Lightning Lap 2025

Yahoo

20-02-2025

From the March/April 2025 issue of Car and Driver.
For one week each year, we descend on a piece of hilly automotive heaven in southern Virginia to see how quickly a selection of cars can lap a racetrack—the test we call Lightning Lap. The Grand Course at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) is the closest facsimile of the Nürburgring Nordschleife we can find without flying over an ocean. The 4.1-mile course may not be as long as that German one, but it is every bit as demanding.
This is our 18th installment, and the rules are slightly more structured than Can-Am's run-whatcha-brung rulebook. Slightly. Regular spots in the Lightning Lap run groups are reserved for unmodified production cars—vehicles you could conceivably purchase at your local dealer. Classes are formed by vehicle price. We've lapped family sedans and minivans, but no PR department has called us back when we've asked for a pickup truck, until this year. A group of editors drive the cars for time to allow us to give you the firsthand story of the lap. We could hire pros, but pros aren't prose pros. Editor-in-chief Tony Quiroga calls this "employee retention week" for a reason. Strap in for the most intense driving of the year.
Read More About How We Attack VIR
This year we gathered 13 production vehicles, including three EVs and five sedans. Oh yeah, and one pretty quick electric pickup in the LLPRO class. As always, we determine Lightning Lap classes by the cost of the vehicle, including all the performance-enhancing options you'd need to recreate our lap time. We call this the "base" price here. The lap time is the quickest complete lap we were able to record.Base Price: $38,470As-Tested Price: $39,065Power and Weight: 181 hp • 2350 lb • 13.0 lb/hpread moreBase Price: $36,465As-Tested Price: $36,465Power and Weight: 228 hp • 2857 lb • 12.5 lb/hpread moreBase Price: $46,875As-Tested Price: $47,270Power and Weight: 271 hp • 3428 lb • 12.6 lb/hpread moreBase Price: $34,850As-Tested Price: $35,320Power and Weight: 276 hp • 3242 lb • 11.7 lb/hpread moreBase Price: $324,070As-Tested Price: $391,175Power and Weight: 771 hp • 5443 lb • 7.1 lb/hpread moreBase Price: $67,575As-Tested Price: $67,785Power and Weight: 641 hp • 4858 lb • 7.6 lb/hpread moreBase Price: $196,550As-Tested Price: $209,450Power and Weight: 557 hp • 4235 lb • 7.3 lb/hpread moreBase Price: $135,890As-Tested Price: $145,580Power and Weight: 668 hp • 4137 lb • 6.2 lb/hpread moreBase Price: $319,918As-Tested Price: $388,793Power and Weight: 690 hp • 3575 lb • 5.2 lb/hpread moreBase Price: $235,360As-Tested Price: $245,660Power and Weight: 937 hp • 5123 lb • 5.5 lb/hpread moreBase Price: $625,958As-Tested Price: $729,458Power and Weight: 1001 hp • 4284 lb • 4.3 lb/hpread moreBase Price: $256,260As-Tested Price: $265,600Power and Weight: 493 hp • 3186 lb • 6.5 lb/hpread moreBase Price: $253,400As-Tested Price: $253,400Power and Weight: 1003 hp • 5319 lb • 5.3 lb/hpread moreBase Price: N/AAs-Tested Price: N/APower and Weight: 2200 hp • N/A lb • N/A lb/hpread more
When a Mazda Miata comes to Lightning Lap, it's always a David among Goliaths. This year, two cars in the competition each produce over 1000 horsepower. This MX-5 Miata Club? It has 181 adorable little ponies. And talk about a lightweight. The 5443-pound Bentley Continental GT Speed carries more than the Miata's total weight across its front axle. Yet, with every visit to VIR, this Corgi of cars becomes a bit quicker.
We gained nearly a second on the 2019 Miata RF between the top of the Climbing Esses and the exit of Oak Tree onto the Back Straight. Newfound stability on the long downhill off-camber menace known as South Bend allowed us to turn in at 4.7 mph faster than before.
read the full storyIn the gym, repetition builds muscle. On a racetrack, repetition builds muscle memory. The more laps you can string together, the more you get into a comfortable rhythm while fine-tuning your line, pushing braking points deeper, and learning to ride a car's cornering limits. The BRZ tS enabled the continuous lapping that builds confidence and speed—something the BRZ Limited we tested here three years ago couldn't do.
The difference is in the stop, not the go. New Brembo high-performance calipers—four-piston front, two-piston rear tugging on larger rotors—are major contributors to the tS's ability to weather continuous lapping. Previously, the BRZ was one-and-done as the stock brakes faded after a single flying lap, losing significant stopping power and killing lap time while spiking our heart rate. They also required several cooldown laps to recover, making it difficult to eke out lap-to-lap improvements.
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On a track, we want a car that's consistent, responding predictably to steering, braking, and throttle inputs lap after lap. No alarms and no surprises, please. Even pros want that in their race cars. Along with speed, of course. We're happy to report the Subaru WRX tS brought more consistency to VIR than the standard WRX we flogged here two years ago, as well as a little more speed.
The big enabler is the tS's new Brembo brake setup—six-piston fronts, two-piston rears, and larger rotors—courtesy of the TR-spec WRX. The tS also inherits the TR's Recaro sport seats, along with its wheels and 245/35R-19 Bridgestone Potenza S007 summer tires, up from 18-inch Dunlop SP Sport Maxx GT 600As of the same width. Adaptive dampers from the WRX GT complete the package.
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The Elantra N's appearance at VIR this year constitutes a Lightning Lap mulligan. When we had an Elantra N at the 2023 running of our track event, we rued that Hyundai hadn't sent a second set of tires, so we set its official time on well-worn rubber. We posited that a fresh set of running shoes would improve the N's lap time by more than a second.
Hyundai took us up on our offer and sent another six-speed-manual version of its compact sports sedan, this time with the extra rubber needed to set the fastest possible lap. The 2024 N we drove is essentially the same as the 2022 model we ran last time but with a handful of minor updates aimed at making it more trackworthy, including urethane rear-suspension bushings, a revised front fascia claimed to improve engine and brake cooling, and new forged wheels that reduce unsprung mass by a claimed 33 pounds.
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"How much quicker will it be?" is the question usually bouncing around in our helmets when we belt into a redesigned model at Lightning Lap. That was the case with Bentley's new Continental GT Speed, which trades a 12-cylinder powertrain for a plug-in-hybrid V-8 setup that makes 121 more horsepower. The surprising answer came right away, in Turn 1.
In that first corner, the best we could muster was a mere 0.89 g, way down from the 0.96 g of the last GT Speed. The new car wears Bentley-spec Pirelli P Zero PZ4 summer tires just like its predecessor did and in precisely the same sizes, but they're very different donuts: The new ones get "Elect" branding on their sidewalls, indicating that low rolling resistance is a priority.
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We ran the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N's platform-mate, the 576-hp Kia EV6 GT, at Lightning Lap last year, so it's natural to compare the performance of these brothers from different mothers. How much would Hyundai's upgrades to the 5 N's structure, chassis, tires, software, and motors improve its lap time over the EV6 GT? And would the changes tame the EV6's dicey handling?
The answer is unequivocally yes. The 5 N crushed the EV6 GT's time by 4.6 seconds. It clawed around Turn 1 at a sports-car–like 0.98 g versus the GT's 0.93 g, and it rushed into the Climbing Esses at 133.4 mph, almost 10 mph faster. It was quicker through all the track's sectors and faster virtually everywhere. We realized after our third and quickest run that on VIR's straights, we'd forgotten to punch the N Grin Boost button, which takes power from 601 horses to 641 for 10 seconds and may have cut a few more tenths. After a lunchtime recharge, we tried a final run, using N Grin Boost, but the afternoon heat degraded track conditions, and we couldn't find more time.
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Whether it be around your belly or on four wheels, extra weight is never a good thing. The latest Mercedes-AMG GT63 coupe is heavy at 4235 pounds—567 more than the previous GT R—and we can't help but wonder why these AMGs have packed on so much weight.
Apparently, all-wheel drive and a back seat are a hearty meal, but despite being hefty, the GT63 is a joy to push to its high limits. It hides its mass with a rear axle that steers, adding nimbleness in slow corners and stability in high-speed bends. Put it in Race mode and toggle on the Master stability-control setting, and you'll feel confident getting up to speed quickly. The steering gives back just enough to keep the driver in the loop. It's easy to find this car's limits and stay there.
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For 2025, the CT5-V Blackwing sports a facelift and, far more intriguing, a Precision package, a $9000 bundle of chassis upgrades such as stiffer springs and bushings, more aggressive alignment, and stickier Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2R tires.
Despite the extra stiffness, the Blackwing still inhales curbing with the best (thanks, magnetorheological dampers). Its adjustable Performance Traction Management, which allows you to dial in the amount of traction- and stability-control intervention, remains a wonderful sidekick, trimming power to optimize traction. You can hear it working when the exhaust note goes from rip-roaring to garbled. But it's acting out of necessity, as turning everything off was a short-lived experiment in how sending 668 horsepower through two tires equals a lot of powerslides.
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McLarens never roll off the car hauler short on speed, and the brand's newest junior supercar is another hallmark of its quest for velocity. Despite being down two cylinders to every other McLaren we've lapped, the Artura Spider's 596-hp twin-turbo 3.0-liter V-6 is an enthusiastic little thing. Sandwich a 94-hp electric motor between it and the crisp-shifting eight-speed dual-clutch automatic for a total of 690 horses, and the Spider reaches 162.2 mph on the Front Straight.
But a plug-in hybrid has a weight disadvantage. The Artura Spider packs on 359 pounds compared with the 600LT Spider and doesn't exit Hog Pen with the same forward momentum, ultimately coming up 3.1 mph slower on the Front Straight despite having a marginally better power-to-weight ratio. The Artura's 1.05 g's in Turn 1 can't touch the 600LT's 1.14 g's, and in the many spots around VIR where there are quick transitions, the 600LT maintains an advantage.
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This may sound odd for a car with 937 horsepower, but the primary reason the Taycan finished behind the Lucid Air Sapphire is a relative lack of power. Well, more a lack of power deployment. Sustained thrust in an EV is all about heat management, and Porsche engineered this Taycan for a 12.9-mile lap of the Nürburgring, whereas the Lucid uses all its thermal budget in a single lap of VIR. That's why the Taycan makes just 777 horsepower until you pull the right paddle to activate Attack mode—good for 10 seconds at a time. We paddled as much as we could, but the power boost can't be activated continuously, and occasionally, we got a "mode not available" message. Trying to keep tabs on this is more than a little distracting in the middle of a lap with an average speed above 90 mph.
In just about every other way, the Taycan behaves like a Porsche sports car: buttoned up, easy to drive quickly, no bad surprises. The active suspension keeps this hefty sedan hunkered down and the cornering unnaturally flat. The Lucid is more prone to oversteer and leans more in corners.
read the full storyThe slight right kink on VIR's Front Straight typically isn't an event. The usual process is to hold the pedal to the floor and keep smooth hands while tracking to the apex. But in the 1001-hp Lamborghini Revuelto, this can be one helluva moment.
Though the Revuelto weighs 4284 pounds, its monster V-12 and three electric motors deliver stupendous acceleration. After some self-affirmation and kissing a family portrait, we convince ourself the Lambo will be fine through the kink at wide-open throttle. Think again. This money-green wedge reaches serious speed as it bends into the kink. Keeping the throttle pinned at 160 mph sends the front end skating. Nope, we're not going flat-out today. Even after lifting slightly, getting back on the gas summons 168.4 mph on the Front Straight, the fastest of this year's crop.
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To lean on the words of the late Jim Morrison, "This is the end, beautiful friend." With electrification of the Porsche 718 Boxster/Cayman looming, this is likely the last suck-squeeze-bang-blow 718 we'll hear sing its way around VIR. And a glorious swan song it is.
The 718 Cayman GT4 RS returns, this time fortified by tuning outfitter Manthey Racing. The special chassis and aero elements include dive planes, four-way adjustable coil-overs to replace the standard electronically controlled dampers, stiffer front springs, and a larger rear wing that together create a claimed 176 additional pounds of downforce at 124 mph. Plus there are carbon-fiber aero covers for the rear wheels.
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After setting an impressive 2:44.3 lap last year—a new record for EVs and four-doors—why is the Lucid Air Sapphire back, and how did it turn into the fastest car of the year? Tires. Lucid now offers R-compound Pirelli P Zero Trofeo RS tires, tuned to Lucid's specifications, and combines the stickier rubber with updated calibrations to take advantage of them. This is the same tire Porsche fits to the Taycan Turbo GT, making the battle between the two top electric sedans about as even as they come, although the cars are quite different to drive.
"I think the regen braking just induced major oversteer in the Infield esses," testing director Dave VanderWerp reported to the Lucid team in the paddock after a particularly attention-grabbing moment. Calibration engineer Esther Unti instantly responded, "That's definitely a thing." This is a window into driving the Lucid, which is more raw than the Porsche, demanding skillful inputs from hands and feet. The looser handling setup is also deliberate to work the rear tires more and keep the fronts from overheating.
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Last year, we opened Lightning Lap to the Subaru AirSlayer and the Garage 56 Chevrolet Camaro and seemingly punched a hole into an alternate universe where megadownforce and grotesque displays of power rule the land. This time around, Ford wanted to show off its new pickup.
This is no ordinary pickup. The F-150 Lightning SuperTruck is the product of Ford Performance and Austrian-based STARD. It's built to show the potential of electric race vehicles in places such as Pikes Peak. Despite having to stop for nearly 30 seconds during its Pikes Peak run to reset its electrical systems, the SuperTruck was this year's King of the Hill.
Seemingly designed on another planet, the massive front splitter, rear diffuser, rear wing, and even the little winglets where the mirrors would be have the potential to create 6000 pounds of downforce at 150 mph. To move all that air requires colossal power, and the SuperTruck's four electric motors combine for a freight-train-like 2200 horsepower.
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Take a closer look at the team and machines that orchestrate our annual track test at Virginia International Raceway.
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