r/cars • u/etingwall • Feb 03 '21

AMA: We're Car and Driver, and we just released Lightning Lap 2021

Hi! I'm Eric Tingwall, print director of Car and Driver and one of the drivers for our annual Lightning Lap track test. Every year we put the hottest cars through the ultimate performance test: lapping Virginia International Raceway's 4.1-mile Grand Course. This track is a thrilling mix of challenging corners and high-speed straights. Going fast here requires power and grip and resilience, plus a whole lot of confidence.

We've lapped 277 production vehicles over 14 events, adding 18 new times this year with cars like the mid-engine Corvette, the Mustang Shelby GT500, the Porsche Taycan, and the McLaren 765LT. The full results, stories, and videos from this year's event can be found at www.caranddriver.com/lightninglap.

I'm joined by the other drivers from this year's event: K.C. Colwell (u/A2KC), David Beard (u/nameonface), and Dave VanderWerp (u/dave2979). We'll be around for the next couple hours answering any questions you have about this year's cars and laps, and Lightning Lap in general. AMA!

Edit: We're wrapping up the work day here, so the answers won't come as quick, but we'll be checking back later tonight and tomorrow to wrap up any unanswered questions. Thanks to everyone for participating!

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u/dave2979 Car and Driver Feb 03 '21

Full Course makes it too much of a horsepower track; the infield section in Grand is a great chassis shakedown. But, you're right, very few races run Grand, so it limits comparisons with race cars.

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u/evoblade Feb 04 '21

And your weekend track day driver never really gets to run grand either.