On February 7, our 16th annual Lightning Lap will be streamed online. This year, we used 17 vehicles, including a convertible, a minivan, and a highly maneuverable sports car owned by one of our editors. Do you yearn for the freedom to plan your schedule? Join us at Virginia International Raceway on May 10 for a track event based on the movie Lightning Lap. The 4.1-mile Grand Course loop at Virginia International Raceway has been a tough place to test cars for the past 16 years. Over 300 vehicles have been tested in that time, including the third Lexus LFA ever made, a top-of-the-line Mosler MT900S, and even a few police cruisers. The answers from this year’s group are essential. Do you want to know how the brand-new Honda Civic Type R and the Chevrolet Corvette Z06, both of which have 670 horsepower, performed? We know what to do. We put our long-term Kia Carnival minivan through its paces to answer any questions about how fast “normal” cars can lap. One of our editors, who used to be a track star, was sent to time how long it takes to walk around VIR. We will answer many more questions and show videos when we release the complete Lightning Lap package on February 7. If you used a QR code from the print edition to get to this page, we’re sorry that the videos aren’t up yet. On the other hand, those links will work after everything is published on the 7th. As a thank you for your patience, onboard videos of the 17 competitors’ fastest lap times will be made available. The editors who struggled to drive the fastest laps will comment on the recordings, which will also be posted on the Car and Driver YouTube account. We want you to join us on May 10 at VIR to compete for your Lightning Lap glory if you can do better. We won’t say much more than that there were a few surprises. A small performance SUV did better than some of our favorite hot hatchbacks from the past. A new electric vehicle (EV) easily beat the time that Tesla had set. The Z06 also finished with the fastest Porsches and McLarens we’ve ever raced. We arranged a meeting time in a minivan. Did you hear us? We’ve made a list of every car at this year’s race to make things more interesting. If you follow us on Instagram, you might have seen what we put the Racelogic timing equipment on in October. The Lightning Lap from the year before is also worth seeing. Expert armchair analysts and people who play sports on the weekends like to joke about the five classes of players (ordered by the pricing of the automobiles with options).
