely beautiful. 0:07:20.316 --> 0:07:23.356 The road cuts through the side of the mountains, surrounded 0:07:23.356 --> 0:07:27.196 by tall Japanese pines. When we first got there, we 0:07:27.276 --> 0:07:29.876 stood out on the observation deck of the visitors center 0:07:30.156 --> 0:07:34.956 and all you can hear our birds chirping, and insects buzzing, 0:07:35.436 --> 0:07:51.116 and a blue sky above. Until Sweet Jesus is every 0:07:51.196 --> 0:07:54.396 curve a replica of a curve. Our pre track briefing 0:07:54.556 --> 0:07:58.196 came from our guide, Paul Williamson. They're not direct replicas, 0:07:58.236 --> 0:08:00.076 but they kind of said, hey, you know, I really 0:08:00.116 --> 0:08:02.436 like to turn seventeen A, and then they go out 0:08:02.476 --> 0:08:04.396 and measure it and figure out what the grade change 0:08:04.396 --> 0:08:06.756 and how the road is cambered, and they say, okay, yeah, 0:08:06.796 --> 0:08:09.276 we can do something like seventeen A and so so 0:08:09.396 --> 0:08:11.836 basically they took kind of thirty eight of their favorite 0:08:11.916 --> 0:08:15.276 spots of the Nervagring and built them in here along 0:08:15.316 --> 0:08:19.716 with all these other European type road surfaces. And you 0:08:19.836 --> 0:08:21.756 saw some of those undulations as we're driving in. I 0:08:21.796 --> 0:08:23.556 pointed that out, so you can see some some big 0:08:23.596 --> 0:08:27.196 areas where you know, if one more careless with speed, 0:08:27.236 --> 0:08:31.316 you can get everyonere and careless with speed. Classic euphemism. 0:08:31.356 --> 0:08:34.276 It's what you say when the highway patrol officer pulls 0:08:34.316 --> 0:08:38.476 you over. Officer, I got careless with speed. So we've 0:08:38.516 --> 0:08:42.676 got some fifteen degree ascents, twelve degree descents, pretty steep areas. 0:08:42.676 --> 0:08:46.036 Some of the track is perfectly smooth asphalt. And by 0:08:46.036 --> 0:08:49.196 the way, I'm not sure why, but Japanese asphalt doesn't 0:08:49.356 --> 0:08:52.396 look like American asphalt. It looks like a putting green, 0:08:52.756 --> 0:08:55.316 if that makes any sense. So this country road course 0:08:55.356 --> 0:08:59.596 that you'll experience today simulates many different kinds of European roads. 0:08:59.876 --> 0:09:04.596 It has seven unique road surfaces. So some is perfect smooth, 0:09:04.916 --> 0:09:09.476 gorgeous Japanese asphalt or probably closer to Germany fault like 0:09:09.516 --> 0:09:12.156 an autumn but others, and we'll ask Osakisan to do 0:09:12.196 --> 0:09:14.196 some lamps for you where it uses the off lane, 0:09:14.436 --> 0:09:17.236 and then the off lane will have little ripple surfaces. 0:09:17.236 --> 0:09:21.596 It'll have kind of a bolden block. Osakisan, he's Alexis 0:09:21.636 --> 0:09:24.036 master driver who agreed to take us out on the course. 0:09:26.876 --> 0:09:30.916 He's driving Alexis LC five hundred and in fact, as 0:09:30.916 --> 0:09:34.596 you're being briefed by Paul I see Osakisan down below. 0:09:34.636 --> 0:09:37.436 In the off ramp area, taking three helmets out of 0:09:37.436 --> 0:09:43.916 the back of a gleaming white LC. I asked Paul 0:09:44.076 --> 0:09:47.116 if Osakisan and his fellow drivers keep a record of 0:09:47.196 --> 0:09:49.916 the fastest times around the course, like they do at 0:09:49.956 --> 0:09:55.196 the Nrburgring. He said no, not officially, because of course 0:09:55.236 --> 0:09:58.636 you know they do, like a secret list stashed away somewhere. 0:09:59.516 --> 0:10:03.396 We go downstairs to meet Osakisan. He's slender, light on 0:10:03.436 --> 0:10:06.916 his feet, like an athlete. He's a surfer late forties, 0:10:06.916 --> 0:10:10.356 early fifties, although he seemed younger. He's what a Lexus 0:10:10.516 --> 0:10:13.796 is called takumi, a master, only one of two Takumi 0:10:13.836 --> 0:10:18.516 masters of driving. Feel in the entire Alexis company? You 0:10:18.636 --> 0:10:26.236 joined Lexus or Toyota? Yes? What did you think? You? 0:10:28.436 --> 0:10:31.156 What did you go into? Nineteen eighty five? So how 0:10:31.156 --> 0:10:33.716 long does it take to be certified as a Takumi driver? 0:10:33.796 --> 0:10:37.236 How many years needs you going? In June? Approximately about 0:10:37.236 --> 0:10:41.116 twenty five to thirty years. Oh wow. Kasaki San's job 0:10:41.196 --> 0:10:44.916 is to drive prototypes as they're being developed and provide feedback. 0:10:45.276 --> 0:10:49.036 He's a frequent visitor to the Nrburgring, typically drives two 0:10:49.116 --> 0:10:51.516 hundred laps at a visit. Did I did I read 0:10:51.556 --> 0:10:57.236 somewhere that you you spent two years arguing about for 0:10:57.356 --> 0:10:59.756 a change in the angle of the steering wheel. Yes, yes, 0:10:59.796 --> 0:11:02.236 that's actually he was involved in that. What model was that? 0:11:02.476 --> 0:11:07.396 So we started that discussion from GS, but then h 0:11:08.596 --> 0:11:10.796 LC was the actual first car that we're able to 0:11:10.836 --> 0:11:13.356 apply that change in the angle. What was the how 0:11:13.436 --> 0:11:16.916 much of a change in angle did you wanta? Angle? 0:11:17.836 --> 0:11:21.076 Two degrees? Two degrees? Was it hard to convince people 0:11:21.836 --> 0:11:24.436 to change the angle of the string ways? Yeah, so 0:11:24.876 --> 0:11:27.516 you know, not only with the LC, but changing the 0:11:27.556 --> 0:11:31.276 steering angles actually also affixed the platform of other vehicles too, 0:11:31.316 --> 0:11:36.796 so you know, to really make any evolution as far 0:11:36.876 --> 0:11:39.396 as mindset, you know, that was that certainly took a 0:11:39.396 --> 0:11:42.276 lot of determination to change. Twenty five years to get 0:11:42.276 --> 0:11:45.436 certified as at Takumi, two years of arguing to get 0:11:45.476 --> 0:11:48.676 the engineers back at Toyota City to tilt the LC 0:11:48.956 --> 0:11:53.596 steering two degrees forward because the proposed steering wheel angle 0:11:53.716 --> 0:11:58.316 just didn't feel right. Osaki San is a student of EI, 0:11:58.396 --> 0:12:01.276 which is one of the Japanese martial arts. At one 0:12:01.316 --> 0:12:03.796 point he took out his cell phone and showed us 0:12:03.796 --> 0:12:07.396 the photos of him working with his instructor Ei is 0:12:07.436 --> 0:12:10.716 the art of drawing a katan a sword in a smooth, 0:12:10.916 --> 0:12:17.516 controlled manner. I A I EI. So listening there you go, 0:12:17.676 --> 0:12:21.996 let's see that. Yeah, it's an art to basically sword 0:12:22.316 --> 0:12:26.236 um um. So yeah, it's a form of art. Have 0:12:26.316 --> 0:12:35.996 you been doing this six years? Then Osaki San went 0:12:36.076 --> 0:12:39.556 into a long soliloquy about how similar the philosophy of 0:12:39.676 --> 0:12:44.436 EI was to the philosophy of Lexus savagery and elegance, 0:12:44.636 --> 0:12:49.276 abandon and control. Meanwhile, all I could think about is, 0:12:49.316 --> 0:12:51.956 even though I've been a carnet all my life, I've 0:12:51.996 --> 0:12:54.876 never driven with a race car driver on a closed 0:12:54.916 --> 0:12:58.796 course before. I take that back. Once years ago I 0:12:58.836 --> 0:13:01.356 did a bunch of slalom runs around traffic cones at 0:13:01.396 --> 0:13:07.996 the Consumer Reports Test track, Consumer Reports, they test minivans. 0:13:08.716 --> 0:13:12.396 This is the real deal. I'm in full nine year 0:13:12.396 --> 0:13:19.356 old boy mode. Yeah, let's not been there. Lee. Let's see. 0:13:19.956 --> 0:13:24.636 So this is a we got a what what models? 0:13:24.676 --> 0:13:27.076 This is the twenty nineteen you say, dune in them? 0:13:27.076 --> 0:13:30.396 What they do? Yet it's cosy and this is a 0:13:30.436 --> 0:13:33.476 special edition we called Inspiration Edition. So you'll notice when 0:13:33.476 --> 0:13:36.196 you get inside is a three color interior. Yeah, so 0:13:36.196 --> 0:13:39.996 it's a white orange and navy interior. Um there's only 0:13:40.036 --> 0:13:42.116 a few extra colors that work well with that combo. 0:13:42.196 --> 0:13:44.716 Pearl white is one of them. And then the Inspiration 0:13:44.876 --> 0:13:47.596 Edition in the US is also coupled with a luned 0:13:47.636 --> 0:13:51.156 slip differential and some other performance features. So it's a 0:13:51.196 --> 0:13:53.956 great handling, great driving, and beautiful style car. So this 0:13:54.076 --> 0:13:56.676 is I'm forgetting it. This is the one with with 0:13:56.836 --> 0:14:01.436 a this is the So this is a gas V eight. 0:14:01.676 --> 0:14:04.956 If you've never driven at full speed around a race 0:14:04.996 --> 0:14:08.836 track before, let me explain a few things. Logically, you 0:14:08.836 --> 0:14:11.596 would think it's a bit scary. Some of the curves 0:14:11.596 --> 0:14:14.796 at Shimoyama are hairpins, and there's not a lot of 0:14:14.836 --> 0:14:18.276 straightaways between them, so Asaki Song would come screaming out 0:14:18.316 --> 0:14:21.916 of a curve, hit the gas, the LC bolts forward, 0:14:22.236 --> 0:14:24.396 you get up, sometimes over one hundred pounds an hour, 0:14:24.596 --> 0:14:28.276 and then right in front of you, almost immediately is 0:14:28.316 --> 0:14:32.396 another curve, which in theory sounds a bit unnerving, except 0:14:32.956 --> 0:14:35.716 first of all, there's a Takumi driver behind the wheel, 0:14:36.156 --> 0:14:42.076 cool as a cucumber, in fact, giggling. And secondly, you're 0:14:42.116 --> 0:14:44.596 in a sports car. I mean, if you were to 0:14:44.596 --> 0:14:47.756 take an suv out on the Shimayama. Each of those 0:14:47.836 --> 0:14:51.596 turns would be terrifying. That's because suv sit up high. 0:14:52.196 --> 0:14:54.236 They have a high center of gravity, as much as 0:14:54.276 --> 0:14:57.676 three feet in a big suv. At high speeds, an 0:14:57.756 --> 0:15:00.916 suv would pitch violently to one side in a corner 0:15:01.076 --> 0:15:03.196 like a ship in rough seas, and if you went 0:15:03.236 --> 0:15:06.236 too fast, it could spin out or even tip over. 0:15:07.236 --> 0:15:10.836 The center of gravity on Alexis LC, by contrast, is 0:15:10.836 --> 0:15:15.796 super low even by sports car standards. Planted on those corners, 0:15:15.916 --> 0:15:19.276 there was almost no body roll at all. We never 0:15:19.356 --> 0:15:23.396 felt anything close to being out of control. There's a second, 0:15:23.676 --> 0:15:25.836 more subtle thing, and for that we have to leave 0:15:25.876 --> 0:15:29.156 shimo Yama for a moment. I promise will return back 0:15:29.196 --> 0:15:31.916 to Toyota City and Muto San stick figure of a 0:15:31.996 --> 0:15:35.956 driver because the way a car handles also comes down 0:15:35.996 --> 0:15:42.036 to its center of gravity and our anatomy from the side. 0:15:43.076 --> 0:15:46.076 So when we decide on the package, who first decide 0:15:46.116 --> 0:15:56.196 on driver's position detailed point of the axel to your 0:15:56.316 --> 0:16:00.196 hip point a heel point. To make a car handle perfectly, 0:16:00.636 --> 0:16:02.716 you want the driver's hips to be as close to 0:16:02.716 --> 0:16:05.516 the center of gravity as possible, so you feel like 0:16:05.556 --> 0:16:08.636 the car is turning with you. Like, imagine for a 0:16:08.676 --> 0:16:11.316 moment that you have to carry a fifty pound package 0:16:11.356 --> 0:16:14.396 on your bicycle. You could put it in a basket 0:16:14.516 --> 0:16:17.316 over the handlebars, but then the bike would be really 0:16:17.316 --> 0:16:20.156 hard to control because the center of gravity, the bulk 0:16:20.196 --> 0:16:22.956 of the weight would be over the front wheel way 0:16:23.036 --> 0:16:25.956 ahead of your hips. But if you strapped those weights 0:16:25.996 --> 0:16:29.276 around your waist, the bike would be much easier to 0:16:29.276 --> 0:16:32.236 control because now all of that weight would be over 0:16:32.276 --> 0:16:36.356 the center of the bike. During our briefing with Mutosan, 0:16:36.596 --> 0:16:39.476 he talked about how hard Lexus worked to bring those 0:16:39.516 --> 0:16:43.836 two points, hips and center of gravity as close as possible. 0:16:44.716 --> 0:16:52.716 This is a twenty millimeter aviation almost same. How unusual 0:16:53.156 --> 0:16:56.436 is that in a in a sportscar sometimes with a 0:16:56.516 --> 0:17:00.836 two seater two hundred to three hundred millimeter gap. Oh well, 0:17:01.676 --> 0:17:04.156 they got a three hundred millimeter gap down to a 0:17:04.276 --> 0:17:08.476 twenty millimeter gap. Then I asked Mutosan why they couldn't 0:17:08.476 --> 0:17:11.876 get that numbered down to zero? What was stopping you 0:17:11.956 --> 0:17:14.476 for having the center of gravity and the hippoint be 0:17:14.596 --> 0:17:24.116 absolutely perfect? I don't know. Does it bother you? Though 0:17:28.436 --> 0:17:30.716 you didn't say no sleep was lost over you didn't 0:17:30.716 --> 0:17:33.036 wake up in the middle of night saying, if only 0:17:33.116 --> 0:17:39.876 it was perfect. He's lying, of course, he totally loses 0:17:39.876 --> 0:17:43.636 sleep over those twenty millimeters. Then there's what happens to 0:17:43.676 --> 0:17:47.356 your feet. In a typical small car, like a sports car, 0:17:47.676 --> 0:17:50.756 the engine intrudes into the middle of the passenger cabin, 0:17:51.076 --> 0:17:53.356 so you have to bring your ankles a little closer 0:17:53.396 --> 0:17:57.516 together to account for the size of the transmission. Muto 0:17:57.596 --> 0:18:00.916 San and his team didn't like that. It didn't feel 0:18:00.996 --> 0:18:04.076 natural to them, so they pushed the engine just a 0:18:04.116 --> 0:18:07.716 little bit forward and the front seats a little bit back. 0:18:08.276 --> 0:18:12.036 They wanted to create more space in the footwell. Mutasan 0:18:12.156 --> 0:18:15.676 drew the difference for us on the whiteboard. Two legs 0:18:15.716 --> 0:18:23.276 angled slightly inwards, two legs extending straight. That's incorrect. How 0:18:23.316 --> 0:18:27.276 subtle is the difference between correct and incorrect on foot position? 0:18:29.196 --> 0:18:35.196 Twenty really made or two so maybe an inch? An inch? 0:18:36.116 --> 0:18:39.516 Now would most of us even notice that smaller difference, 0:18:40.156 --> 0:18:44.356 Maybe not explicitly, or at first, you wouldn't say to 0:18:44.436 --> 0:18:48.236 yourself when you sit in an LCOH, the angles of 0:18:48.236 --> 0:18:51.636 my legs feel just that much better. But there are 0:18:51.676 --> 0:18:55.156 twenty or thirty subtle little variables like that, and when 0:18:55.236 --> 0:18:57.796 you combine them all then you really can sense that 0:18:57.916 --> 0:19:01.796 something's different. The point is that as Osaki San drove 0:19:01.836 --> 0:19:04.676 around the Shima Yama, the way he sat in the car, 0:19:04.956 --> 0:19:07.436 the way it felt to drive, the way I felt 0:19:07.636 --> 0:19:12.076 as he careened around corner wasn't an accident. It was 0:19:12.076 --> 0:19:24.316 a feeling engineered and created by the car's designers up 0:19:24.356 --> 0:19:27.476 without any of the electronics. It's the end of our 0:19:27.516 --> 0:19:30.796 test drive. I thought we were going really fast, but 0:19:30.876 --> 0:19:34.596 Osakisan says that we had driven at about sixty percent 0:19:34.716 --> 0:19:40.116 of our capacity because we had four people in the car, Osakisan, me, 0:19:40.476 --> 0:19:44.156 the translator, and Jacob with his sound equipment. Now, who 0:19:44.156 --> 0:19:47.276 wants to drive at sixty percent capacity? I want to 0:19:47.276 --> 0:19:50.396 go faster, I want to drift, and to do that, 0:19:50.436 --> 0:19:53.756 the driver has to turn off all the electronic monitors 0:19:53.756 --> 0:19:56.316 that are built into modern cars to make them behave 0:19:56.676 --> 0:20:01.236 like responsible citizens. So I'm asking can we turn them off? 0:20:01.996 --> 0:20:06.916 Asaki San says that's not allowed. Basically it requires a 0:20:06.956 --> 0:20:11.116 certain permit to actually drive around in that mode. So 0:20:11.276 --> 0:20:14.476 you know, maybe we could try like in specific point, 0:20:15.196 --> 0:20:19.036 but apparently today we basically obtain a permit to basically 0:20:19.156 --> 0:20:22.236 run in like basically not to overlap the lanes, but 0:20:22.396 --> 0:20:24.476 in order to do so with everything off, you kind 0:20:24.476 --> 0:20:26.876 of need to use the full track, full width of 0:20:26.876 --> 0:20:30.596 the track to cross over both lanes, so that apparently 0:20:30.756 --> 0:20:34.516 requires a different permit application. He wasn't supposed to leave 0:20:34.556 --> 0:20:38.276 tire marks. It's a brand new track, blah blah blah. 0:20:38.316 --> 0:20:41.836 But then we kicked Jacob and his fancy recording equipment 0:20:42.236 --> 0:20:45.476 out of the car, and Osakisan thinks about it a 0:20:45.476 --> 0:20:50.836 minute longer, and he says, Okay, let's go for it, 0:20:50.876 --> 0:20:54.756 because Lexus isn't supposed to be boring, not anymore, And 0:20:54.836 --> 0:20:57.156 so I have something to boast about at dinner parties. 0:20:57.516 --> 0:21:05.116 I record what happens next on my phone. Oh yeah, baby, 0:21:05.716 --> 0:21:09.636 one of the top ten moments of my life. Oh wow, 0:21:10.956 --> 0:21:31.836 serious drifting line. Yeah yeah, that's great. That was That 0:21:32.156 --> 0:21:35.596 was fantastic. That was one of the most fun I've 0:21:35.596 --> 0:21:48.036 had as a passenger in a car maybe ever. Go 0:21:48.196 --> 0:21:51.796 and See is produced by Jacob Smith with Emily Rosteck 0:21:51.956 --> 0:21:56.876 and Carly Migliari, edited by Julia Barton. Evan Viola composed 0:21:56.876 --> 0:22:00.436 our theme music and mixed and mastered our episodes. Special 0:22:00.476 --> 0:22:03.836 thanks to Jacob Weisberg had of fame, Paul Williamson, the 0:22:03.996 --> 0:22:08.596 Mark Levinson engineers, and all the Lexus executives, engineers and 0:22:08.636 --> 0:22:13.436 designer who participated in our recordings. Go and See is 0:22:13.436 --> 0:22:18.236 a production of Lexus and Pushkin Industries. I'm Malcolm Rapin.