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Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Behind the Scenes at Lightning Lap 2025
You've heard the expression, "It takes a village." This is the 18th year we've made the trek from our editorial headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan for a week of fast lap times around the 4.1-mile Grand Course at Virginia International Raceway. This year, we entered 13 performance cars into the gauntlet. Nobody wants to work from home during Lightning Lap, and it takes a lot of GoPros, lap timers, tires, and snacks to get the job done. Here's a look at the people and machines behind the scenes of this year's annual track test. BACK TO LIGHTNING LAP 2025 Each car has a checklist before it leaves the paddock: Are the GoPros running? Is the SD card pushed into the Racelogic VBOX lap timer? Are the tire pressures set? And please honk the horn to sync the video! There are two GoPros mounted to each vehicle to capture every curb-eating attempt at a good time. Although the quickest laps are completed in just a few minutes, after three track days, there are terabytes of footage. The 771-hp Bentley Continental GT Speed suckling from the teat of VIR's electrical grid. Pit lane runs parallel to VIR's front straightaway. Automakers who send engineers and PR folks use the stairwell from the paddock garage above to get to the pits, where they will often adjust tire pressures and run a stopwatch of their own. Our social media team worked feverishly to answer every question posted by our Instagram followers. If you're a grilled-cheese sandwich and managing testing editor David Beard is giving you this look: run. Our video and photo crew work out of the same paddock garages IMSA's race teams do. Sometimes, there is tape left on the concrete from engineers of race weekends past. This year, we found a green dinosaur sticker from AO Racing's "Rexy" Porsche 911 GT3 team. Fitting, because there was no shortage of green cars this year. Photographers are required to wear a harness while strapped into the photo vehicle during car-to-car photography. It's there to prevent them from accidentally falling out. But if staff photographer Marc Urbano wants to wear it casually as a fashion accessory, we won't stop him. Associate testing editor Gannon Burgett (left) and video editor Alex Malburg (right) have mounted enough GoPros to Lightning Lap cars to know that putting the camera on the roof—and out of the travel of the windshield wipers—is the right way to do it. There's more than 6500 horsepower among the cars in this image. And that's without including the 266-hp Subaru Ascent rental car in the background. The 276-hp Hyundai Elantra N rests on a set of QuickJack portable car lifts as it awaits a new set of rubber. Editor-in-chief Tony Quiroga refers to Lightning Lap as "employee retention week." Just before technical editor Austin Irwin was about to pursue his dream of becoming the world's greatest (and potentially largest) tap dancer, the opportunity to set a hot lap steered him back. Yet, he still got to dance. That moment when someone says, "Lunch is ready." If "Guys Being Dudes" were a band, this would be the album cover. Buyer's Guide director Rich Ceppos has spent a lifetime in cars. He competed in the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1987. He wrote the tested review of the $400,000 Ferrari F40 in 1991. And he's had his name on the Car and Driver masthead for more than 20 years. What does a guy like Rich think about when he's waiting to set a fast lap in fast cars? "Did I really lock my hotel key in my room?!" We use toy cars to help set up and practice the giant group shot for the magazine cover. Not even joking, that's how we do it. Road warrior Jacob Kurowicki cheeses for the camera after forcefully declaring, "Cars are more exciting on two wheels, damn it!" Editor-in-chief Tony Quiroga's first Lightning Lap was in 2008. Then, he set a time in a Chevrolet Cobalt SS. Today, he's helping a new driver get up to speed around VIR's daunting road course. Towers of Pirelli P Zero Trofeo RS tires waiting to be scrubbed beneath the 5319-pound Lucid Air Sapphire. There are 24 turns to tackle within VIR's Grand Course layout. They lay within five sectors and have names like NASCAR Bend, Climbing Esses, Oak Tree, Bitch, and Roller Coaster. Getting a car through each of these without a mistake can be nerve-racking. These frenemies shared a rented generator and DC fast-charger to keep topped up on energy. The Lucid Air Sapphire would later set a time that put it into the all-time top 10. The Porsche Taycan Turbo GT would slice 13.4 seconds off the last Taycan we ran here. Vehicle testing director Dave VanderWerp, chatting up the Porsche team about attacking VIR—er, about when to pull the right paddle to unleash the Taycan Turbo GT's 10-second blast of 937 horsepower. Drivers go out. Drivers burn rubber. Drivers come in. Drivers pore over track data to pinpoint where they must drive faster. Tire warmers tell you just how badly Porsche wanted a good lap time out of what's likely the last gas-powered Cayman. From left to right: 9000-rpm redline, 937 horsepower, 937 horsepower again. What a 205/45R-17 tire from a Mazda MX-5 Miata Club looks like against the 345/30ZRF-21 rear artillery from a Lamborghini Revuelto. The Cayman 718 GT4 RS MR reached 1.23 g's through Turn 1. Checking in on tire pressures is key to maintaining wildly sticky grip around VIR. David Beard's live reaction after being told there were no more grilled-cheese sandwiches. Another beautiful year of Lightning Lap is in the books! 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!
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
2024 Mazda MX-5 Miata Club at Lightning Lap 2025
From the March/April 2025 issue of Car and Driver. Class: LL1 | Base: $38,470 | As Tested: $39,065 Power and Weight: 181 hp • 2350 lb • 13.0 lb/hp Tires: Bridgestone Potenza S001; 205/45R-17 84W 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. Much of that stability is due to the Club's new limited-slip differential (also on the Grand Touring manual). It increases the amount of lock under braking, helping to keep the rear end stable and secure. It's now easier to get the most out of the brakes when you stand on them at 116.7 mph barreling into Turn 1 and at 109.8 mph on the Back Straight. The retuned steering rack increases sensitivity to inputs. It's so sensitive that we goofed up the entry to the Climbing Esses a few times before settling in and getting it right. When you do get it right, the Miata will let you keep the throttle steady all the way through the uphill climb. Get it wrong and stray too far into the curbing, and the light and softly sprung Miata gets upset and requires some gathering up. A few laps were botched by our left kneecap pressing into the stability-control on/off switch. Of the settings, we found DSC-Track to be as lenient as the rules at Grandma's house. It allows for plenty of freedom, such as a quick and controllable slide down the entry of Hog Pen. A few corners before that, in the last long, sweeping, left-right corners of the Infield, the Miata engages in an amusing oversteer. Keeping the momentum is critical since the Miata can't make up much time with its engine, but the little two-seater happily obliges as it leans and bounces off from one curb to the next. The saying "Fun cars don't have to be fast" rings true. Over nearly 10 years, the current generation, dubbed ND, has chipped away at lap times. In 2015, the first ND Miata we ran at Lightning Lap, with 155 horsepower on tap, posted a 3:20.8. When the ND2 added 26 horses, the retractable-hardtop RF model sliced off 3.6 seconds. And while power is unchanged in this updated ND3, its chassis tweaks have shaved another 1.6 seconds and moved it ahead on the leaderboard. Back 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!
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
View Photos of Lightning Lap 2025
read the full story Now in its 18th year, Car and Driver's Lightning Lap establishes benchmark lap times for the top performance cars across all price categories. VIR's grueling 4.1-mile Grand Course functions as America's Nürburging, and the lap times here provide the ultimate measure of a vehicle's overall performance. 2025 Bentley Continental GT Speed 2025 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing 2024 Hyundai Elantra N 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N 2024 Lamborghini Revuelto 2024 Lucid Air Sapphire 2025 Mazda MX-5 Miata Club 2025 McLaren Artura Spider 2024 Mercedes-AMG GT63 Coupe 2023 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Manthey Racing 2025 Porsche Taycan Turbo GT 2024 Subaru BRZ tS 2025 Subaru WRX tS 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!
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Video: Best Grand Tourers of 2025 and Performance Car of the Year Voting
Grand touring cars are suited to double as performance vehicles better than ever before. That means this year, our Performance Car of the Year test had a number of potent GT cars filling the contender spots. After wrapping up track duty at Thunderhill West, editor-at-large Matt Farah took the Aston Martin Vantage, Bentley Continental GT Speed, Maserati GranTurismo Trofeo, and Mercedes-AMG GT 63 out for a head-to-head road comparison to see which takes the cake. To wrap it all up, our senior editorial staff gathered to vote on the overall PCOTY 2025 winner. Stick around through the full video to see who won and how we decided. Let us know in the comments below which car you would want to take home from our PCOTY 2025 test. You Might Also Like You Need a Torque Wrench in Your Toolbox Tested: Best Car Interior Cleaners The Man Who Signs Every Car
