- Search Cartoons
- Comic Archive
-
Payne
Store
Henry Payne RSS
Payne: On Lightning Lap 2021, Corvette, Mustang GT500, Porsche EV shine
Posted by Talbot Payne on February 8, 2021
Mustang beat Lamborghini. A mid-engine Corvette is faster than a mid-engine Porsche. And an electric vehicle completed a full lap of Virginia International Raceway.
Those are some of the highlights of the 14th Annual Lightning Lap, Car and Driver’s benchmark for automotive performance at America’s most fearsome track in southern Virginia. Not just a contest for all-out speed, the rigorous test gives a snapshot of the auto industry’s current performance envelope.
Eighteen cars were chosen by the Ann Arbor-based enthusiast publication to compete in this year’s Lightning round, a selection of the latest, most-capable performance chariots in the U.S. market for 2021. Entrants were showroom-ready and ranged in price from $45,750 Mini John Cooper Works GP to the $429,190 McLaren 765LT. From the all-wheel-drive Subaru STI 209 to the all-wheel-drive Lamborghini Huracan Evo. And from the 330-horsepower, 2.3-liter Ford Mustang High Performance to the 760-horsepower, supercharged 6.2-liter Mustang Shelby GT500.
“Back in 2006, we chose VIR because its 4.1-mile Grand Course configuration is the closest thing we have in the U.S. to Germany’s brutal Nürburgring,” wrote Car and Drover editors. “These laps reveal a vehicle’s strengths and weaknesses and also the stories beyond the numbers. Still wondering why Chevrolet moved the Corvette’s engine from the front to the middle? The C8’s lap should clear things up.”
None of the new entrants set a lap record (that was achieved by the insane McLaren Senna back in 2019 at 2 minutes 34.9 seconds at an average speed of 134.5 mph) but this year’s stable did include the first electric car, the $189,940, 616-horsepower Porsche Taycan Turbo S ($205,360 as tested), to complete a lap of the rollercoaster circuit.
The Taycan managed to do what a Tesla Model S could not — the Model S went into limp mode in 2016, its battery unable to withstand the rigors of a full lap at full throttle. The 5,222-pound Taycan also became the fastest, 5,000-plus pound car (batteries are heavy) in Lightning’s history — besting the 5,120-pound Porsche Cayenne Turbo SUV.
“(Taycan) endured, without issue, our typical lapping schedule: a brisk out lap, a fast-as-you-dare hot lap followed by a cool-down, another hot lap, and then a cool-down before heading back to the pits,” wrote Dave Vanderwerp. “Starting with a full battery from an overnight charge, the Taycan landed at about 40% capacity after this routine, which, interestingly, is a burn rate on par with the (Mustang Shelby GT500). To find the battery’s limits, we did two consecutive flying laps once, which put enough heat in the battery to reduce power.”
one of the other 17 gas-fired cars ran out of gas in the course of the test. For 50 minutes on track the Taycan spent 4.5 hours recharging.
That highlights one of the challenges facing EVs as manufacturers and governments push an all-EV future. General Motors, for example, intends to convert its 3 million annual U.S. vehicle sales to battery power in 14 years by 2035. That’s six times the sales Tesla achieved in 2020 after 12 years in the market.
One of those GM cars targeted for electrification is the Chevy Corvette C8 which is currently powered by a throaty, 495-horse V-8 located — for the first time —behind the driver.
Not only did the mid-engine, $59,995 Corvette C8 ($86,865 as tested) smoke the last-generation, front-engine C7’s VIR lap time by 5 seconds, it bested the mid-engine, $114,450 Porsche Cayman GT4 ($118,600 as tested) — the only mid-engine sports car currently in Porsche’s lineup.
“An obsession with lap times is why the Corvette’s V-8 is now behind the front seats,” wrote C&D driving ace K.C. Colwell. “The move paid off, with the C8 lapping VIR 4.8 seconds quicker than its direct predecessor, the 2014 C7 Stingray, a car with an identical power-to-weight ratio.”Get the COVID-19 Update newsletter in your inbox.
Updates on how the coronavirus is affecting your community and the nationDelivery: VariesYour Email
Car and Driver found the mid-engine made the C8 more predictable through VIR’s labyrinth of writhing corners. Also credit inexhaustible brakes.
The ‘Vette proved its value equation as the most affordable super car on the planet. It bested the Porsche by 1.3 seconds around VIR’s 24 turns — and topped the time of the mid-engine, $203,100 Acura NSX Car and Driver tested in 2017.
Two other mid-engine European supercars in this year’s competition, the $429,190 McLaren 765LT and $334,969 Lamborghini Huracan Evo justified their sticker premiums (phew!) over the Corvette by turning quicker laps with the McLaren recording a 2021 best 2 minute, 38.4 seconds. FYI, its 175 mph on the front straight was an all-time Lightning record.
But the Lambo came up short against another sub-six-figure Detroit muscle car, the Mustang Shelby GT500. The most powerful pony to ever to roll off Flat Rock’s assembly line, the 760-horse, rear-wheel-driver beat the AWD Italian stallion by 4/10 of a second, 2.44.6 to 2.45 flat. Ouch.
Credit the Mustang’s feat in part to a 7-speed, dual-clutch transmission that is similar to that used in the Corvette. Made my Tremec, both automatic boxes snap off shifts in milliseconds — and have provoked cries of foul from enthusiasts who say muscle cars should be powered by stick shifts. Keeping up with European exotics requires exotic technology.
Other notables in this year’s test were the GT500’s cheaper cousin: the turbo-4 powered Mustang High Performance. For $42,070 ($37k base price), Junior lapped the course in 3.04.4.
Just a few tenths quicker was the fastest front-wheel-drive car ever at Lightning Lap: the Mini John Copper Works GP. With 301 horsepower, that’s one mighty Mini.