It’s believed that James Madison strode the White House and the War of 1812 was rapidly becoming the War of 1813 when an oak sapling poked through the soil in a southern Virginia meadow to witness its first sunrise and splash of rainwater. The tree’s shadow steadily grew as nearby Danville’s cotton mills and tobacco warehouses thrived on slave labor, as the vanquished Confederates retreated from advancing Yankees, and, a century later, as water cannons blasted civil rights marchers.
In 1957, a bunch of North Carolina racers cut a track around the tree, the majestic oak on the hill standing as the farthest and highest point of a long, meandering, European-style circuit. Life for the tree got a lot noisier as the cars apexed directly under its arching boughs before blatting back toward the pits and the crowds. For a while, peace returned as the track fell into disuse. But in 2000, the place revived, and some very fast machines again screamed under its leafy canopy.
A year ago last July, the old oak fell over and died. Hearts broke, and attempts were made to clone the tree with a replacement. In the meantime, nothing remains but a bare patch on a rise at the far end of Virginia International Raceway (VIR). They still call the corner “Oak Tree” and probably always will, but without the visual reference of that old friend, the turn is harder and rather less gratifying.
Alas, things change.
With our eighth Lightning Lap assembly of the current automotive elite, other things have changed as well, though not significantly. The goal remains to go flat-out in our market’s fastest new cars and set benchmark lap times on this, one of the longest road courses in North America at 4.1 miles. But this year we dispensed with any special classes, such as for cop cars. We considered airport tugs and lawn equipment, but ended up with a fairly straightforward set of 25 cars arrayed in five classes defined strictly by price. The bookends are the $25,610 Ford Fiesta ST in our LL1 class and the $875,175 Porsche 918 Spyder in LL5.
We also reconfigured our sectors to create better resolution, now stacking each one so that together the sectors comprise a complete lap [see Results and Sector Times]. Before, we counted sector times only as individual, noncontiguous segments with two- to three-second spreads from the quickest car to the slowest. The new method now has longer sectors with spreads of up to 10 seconds and allows those who wade deeply into our extensive tables (painstakingly rendered by people who don’t get enough credit but will get a pizza lunch out of it, eventually) to more easily determine where each car stands relative to another as the lap progresses.
Having been rained on repeatedly during our usual September/October dates, we scheduled this event for May. We still feared precipitation but got blessedly little over our three full days of hot lapping. And every time we turned into Oak Tree (soon to be renamed Doritos Jacked Enchilada Supreme Flavored Oak Tree we’re told), we thought of the arboreal spirit that once inhabited this idyllic place.
Rulebook
All of our contenders are unmodified production cars, just as your local dealer would deliver them. We set tire pressures to factory recommendations and record our laps with Racelogic GPS data loggers that are nearly identical to the hardware with which we test every other car you see on these pages. For LL, we request cars equipped with all available performance-enhancing options to achieve the best possible results from any given vehicle. Optional equipment is included in the prices posted here. We moved the price breaks up $5000 this year to reflect inflation. All the prices and class boundaries are found in the chart at the bottom of this page.
LL1 (Up to $35,000)
Don’t conflate this year’s slowest time with last place. Despite its standing as the cheapest and least powerful car in this year’s scrum, the 2720-pound Fiesta ST ranks near the front of the pack in terms of sheer fun.
Despite the new platform, the new sheetmetal, and the new engine, the new GTI is largely the same genre-defining car that Volkswagen has been polishing for decades. Notice that this 2015 model also achieves roughly the same power, same weight, and the exact same 3:19.3 lap time as the 2010 GTI.
Ford Focus ST – LL1, 3:17.6
At our last Lightning Lap, the Focus ST’s chance at a competitive time was crushed along with its key fob, which we ran over partway through the first day of testing. This year we took a mulligan and squirreled the fob safely inside the storage console for the duration of the event. With three days of lapping, we whittled the Focus ST’s time down by nearly four seconds from its previous best of 3:21.4.
Subaru WRX – LL1, 3:15.5
For a car born with mud in its wheel wells, the WRX is quite at home on pavement—er, tarmac. For this new iteration, Subaru swapped out dull hydraulic steering for a lively electrically assisted rack (now that’s a four-word cluster you don’t hear very often), and the six-speed manual—up from five previously—follows shorter and more-precise throws. Most noticeably, there’s a stiffer body structure bolted to a significantly tauter suspension. It all adds up to a one-second improvement over the outgoing WRX’s Lightning Lap time.
LL2 ($35,000–$64,999)
The original Lexus IS F was an impressive and imposing house built on sand. The structure wasn’t stiff enough, the steering wasn’t organic enough, and the resulting handling wasn’t lively enough. Dumping a big V-8 into the IS made it faster, but not much more charming to drive than the regular IS.
Subaru WRX STI – LL2, 3:10.5
If you like to jump to conclusions, you already know that Subaru punted on the new WRX STI. You know that this car uses a decade-old 2.5-liter flat-four that doesn’t even eke out another five lousy horsepower. And, most of all, you know—just know—that your opinion is right and should be buckshot-scattered across the internet.
BMW M235i – LL2, 3:07.2
Ever wonder what it’d be like to drive out of a showroom in a brand-new E46 M3? This is as close as you’ll ever get. Sure, the M235i is a lot heavier; all cars are. And maybe the electrification and robotizing of everything in the 21st century has chilled some intimacy out of the experience. But this semi-compact coupe with the big six is the finest fusion of track-day toy and commuting joy you can buy.
Cadillac CTS Vsport – LL2, 3:06.8
We had to keep reminding ourselves that the Cadillac CTS Vsport has 420 horsepower. Part of the problem is perspective. Jump from a 577-hp Mercedes-Benz E63 into the twin-turbo CTS and suddenly the Vsport—a car capable of zero to 60 in 4.6 seconds—feels a little pokey. But a VIR lap time of 3:06.8 isn’t pokey. In fact, that puts the CTS just one-tenth of a second off the 550-hp Jaguar XFR-S’s time.
Mercedes-Benz CLA45 AMG – LL2, 3:05.9
The CLA45 AMG has the point-and-shoot character of the Nissan GT-R, albeit with a couple of plug wires pulled.
Chevrolet Corvette Stingray – LL2, 2:53.8
With great steering and handling, the latest Corvette is a highly engaging road car. But aside from a few laps at GM’s Milford Road Course and the very short Streets of Willow Springs circuit in California, we hadn’t spent much time hustling a C7 around a track. Until this year’s LL Thrash-a-palooza, that is.
LL3 ($65,000–$124,999)
Jaguar is reaching a bit with this muscle sedan, which is more than twice the price of the base XF and $15,800 dearer than the XFR. One thing you get with the hyphen-S is another 40 horsepower, and VIR is the place to put it to work. The S went around the track’s 23 bends just over two seconds quicker than the regular R.
Audi RS7 – LL3, 3:03.0
Sharknado, a cautionary tale about removing predators from their natural environment, is an apt metaphor for the Audi RS7. This 560-hp luxury bullet, so buffed and menacing, so unquestionably the top of the boulevard food chain, becomes a messy B-movie horror show on a track. We thought of nothing but escape, but cooler heads prevented us from using a chain saw to cut ourselves out of it.
Porsche Cayman S – LL3, 3:02.6
If we had to choose a car with which to learn VIR, we’d pick a Porsche Cayman S with carbon-ceramic brake rotors. Some cars take to the track and set your hair on fire; the Cayman hits the track and warms your heart with stability and playfulness.
Jaguar F-type R Coupe – LL3, 3:01.0
Match.com would pair fans of lurid, ass-out oversteer with the F-type R coupe every time. With its stability control switched off, the F-type is ever eager to drop into drift mode. Such tail-wagging looks impressive and it’s fun, but it’s not the fast way around VIR. Running a 3:01.0 lap in the F-type requires suppressing the urge to engage in time-robbing rotation.
BMW M4 – LL3, 3:00.7
The last M3 equipped with a dual-clutch automatic didn’t perform all that well at VIR. It was reluctant to comply with our demands, specifically for downshifts. We made sure to note transmission performance after BMW told us it would provide yet another dual-clutch M car for this year’s Lightning Lap.
Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG S-Model – LL3, 3:00.1
The Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG S-model feels a lot like a nuclear-powered king-size water bed—probably. Soft, comfortable, and fun to jump on, the E63 has a 577-hp reactor under the hood that dials up sweat-inducing speeds with ease, but its four-wheel-drive chassis sloshes around whenever you change direction. Still, it turned a stunning 3:00.1 lap, 6.8 seconds quicker than the 518-hp, rear-drive E63 we tested back in 2011.
Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 – LL3, 2:50.9
Please stop writing in to tell us that a $75,000 Camaro is as ridiculous as a solid-gold snowplow. Get this: In Turn One, the Z/28 matched the Porsche 918 by posting 1.16 g’s, the highest grip we’ve ever recorded in that corner. Another unfunny fact, at least to Porschephiles: In the uphill esses, a Camaro topped the 918’s average and exit speeds.
LL4 ($125,000–$244,999)
Anybody who doesn’t purse his or her lips upon hearing this Jag’s $174,925 price officially has too much money. True, Jaguar has never built budget cars, but this goes well beyond a banker’s indulgence. This is Jag’s uniquely loud and rather race-boyish answer to the SL63 AMG, the 911 Turbo, and other tip-top models from luxury nameplates. It is a taste of what Jag wishes to be—and the prices it hopes to charge—once the stars are realigned by future product plans.
Mercedes-Benz SL63 AMG – LL4, 2:59.1
Judging by its appearance and specs, we didn’t expect the SL63 AMG, with nearly 53 percent of its 4033 pounds over its long nose, to be up for, well, turning. And we were right. This isn’t a young man’s sports car. Never has been. But provided you go into corners slowly, the SL63 can turn a staggeringly fast lap.
Audi R8 V-10 Plus – LL4, 2:57.5
The “Plus” in this R8’s name indicates, among other things, that the Lamborghini-spec V-10 smears another 25 horsepower onto the standard car’s 525-horse mill. Though it’s richer in power, this car’s appearance at Lightning Lap is poorly timed. Our LL4 category usually has about three representatives. This time, it’s flush with heavy hitters purpose-built for the circuit.
Porsche 911 Turbo S – LL4, 2:51.2
Considering the speed produced by its 560-hp twin-turbocharged six, the Turbo S never comes across as a threat. For one, you can see the 911’s nose, the track, the track workers, and the sky. Some of that is useful to a quick lap. But a bigger slice of confidence comes from the calmness that the robots engineered into this car’s chassis. Dynamic anti-roll bars cancel body list, adaptive powertrain mounts clamp down on the engine and transaxle’s movement, four-wheel steering stabilizes cornering, a seven-speed dual clutch shifts perfectly every time, and the four-wheel-drive system makes it possible to go to full power earlier than you can with rear-wheel drive. Putting your foot down and letting the car’s electronics figure out the rest is a classic GT-R pilot’s move, now available from Porsche.
SRT Viper TA – LL4, 2:49.9
When car journos get together, a perennial conversation hobbyhorse is how crude and intimidating the Viper is compared with the Corvette or Europe’s computerized speedsters. But as with Excalibur, the legendary sword that is somewhat handicapped by its attached boulder, the Viper is a fearsome weapon once the right hands get a grip on it.
Nissan GT-R NISMO – LL4, 2:49.4
Nissan refuses to allow the GT-R to swan off into quiet obsolescence, hence this 600-hp model. Because more horsepower is exactly what the GT-R needs.
LL5 ($250,000 and above)
The front straight at VIR doesn’t usually tell you much. But in the case of the F12, that track section is highly revealing, about both you and the car.
Porsche 918 Spyder – LL5, 2:43.1
The 918 cracks 170 mph just after the main-straight kink, meaning that this slight bend, virtually unnoticed in the other cars, is a gut-knotting 1.0-g turn at 165 mph. One g at 165! That’s a number from real racing, the kind that has girls with umbrellas and live TV coverage. Needless to say, working up our nerve in this nearly million-dollar, 887-hp hybrid took some time.
New, Bright, and Shiny
This year, we supplemented our usual VBOX test gear with two examples of Racelogic’s newest toy, the VBOX LapTimer. We like that it records GPS data in fine 20-Hz resolution and that it writes directly to an SD card. It also looks pro-grade, with an anodized aluminum case, LED display, and industrial-grade LEMO connectors. At $1050, this is the priciest unit that Racelogic makes for the gentleman racer. At least the predictive lap timing, a program that displays a plus or minus bogey in real time on the screen, and the analysis software are also included. www.vboxmotorsport.com
K.C. Colwell is Car and Driver's executive editor, who covers new cars and technology with a keen eye for automotive nonsense and with what he considers to be great car sense, which is a humblebrag. On his first day at C/D in 2004, he was given the keys to a Porsche 911 by someone who didn't even know if he had a driver's license. He also is one of the drivers who set fast laps at C/D's annual Lightning Lap track test.
Eric Tingwall holds degrees in mechanical engineering and journalism, a combination he pursued with the dream of working at Car and Driver. While living his dream, he has cut car parts in half, driven into a stationary dummy car at 50 mph, lapped Virginia International Raceway in the hottest performance cars, and explained the physics behind the wacky, waving, inflatable, flailing-arm tube man.
Tony Quiroga is a 20-year-veteran Car and Driver editor, writer, and car reviewer and the 19th editor-in-chief for the magazine since its founding in 1955. He has subscribed to Car and Driver since age six. "Growing up, I read every issue of Car and Driver cover to cover, sometimes three or more times. It's the place I wanted to work since I could read," Quiroga says. He moved from Automobile Magazine to an associate editor position at Car and Driver in 2004. Over the years, he has held nearly every editorial position in print and digital, edited several special issues, and also helped produce C/D's early YouTube efforts. He is also the longest-tenured test driver for Lightning Lap, having lapped Virginia International Raceway's Grand Course more than 2000 times over 12 years.
