Virginia International Raceway Grand Course Map
On paper, the Grand Course is 24 turns over 4.1 miles, but there are more like 30 saws at the wheel for every lap. The methodology we employ over three days to tackle this test largely mirrors the advice in Dr. Leo Marvin's book, Baby Steps.
DAY ONE is devoted to getting up to speed and learning the idiosyncrasies of each car. Entering the Climbing Esses—corners that would be accompanied by a 35-mph speed-limit sign on the street—at over 100 mph isn't something you wake up angry and just do, so it takes a few laps and endorphin bursts to build confidence there and in VIR's other hairy points [see map annotations below]. The key to day one is learning how the car and the track interact.
DAY TWO starts with an earnest attempt at a lap in the morning when the track is quickest. Nail braking points and clean up lines in the slow, patience-trying corners, such as Left Hook, Oak Tree, and Bitch.
DAY THREE starts on fresh tires. After a night spent visualizing the perfect lap, go out and get that fast lap before air temperatures rise. You get, at most, three laps in each car. And it can always rain. One step at a time.This left looks easy but tests a driver's mettle and a car's stability, as it demands you to brake deep into the turn-in point. The Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Manthey clips this apex at 69.4 mph while pulling 1.25 g's.
Following the NASCAR Bend's stress is a throwaway corner that you sacrifice to maximize exit speed for the straight leading to the Climbing Esses. Get too aggressive with the throttle in Left Hook, and you have to lift before clobbering the exit curbing.
Uphill, winding, and unforgiving. Get it wrong, and the runoff area is essentially nonexistent. The Lucid Air averages 131.2 mph here.
It's off-camber, meaning water would flow away from the apex, with a blind entry and a downhill exit. If it were flat, the corner might just be a kink. The GT4 RS Manthey kisses 94.1 mph while gripping at 1.19 g's. As with the Climbing Esses, the grass off the track is littered with ruts dug by the unfortunate.
The corner at the end of the Back Straight is slow, which usually means you go in too fast. It also goes off-camber as you leave the corner, so be patient with the throttle on corner exit.
This fast right-hander runs down a hill and empties onto the Front Straight. Strike the curbing on the left under braking and then turn in toward the curbing on the right. Get back on the throttle early to get the most out of the long straight that follows. Running wide here could mean mowing a lot of grass.back to lightning lap 2025
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12-03-2025
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Allstate and NACDA unveil inaugural Good Works Team to honor student-athletes' impact on and off the field
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20-02-2025
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Virginia International Raceway Grand Course Map
On paper, the Grand Course is 24 turns over 4.1 miles, but there are more like 30 saws at the wheel for every lap. The methodology we employ over three days to tackle this test largely mirrors the advice in Dr. Leo Marvin's book, Baby Steps. DAY ONE is devoted to getting up to speed and learning the idiosyncrasies of each car. Entering the Climbing Esses—corners that would be accompanied by a 35-mph speed-limit sign on the street—at over 100 mph isn't something you wake up angry and just do, so it takes a few laps and endorphin bursts to build confidence there and in VIR's other hairy points [see map annotations below]. The key to day one is learning how the car and the track interact. DAY TWO starts with an earnest attempt at a lap in the morning when the track is quickest. Nail braking points and clean up lines in the slow, patience-trying corners, such as Left Hook, Oak Tree, and Bitch. DAY THREE starts on fresh tires. After a night spent visualizing the perfect lap, go out and get that fast lap before air temperatures rise. You get, at most, three laps in each car. And it can always rain. One step at a left looks easy but tests a driver's mettle and a car's stability, as it demands you to brake deep into the turn-in point. The Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Manthey clips this apex at 69.4 mph while pulling 1.25 g's. Following the NASCAR Bend's stress is a throwaway corner that you sacrifice to maximize exit speed for the straight leading to the Climbing Esses. Get too aggressive with the throttle in Left Hook, and you have to lift before clobbering the exit curbing. Uphill, winding, and unforgiving. Get it wrong, and the runoff area is essentially nonexistent. The Lucid Air averages 131.2 mph here. It's off-camber, meaning water would flow away from the apex, with a blind entry and a downhill exit. If it were flat, the corner might just be a kink. The GT4 RS Manthey kisses 94.1 mph while gripping at 1.19 g's. As with the Climbing Esses, the grass off the track is littered with ruts dug by the unfortunate. The corner at the end of the Back Straight is slow, which usually means you go in too fast. It also goes off-camber as you leave the corner, so be patient with the throttle on corner exit. This fast right-hander runs down a hill and empties onto the Front Straight. Strike the curbing on the left under braking and then turn in toward the curbing on the right. Get back on the throttle early to get the most out of the long straight that follows. Running wide here could mean mowing a lot of to lightning lap 2025 You Might Also Like Car and Driver's 10 Best Cars through the Decades How to Buy or Lease a New Car Lightning Lap Legends: Chevrolet Camaro vs. Ford Mustang!
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How We'd Spec It: 2025 Chevy Corvette ZR1
Like so many other car enthusiasts, we're champing at the bit for the arrival of the C8-generation Chevy Corvette ZR1. Earlier this week, we learned that the ZR1 set not one but five course records at famous tracks around the country, which has only made us giddier to get behind the wheel. Plus, watching GM's Aaron Link drive the 1064-hp Corvette to a new production-car record on VIR's Grand Course has us counting the days until we can test our mettle at our annual Lightning Lap. Until then, though, we set out to configure our ideal versions of the ultimate Corvette. Our creations are varied—with some more unhinged than others. One caveat for the pricing of our builds is that Chevy hasn't yet received EPA certification for the ZR1, meaning we don't know its exact gas-guzzler tax. So, for anyone using this as a shopping guide, you'll need to factor in roughly three to four thousand dollars more per car. I have bent Chevy's configurator to my will. I have mixed Sebring Orange Tintcoat ($995) with Edge Blue forged aluminum wheels ($1495). Why are the lug nuts chrome? Just to sow even more chaos. You can do a lot with $205K; I have done too much. I tried to add paint-matching stripes, but even the configurator refused such atrocities. That led me to yellow dual-racing stripes ($1195) that match the painted six-piston front calipers ($695). I have opted for the Artemis interior, because the only thing more upsetting than a gorgeous car with an egregious color combination, is that same car, but with a green interior. You might've noticed that despite my desire to overwhelm the ZR1 with as many options as possible, I've neglected to add the giant wing. Why? I want to observe the horror in the eyes of people behind me in traffic using the glass mirror instead of through its rearview-mirror camera display. I've added the Corvette Museum Delivery ($1495) just so others must bear witness to my hellish creation. After this, it would be right of Chevy to shadow-ban me from ever leasing an Equinox. They wouldn't have the gall. Probably. The reckless decisions I've made here are a rapid assault on their crown jewel. After I finished this build, I clicked "enlarge photo," and for a moment nothing happened. Was it a hiccup in our office Wi-Fi or does the configurator feel trepidation? If there's one silver lining here, it's that this machine will be one-of-one. And no matter what that must look like, it's worth it to me. —Austin Irwin The ZR1 is a beautiful machine. I was fortunate enough to attend its launch in Miami last summer, and the wing is even bigger in person than in the pictures—or maybe it was just cold the day of the photoshoot. Jokes aside, the whole car had such a strong presence, even more than the Z06. Standing next to the ZR1, it felt like if I dropped my AirPods in its abyss of an air intake up front I would never get them back. The design is a fantastic example of a car that looks like it's going 200 mph while sitting completely still. To quote Car and Driver technical editor Mike Sutton when he went on a high-speed journey in one, 'That was the most effortless 205 I've ever seen.' I decided to go full-ZTK track car for this build. There just isn't any other way to spec this car when it looks like that and is breaking track records across the country. I chose the coupe and opted for the 3LZ trim, mainly to snag that 14-speaker Bose sound system. I went with Torch Red paint to keep it flashy but not yellow flashy and selected the 20-spoke Carbon Flash forged-aluminum wheels, a $995 option. Sitting behind those are Edge Red brake calipers for $695. Then, to add some more race-car points, I felt the $1195 full-length racing stripes in Sterling Silver look really good here. I brought that silver accent into the cabin with the Sky Cool Gray option, specifically with the nappa leather and perforated microfiber inserts, which automatically add the carbon-fiber and microsuede-wrapped steering wheel for $695. The aforementioned ZTK Performance Package adds a better suspension and a set of Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2R tires for $1500, and the mandatory Carbon Fiber Aero package adds the beautifully aggressive aero bits for $8495. Both are very necessary, in my opinion, because—seriously—what a car. —Carter Fry You should need a special driver's license to own and operate the 1064-hp road-legal rocket that is the new Corvette ZR1. Alas, all you need is upwards of $175K, which guarantees you can afford a ZR1 but not that you can handle one. Regardless of qualifications, both giddy rich folk and poors like me can now configure an ideal version of the ultimate Corvette. I'd go for the coupe body style in 3LZ guise, which is an $11K upcharge over the 1LZ version but unlocks seats that are better suited for lapping racetracks. The pricier trim also offers wider interior customization, if that's what you're into. I'm into the ZR1's Hysteria Purple paint color, a no-cost option. I'd also shell out the roughly $14K it costs to fit the carbon-fiber wheels that reduce unsprung mass by about 40 pounds and make my American-made hypercar as exotic as possible. The $695 bronze-painted brake calipers are a nice touch. Inside, I'd have the entire cabin dipped in the beautiful 'natural' (i.e. tan) tone. The more supportive competition seats add $500, and opting for the Stealth Interior package darkens the aluminum trim, so I'd spend the $595 there. But I'd avoid the available carbon-fiber trim because—frankly—the glossy finish looks cheap yet costs up to $4995. To make the ZR1's retro split rear window stand out, it can be painted to match the body color for $995. Money well spent, IMO. While I'd rather skip the $8495 Carbon Aero package, with its enormous rear wing, front dive planes, and a hood-mounted Gurney flap, it's handcuffed to the $1500 ZTK Performance kit. The latter is a must-have on a car that's meant to break lap records—and has. In a nutshell, the suspension is optimized for track duty and the standard Michelin Pilot Sport 4S rubber is replaced with racier Cup 2Rs. Throw in the $2895 carbon-fiber cross brace in the engine bay for more structural rigidity and my perfect Corvette ZR1 costs over $214K but is ready to race. —Eric Stafford I'm of two minds on my hypothetical Corvette ZR1. My idealistic side says I should go track-optimized at every turn, building the lightest, leanest, lap-time-slayingest machine possible—whatever spec Chevy used to destroy all those lap records, basically. Then my realistic side reminds me that I will not personally be breaking any lap records, and I enjoy pointless showboating for its own sake, and thus I can forego the daily-driving punishment inherent in track-rat trim and err on the side of comfort and ostentatious tomfoolery. And that's the car I've built: an orange convertible with a wing fit for King Kong's hang glider. Yes, I'm going convertible, because why not? It's a hardtop, so you can still track it, and with the top down, the widebody C8 convertible looks even more like it rolled out of Woking rather than Bowling Green. I'll take the 3LZ trim, which mainly gets me the Bose 14-speaker Performance Audio system that I'll use to crank Gerry Rafferty's 'Baker Street' while on my way to a marina that serves excellent crab legs. I'll drape this wedge in Sebring Orange Tintcoat ($995), which is a perfect complement to the 10-spoke carbon-fiber wheels ($13,995). My interior is matchy-matchy, with orange seat belts and habanero leather on the competition sport bucket seats (a bargain at $500 for those). And if I ever forget the wheels are carbon fiber, I'll have a carbon-fiber steering wheel ($695) to remind me. Do I need more carbon fiber than that, you ask? Yes, which is why I'm adding the Carbon Fiber Aero package ($8495), which brings the sort of wing you normally see out the window of an exit-row seat. And since I don't want to file down my carbon underparts on steep driveways and speed bumps, I'll need the front lift with memory ($2595). Finally, I'll spring for the black recovery hook ($125), so the kids will know I totally track this thing and sometimes go off. Because for me, if you're not living on the limit, you're not living at all. This ZR1, with its $27,400 in options, will not set the lowest lap time. But I would park it in my living room if I could. —Ezra Dyer Corvettes bound for the racetrack have been yellow my entire life, and there's no denying the newest ZR1 is bound for the track. Hell, it's already broken five track records, and it looks poised to topple our annual Lightning Lap board. While my skills behind the wheel don't hold a candle to Chevy's development drivers (or C/D's in-house talent), I don't see a reason to buy this car if you're not planning on setting some lap times. For that reason, I'll leave the more raucous builds to my coworkers—I'm looking at you, Austin—and instead build a car that looks like the Corvette race cars I want to emulate. I stuck with the 1LZ package because what use is a wireless phone charger in a track car? For paint, I went for the $995 Competition Yellow. I would prefer the same shade of yellow found on the Pratt Miller race car, but we live how we can. Everyone knows matching brake calipers improve stopping performance, so my imaginary accountant approved another $695. Since I'll need all the help I can get to set any sort of respectable time without killing myself, I checked all the performance boxes. $13,995 for carbon-fiber wheels. Thanks for taking away some unsprung mass. $1250 for carbon mirrors. How else am I supposed to see what's behind me? What's another $9995 for the Carbon Aero package and the ZTK package? Done and done. The interior is all business, save for the $495 I spent on yellow seat belts. Hey, let me live a little. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, after all. I spent a further $695 on the microsuede steering wheel to keep my sweaty mitts where they need to be on the track, and another $995 to do the same for my backside. It's not quite the factory race car of my dreams, but maybe the Corvette engineers will be willing to take some time away from developing the even crazier Zora that's rumored to be on the way to coach me through a lap of VIR. —Jack Fitzgerald You Might Also Like Car and Driver's 10 Best Cars through the Decades How to Buy or Lease a New Car Lightning Lap Legends: Chevrolet Camaro vs. Ford Mustang!
