tomRCFcarbon

I promised I would come back once (most) of the work was done. So here we are…engine pretty much rebuilt. Suspension bushes all done. Ecu and Maf recalibrated. Wheels refurbed. Spoiler replaced. Bodywork done(ish). It runs beautifully and is IMMENSE to drive. A real event. Will be at RetroRides at Goodwood a week tomorrow if anyone’s planning on going. We’ll be in the ‘White Room’.

Looks great. I think it makes most positive impact on the front wheels, which despite their width, do look a bit rc200 at standard fitment.

Drone sounds really cool. You might want to push the ISO a bit, if it’s a modern digital camera there’s not much (basically no) noise at 400 which will give you a couple of more stops. You can also afford to shoot the shots a bit dark on digital and brighten up later in Lightroom. Digital sensors catch definition in shadows but nothing in highlights, so always err on darker side of bright (if you’re using lightroom). Polarising filter will make all the reflections look much sharper and cool (if the car is clean 😂).

Borrow a polarising filter. Fast shutter. Wide open (not too open) aperture. Should sharpen the shots up. What’s the drone like?

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Anyone else noticed that the black and the grey Track Editions that were on AutoTrader have been withdrawn from sale? Does anyone know why this is or where they’ve gone. They almost certainly haven’t sold. So I wonder if they are going to auction? Or something else. I was waiting for them to be steadily lowered in price before trying to do a deal. But no such luck. I’m not a big fan of the dark blue one (that’s incorrectly described as a ‘Special Edition’) that’s now on there…but if it’s the only game in town, and the price was right, I could be convinced.

This was my experience. SuperSports are great PS4S even better. I’m not sure SuperSports are made anymore. So if you buy them they’ll be ONS. And you don’t really want 5+yr old rubber.

Well the first two are definitely made of unobtainium now!…not so much the 916, it really is the ugly duckling of their history. Funny how people have become fond of it again. Like the 924, for whatever reason it’s found it’s audience finally… As for the why, why do any of us put value against any of this stuff? It’s definitely not rational. If it were we would be having this conversation over at the RC200h forum. For me the 928 was always a hero car. I was in my teens in the early nineties when this car was king of the hill. I used to read my dads hand-me-down Car and Performance Car and I just loved the look of it. It also won Top Trumps as it was, for a long time, the most powerful normally aspirated v8 of any production car. Which was quite a bragging right. Then there was Risky Business and Weird Science. Finally my dads best mate had one. My dad had a mondeo at the time. This was like a spaceship!

As requested, here are a few pics of the slightly different 5.0 V8 2+2 that has finally filled the hole that my RCF Carbon left. I completely understand if a moderator wants to remove this thread as it is off topic. But in the meantime, here are some early pics taken when buying the car. More to follow once work is done. Happily take questions and also appreciate all thoughts. T

It is a good one, I think. Only 83,000 miles. Mechanically sympathetic/knowledgeable owner since the mid nineties. There’s a couple of taste malfunctions - hangovers from the nineties - that need to be put right. But the important stuff is sound. Going to have belts changed, wheels reconditioned and the car retouched in a couple of places, but mostly just paint corrected as it’s original paint. Interior is near mint. Has the toolkit. Books. Space saver. Pump. I’m in love.

It’s a good and rare one too. 928 S4 Sport manual. The closest we got to a ClubSport in this country and only about 30brought to the UK. One of about 20 left. It’s quite shockingly quick. Feels much quicker than the RCF, even though it isn’t, but I guess less driver aids, less sound deadening, less refined makes for a much more visceral experience. And those lights! ❤️

It took a very long while to find a fitting replacement for the RCF. Criteria was at least 8 cylinders. Drivers car. Rare. Easy(ish) to live with. Not an obvious choice. I think I nailed it.

Lexus (UK) is effectively a franchise. They have to take a certain amount of each model. For a v8 coupe they took the models they were allocated at launch and no more. They then sold this stock as much as they could. And then registered the rest as press / management / demonstrators. So the cars sold in 16/17 were only those they had to take via allocation and customer orders (none)…Remember they had all the 15 cars to sell as ex-demonstrators so hence less 16/17 cars registered.

Was this the one that was starved of oil and all the cylinders had seized and were scored? Hence no exterior damage but is ‘structural’ write off?

Selling already?! Is that your RCF on AT?

Lovely burble! how did your phone smell after that?!

Hi @Twellsie I almost sold mine to a member on here. And I would have done if he had been realistic on price. I was even open to giving a discount for it to go to a good home (not very rational but that’s how my brain works). But I’m not sure he was very realistic. The weird thing I found was the low balling by members trying to get a bargain. Rather than offering market value but getting the bonus of having much greater insight into the car and the reassurance of it coming from and enthusiast who would have looked after the car properly. Price / value is only ever as much as someone is willing to give you (obviously). Saying that I wouldn’t advocate the webuyanycar plus £1k approach...that way is just a race to the bottom set by the lowest common denominator in the market. Any F is a specialist proposition and it will come down to being set at the right price given the condition of the car. I have to say that a non-stock car would be a no no to me...unless it was from someone on this forum and had some provenance, etc...on which note, I’ve dm’d you!

I remember visiting AFN in Guildford in the nineties. They had a delivery mileage Audi Quattro Sport (short wheel base) homologation car in the showroom. It had a sticker price of £50k if memory serves. I remember the salesman saying that it would be a great car and would have sold if it didn’t look so aggressive and the rear seats weren’t so small?! That motorsport special languished in that dealer for over twenty years until some brave soul came along...either that or they sent it to auction once it’s value passed £200k. I’m not saying the track edition is the same. But every dog, tends to have its day... eventually.

The stiffer the chassis, roll bars and suspension arms and the lower the profile of tyre...the more likely you are to feel it. Hence more common with high performance cars. Some manufacturers allow passive and some active steer rear wheels to minimise the effect. I think the TVD on the RCF compounds the problem as it doesn’t allow the rear wheels to turn at different speeds at parking speeds - so it exacerbates the ‘pushing’ effect. Winter tyres are usually softer compound with softer side walls.

Ackerman geometry. Nothing wrong with your car. It’s physics.

Hi all, I’ve found my way here from the F-forum. I had an RCF Carbon until recently. Sold it. Bought something sensible to cart the children around in and now the balance is burning a hole...had too much time on my hands over Christmas and after what feels like a complete trawl of every car I’ve ever been interested in on AutoTrader (why do we do it to ourselves) I think I’ve concluded the sc430 is an itch I need to scratch. I’m always one for hens teeth so I’m going to hold out for a facelift pre March 06 car. There’s a couple on the Trader but I’m not sure they’re right for me. The Cat-D is tempting as I’m never likely to sell the car if I paid that for it. But the worry / doubt would drive me mad. And the other one is the wrong colour. So it’s a waiting game for me. Any tips / thoughts for me as well as the OP would be great.

I had a c70 t5 coupe with a manual box about twenty years ago. Mentalist fast...or at least it felt like it at the time (before that I had an 8v mk2 golf). I’ve never heard a car door make the same noise. Incredibly well built car. The early C70s we’re screwed together by TWR, so basically hand built. The Dynaudio stereos sounded better than the MLs in the F cars too. As for modern equivalents to the F, no offence but I wouldn’t have an AMG...too shouty. The engine blip on start up is obnoxious. Feels like a gold belt buckle. Or a fat man wearing sparco driving shoes. BMW m-cars are too brittle and too highly strung like a Bose hifi with the loudness set to max. I like CL500’s and 600’s - not shouty like the equivalent AMG but do suffer from the Gucci loafer wearing slicked back dyed hair fifty year old connotation. I quite like the older Alpina’s. I’d have a B5S from 2008/9 but they’re like hens teeth and I think it’s mandatory that you have to go to car shows with them and bore on about compression ratios. A 928 GTS feels like an itch I’d like to scratch. Or a Ferrari 456. But then I’d also quite like a Citroen C6, an early G-wagon or a Passat r36. So I think I probably just need to have some therapy.

It’s not that strange, but it is different and reflects the fact that Lexus UK is a bit different from other brands in the UK as they are both Importer and distributor. They only have a tenuous link with Lexus EU and keep at arms length as much as they can. So they order what they need from Japan direct and for rare cars like the Carbon and other F cars buy what they anticipate what they need all in one go. Therefore the cars we have are those that they brought over with each release of cars. Rather than Japan setting the quantities or UK getting an allocation as part of a EU wide annual order.

Hi all. Just to say my Carbon has now sold. Full asking and bought by a trader so I would expect to see it on a forecourt with fully refurbed wheels and new rear tyres for a bit more money than I got for it. It really is mint and well cared for...planning on doing a full cost of ownership post soon should answer a lot of questions for those considering buying an F car.