On June 28th, Lexus will compete in the Time Attack class of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. The luxury automaker will be campaigning the all-new RC F GT Concept, a vehicle that builds upon the legacy of the IS F CCS-R vehicles that last competed at Pikes Peak in 2013.

This historic event, now in its 93rd running, is a race against the clock that tests man and machine with the changing elements, altitude, and a treacherous 12.42 mile, 156 turn course that winds up the peak from 9,390 feet up to the 14,115 foot summit.

The new Lexus will be piloted up the mountain by British driving ace, 24 Hours of Le Mans winner, Justin Bell. “With very little time behind the wheel, the RC F GT Concept has already proven fast and easy to drive. We expect the race car will only pick up pace as we engage more testing, tuning, and data acquisition on the mountain”, said Bell.

A focused race car involving a high level of composite materials, the RCF GT Concept weighs about 800 lbs. less (3130 lbs.) than the street version, while retaining the same engine and transmission as the production RC F, though states of tune are adjusted for the competition environment. With RC F GT Concept, engineers can test the engine, transmission and chassis components in various conditions, experimenting with different tuning ideas, settings and software.