We pulled the greatest-sounding V10 ever made out of a Lexus LFA and replaced it with the McLaren F1 GTR's race V12. Then we beat the actual McLaren F1 with it.
Overview
The LFA's 1LR V10 is one of the most celebrated engine sounds ever recorded. Pulling it out feels like vandalism. But update 1.69 gave the LFA the most expensive engine swap in the game: the S70/3, the race version of the BMW V12 from the McLaren F1 GTR '97. The engine alone costs Cr.10,100,000. That's more than the next five most expensive swaps combined.
Here's the maths that makes the vandalism worth it. The actual McLaren F1 costs 20 million credits in the Legend Cars dealership. An LFA with the F1's V12 lands at roughly half that, all in. Same V12 bloodline. Half the price.
So we built it, built the real F1 to match, and made them fight. Three rounds: sound, straight line, lap time at Spa.
The car it fought: McLaren F1 '94
The setup
Fully built. Every part the tuning shop offers this car, installed. The swapped engine takes no engine tuning at all, but it does take a High-RPM turbo, which is where the 839 hp comes from. Weight reduction stages 1 to 3, body rigidity, racing clutch and carbon prop shaft round it out.
Spa tune (Racing Soft)
- Tyres: Racing Soft front and rear
- Downforce: 180 / 265 · Brake balance 0
- Transmission: top speed 450 km/h, gears left on the auto slider
- Suspension: ride height 126/133 · ARB 6/4 · damping comp 28/26, exp 36/38 · nat. freq 2.90/3.00 · camber 2.4/1.5 · toe 0.05 out / 0.25 in
- LSD (rear): initial 22 · accel 38 · braking 32
- Clutch: Racing · Prop shaft: Carbon
- ECU / restrictor: 100 / 100 · Ballast: 0
The rear toe looks generous for a long-wheelbase car. It is. The V12 destabilises the rear in the coast phase, and 0.25 in is what makes turn-in one predictable behaviour instead of a coin flip. LSD initial at 22 is part of the same fix.
On track
The race V12 is the louder, angrier engine of the pair, which tracks: it's the F1 GTR's motor, and race engines sound like race engines. The funny part is the history. The governing bodies choked the real S70/3 with air restrictors, so the racing version actually made less power than the road car.
At Spa it lost the opening sector to the McLaren by 0.124, took the lead through sector two with a 0.447 swing, and kept pulling away to the line. Final lap: 2:12.159 against the F1's 2:12.732. The half-price car won by 0.573 seconds.
Verdict
The 20 million credit McLaren never won a round against this thing. Sound was a draw. Straight line and brakes were a draw. The lap went to the Lexus. You give up the V10, and that loss is real. What you get back is the McLaren F1 experience, the racing heart of the bloodline, and 10 million credits still in your pocket.