We’ve built several seriously quick cars over the years on Carnage, and in this episode, the 700rwhp, 1UZ-powered V8 Lexcen sleeper joins that club.

Believe it or not, by the end of this episode, the Lexcen emerges as the quickest street car we’ve ever built. While the 1JZ-swapped Trolvo was a verified nine-second machine and our Barra-swapped MX-5 consistently ran in the eights, neither was ever registered.

Fresh off a solid showing at the Optima Street Car Challenge at Calder Park, Scotty drove the Lexcen all the way from the Carnage workshop in Dandenong South to Heathcote Park Raceway in central Victoria. 

HPR owner Lance Warren had very kindly invited us up for a private mid-week test. We know how much effort the HPR crew puts into preparing a ripper surface each time, so it was the perfect place to try and dip the Lexcen into the 10s.

Prior to this, the wagon had run a pair of 11.7s on both street and drag radial rubber at Calder Park. This time out, the initial plan was to run a pair of chunky 235 radials on the back of the Lexcen, but clearance issues due to the lowered Shockworks suspension meant Scotty had to revert to the Nankang NS-2R rubber he drove up on.

With tyre pressures lowered to 22psi, Scotty set out for a low-boost run. Even with only 16psi of boost and a 3800rpm launch, the Lexcen left jaws dropped when it thumped the timing boards with a 10.68@133mph.

After diagnosing a small boost leak that presented itself after that run, Scotty headed out to try to better that time. Did it run quicker? You’ll have to watch this week’s episode to find out.