--- title: Haruhiko Tanahashi · HICONIUM description: Haruhiko Tanahashi in the HICONIUM register — one file carrying their credit. canonical_url: https://hiconium.dev/people/haruhiko-tanahashi image: https://hiconium.dev/og/people/haruhiko-tanahashi.png --- > HICONIUM · Index: https://hiconium.dev/llms.txt · Every page: append `.md` or send `Accept: text/markdown`. > Path: [Home](https://hiconium.dev/) › [People](https://hiconium.dev/people) › Haruhiko Tanahashi > On this page: [Front-mid for control](#front-mid-for-control) · [Five hundred required qualities](#five-hundred-required-qualities) · [Carbon fibre brought in-house](#carbon-fibre-brought-in-house) · [One file carries this name](#one-file-carries-this-name) People # Haruhiko Tanahashi Lexus LFA chief engineer and project leader The record Engineer appointed project leader of the Lexus LFA programme after its 2000 start and identified by Lexus as LFA chief engineer at the end of production in 2012. Keikikai listed Tanahashi as a 1976 graduate and a Toyota employee in 2012. A Toyota patent filed in 1987 names Haruhiko Tanahashi and Makoto Hayashi as inventors of a twin-tube shock absorber, with Toyota Motor Corp. as original assignee. Toyota’s notice effective 1 January 2000 lists him as shusa in Development Centre 1’s Planning Department 1. A 2012 VnExpress report, citing Tanahashi’s diary, gives 10 February 2000 at Shibetsu as the date Tetsuo Hattori approved a study of a “real sports car”; it also says Tanahashi first raised the idea in a Hokkaido bar. Lexus independently dates the programme’s start to early 2000 and says he was soon appointed project leader. In January 2001 he enlisted Hiromu Naruse, and the two compiled 500 required qualities. Toyota’s notice effective 1 January 2001 records Tanahashi moving from shusa in Development Centre 1’s Planning Department 1 to chief engineer in Development Centre 1. Its notice effective 1 January 2004 records him as chief engineer in Lexus Centre, but the old and new entries carry the same title. It therefore documents the position, not a 2004 appointment. Contemporary Lexus material identifies Tanahashi as LFA chief engineer. The production car used a 4.8-litre mid-front V10 and a rear-mounted transaxle; Lexus says the engine was developed in conjunction with Yamaha and the layout targeted a 48:52 front-to-rear distribution. Production began at LFA Works on 15 December 2010. The final LFA left Motomachi on 14 December 2012, when Lexus again named him chief engineer. ### Front-mid for control GAZOO’s LFA history says a mid-engine proposal was rejected because it could be difficult to recover once a spin began; it identifies this as both Toyota’s philosophy and Tanahashi’s conviction. The LFA used a front-mid engine, rear transaxle and rear-mounted radiator, with a 48:52 front-to-rear distribution. ### Five hundred required qualities Lexus says that in January 2001 Tanahashi enlisted master driver Hiromu Naruse to define the future car’s qualities. Its timeline describes their 500-item list as ranging from suspension settings to steering-wheel shape and says V10 development began within a year of Tanahashi’s arrival. ### Carbon fibre brought in-house The 2005 LF-A concept used primarily aluminium. Lexus says the later switch to CFRP saved around 100kg and that it made the CFRP structure in-house, using new carbon-fibre looms and laser monitoring. The stations 1. 2000 Toyota Motor Corporation Shusa, Planning Department 1, Development Centre 1 2. 2001 Toyota Motor Corporation Chief engineer, Development Centre 1 3. 2004 Toyota Motor Corporation Chief engineer, Lexus Centre 4. 2012 Lexus LFA chief engineer The house [![Lexus](https://hiconium.dev/images/marques/full/lexus.svg)](https://hiconium.dev/manufacturers/lexus) Credited through Lexus. In the register ## One file carries this name - [Lexus LFA Chief engineer and project leader · Lexus 2010–2012 €1.2M 2010–2012 €1.2M Rating 92.0](https://hiconium.dev/vehicles/lexus/lfa) The files above are the register's own record of this name. [The people index](https://hiconium.dev/people) holds everyone the register credits. In their words > “I've lived and breathed supercars for the past decade. Specifically one supercar, LFA. Very few people have the opportunity we had to create a world-class supercar from a blank sheet of paper.” Haruhiko Tanahashi · Lexus UK media, 17 December 2012 Sources - [keikikai.jp](https://keikikai.jp/4067/) - [global.toyota](https://global.toyota/jp/detail/12791897) - [global.toyota](https://global.toyota/jp/detail/11866634) - [global.toyota](https://global.toyota/jp/detail/1693390) - [media.lexus.co.uk](https://media.lexus.co.uk/lexus-lfa/) - [media.lexus.co.uk](https://media.lexus.co.uk/lexus-signs-off-on-final-lfa/) - [mag.lexus.co.uk](https://mag.lexus.co.uk/lexus-lfa-timeline/) - [gazoo.com](https://gazoo.com/feature/gazoo-museum/car-history/15/04/10_1/) - [vnexpress.net](https://vnexpress.net/bi-an-quy-trinh-san-xuat-sieu-xe-lexus-lf-a-phan-1-2236497.html) - [caranddriver.com](https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a61627214/lfa-lexus-lfa-book-review-roar-of-an-angel/) - [lexusenthusiast.com](https://lexusenthusiast.com/2018/11/13/lexus-lfa-owners-meet-in-japan-the-full-story/) - [patents.google.com](https://patents.google.com/patent/US4795009A/en)