Yahoo Autos Lightning Lap 2015: The Year's Hottest Performance Cars Attack VIR!
From the October 2015 issue
These are times of big performance claims, and what better place to test them than at America's hairiest track? This year, we returned to Virginia International Raceway with 18 cars and a healthy dose of skepticism. It made us believers.
Classes and Results
LL1 (up to $34,999)
LL2 ($35,000—$64,999)
LL3 ($65,000—$124,999)
LL1 Class Slideshow
LL2 Class Slideshow
LL3 Class Slideshow
LL4 ($125,000—$244,999)
LL5 ($245,000 and above)
VIR: Results and Historical Lap Times
LL4 Class Slideshow
LL5 Class Slideshow
Fastest Sedans Ever Slideshow
360° Virtual-Reality Video
2016 Cadillac CTS-V
2016 Mercedes-AMG GT S
2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata Club
Lightning Lap Extras
Ezra Dyer: Journey to Lap-Land
Q&A: Corvette Engineer Jim Mero
Subjecting an Average Car to the Perils of Lightning Lap
M
onths before our annual pilgrimage to Virginia International Raceway (VIR), every participating editor experiences some variation of the following nightmare: We can’t bring our lap times down; P Zeros and Super Sports won’t grip. Then storm clouds appear from nowhere and a steady rain begins to fall, leaving a layer of water on the track indicating that we’re done, total failure, no lap times to bring back home. Instead of this story, we publish 12 pages of men’s hair-product ads and right before we awaken with a silent scream, our pants vanish and our fourth-grade teacher appears, slapping a torque wrench against her open palm.
Alas, it’s just a dream, but our three waking days at VIR are only slightly less stressful. As yet, though, nobody has lost any pants.
Every year we gather the hottest new performance cars, group them by base price including performance-enhancing options rather than size or power, and then reduce them to lap times. The point, as ever, is to see how much performance integrity these street cars actually offer, how much true dynamic value you get for the dollar. VIR, specifically the Grand West Course, is our crucible of choice. A winding, hilly track engraved into a lush southern Virginia forest, the 4.1-mile configuration offers 24 corners and countless ways to screw up. With debilitating speed limits now in place at the Nürburgring, many carmakers, including Dodge, Ford, and GM, have come to VIR as their track of record, too. But we were here first.
This year, four editors divvied up a group of 18 cars. We ran through our assignments, methodically trying to extract the best lap time out of each machine. We check each other’s times, too, and usually find that we’re within a half-second of one another.
Part of the reason we’re up at night is the pressure of having to learn a car in a few laps. Where to brake, where to shift, and when the throttle is safe to crack open are points as varied as each car’s behavior at the limit. Plus, we have to find speed without hurting the car or ourselves, erasing time from each lap. On some cars, we have one go at it, maybe two, to score the best time before fresh tires fade out. A single mistake can blow the opportunity.
But we’ve done this before. Eight times, actually. For this, the ninth Lightning Lap, a couple of last-minute dropouts, including a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat, reduced our usual fleet of 20 or so down to the 18 before you. Rest assured, if you don’t see it here, we’ve either already tested it or we asked for it and were politely told, “No.” Yes, we requested a Ferrari LaFerrari and a McLaren P1. Both companies replied that they didn’t have cars available for our test.
This year, the cars priced like mortgages are the $353,115 McLaren 650S Spider and the $274,120 Lamborghini Huracán LP610-4. At the other end of the spectrum sits the new $33,320 Mazda MX-5 Miata.
After two and a half days spent circling VIR, we posted some of our quickest times ever. Lightning Lap might wrack our nerves and keep us up, but it’s also one of the best workweeks anyone can imagine. It’s a rare instance of reality far exceeding the dream.
Lightning Lap 2015: Behind the Scenes Video
Spotlight Video: Cadillac CTS-V and ATS-V
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