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Lexus goes from land yachts to water yachts with this boat concept

Just this week, Lexus unveiled its fully redesigned flagship, the LS sedan. But the term "flagship" seems a bit misplaced now that Lexus has revealed an actual ship. Well, the Lexus Sport Yacht may be a bit small to be called a ship, but it's as close as many automakers will get. According to Toyota, the idea for the boat came about when the company's CEO, Akio Toyoda, was trying out one of the marine division's new yachts that use Toyota diesel engines. He wanted to see what a sporty, luxury yacht using Lexus design would be like. At his behest, the Toyota Marine Department and Lexus got to work on the concept you see here. More than a clay model, this is a fully-functional nautical machine. The Lexus Sport Yacht was constructed from carbon fiber by Marquis-Carver Yacht Group in Wisconsin, and has a pair of V8 engines shared with the Lexus RC F (and GS F, and LC500). You can even see through the clear engine compartment cover that they share the same bright blue-painted intake manifolds. Compared with the automotive applications, each engine makes a bit less power at 440 horsepower. When you have two of them, though, that becomes less important. Together the engines' roughly 880 horsepower can propel the boat to a top speed of 49 mph. The Lexus Sport Yacht comes complete with many luxury amenities. There's seating for eight on the deck. Two of those seats fold out from either side of the captain's chair "for very special guests." The captain also has access to a pair of touchscreens, a small one in the wheel and a massive one ahead of it for instruments and other information. Down below, the forward passenger cabin is loaded with leather, wood, air conditioning, a table, and sofa seating for six. The yacht's galley has a sink, refrigerator, and stove, and the bathroom comes complete with a shower. Don't expect to see the yacht on sale anytime soon, since this is just a concept at the moment. That being said, luxury automakers, including Aston Martin and Mercedes, have started competing in the yacht market. And while Toyota's marine division hasn't built a pleasure boat since the Epic line, it probably wouldn't be too difficult for the company to start building this Lexus. Related Video:

Lexus celebrates 10 years of F performance

RC F and GS F are getting special editions. To celebrate 10 years of f performance. Only 240 of the RC F will be produced, a number chosen because there are 240 Lexus dealers in the U.S. Transcript: RC F and GS F are getting special editions to celebrate 10 years of f performance. Both cars are finished in a matte paint called nebula gray. The wheels are painted in a gloss black and the brake calipers are painted a bright blue to match the f brand's colors. They each get bright blue leather seats with gray accents and blue suede shift knobs. Sadly, they don't get any performance upgrades over the normal models, but they are visually striking. These 10th-anniversary edition cars are extremely limited production. Only 240 of the RC F will be produced, a number chosen because there are 240 Lexus dealers in the U.S. Only 100 of the GS F will be sold. They'll be available for purchase this summer, but Lexus hasn't finalized pricing for the cars. Lexus Performance Autoblog Minute Videos Original Video

Vice chronicles Okinawa's illegal street racing scene

We all know that street racing is dangerous, and that motorsports are best left on the track or drag strip. However, that doesn't mean that there still isn't some outlaw allure among enthusiasts of racing on public roads. In this video, Vice Japan profiles Eikichi Nagayoshi of Japan's island of Okinawa. He is a used car dealer by day and an illegal racer by night.
Nagayoshi has a deep love for his highly customized Toyota Aristo (better known to us as a first-generation Lexus GS) that he claims produces over 1,000 horsepower and has hit 205 miles per hour. He races his car both on drag strips and in drifting competitions, but says that he often has to ship the car to mainland Japan to compete. In the absence of those opportunities, he sometimes gathers friends and takes the racing to the public roads. While we're not down with street racing, this Vice video is an intriguing personality piece, as well as a look into Japan's fabled underground racing scene. Scroll down to check out the video, but make sure you have the "CC" button clicked, because several portions are subtitled.