Hot Lap Video: Czinger’s 21C Is an Alien That Keeps On Breaking Lap Records
The Czinger 21C has set a production-car lap record at multiple venues. Chuckwalla is just the latest star on its resumé.
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Some people believe aliens taught the ancient Egyptians how to build the pyramids. Dunno about all that, but we’re basically convinced Czinger got its hands on some alien tech when designing the 21C. It’s madness in tandem-seat hypercar form. It also makes 1,250 hp and has set the production car lap record on every track it’s been driven on (it’s since been barely bested at a couple). Can pro racer Andy Pilgrim continue that tradition?
Yes. The Czinger set yet another racetrack record, this time on its first lap out. The previous lap time of 1 minute, 47:18 seconds was held by a 992-generation Porsche 911 GT3 RS, now displaced by the Czinger's 1:46.55
Down the front straight, the Czinger 21C hits a Vmax of 142.4 mph. That’s not only ferociously quick on such a short circuit, but it bests the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1X by more than 4 mph.
However, the Corvette briefly pokes ahead of the 21C through the kink at Turn 1. It’s a good back-and-forth joust between the two cars all the way through Turn 6.
After that, Turn 7’s big bend means the Chevy gets caught in its own understeer.
Stopping is another area where the Czinger excels. Its braking is bonkers, in fact, producing an unheard of 1.72 g’s of deceleration. This is why you want so much electric torque on those front wheels, to quickly get the car back up to speed again.
Speaking of speed, the Czinger also has a 3-mph-higher minimum track speed than the mightiest Corvette, which we think is due to its massive aerodynamic advantage, producing nearly four times as much downforce as the ZR1X.
Because of this, the 21C is capable of 1.77 g’s of lateral acceleration—a ridiculous number that bests the Corvette’s best of 1.5.
So yes, the 21C goes faster, stops harder, carries more speed through corners, and accelerates quicker. Which is why this car has set the production car lap record on every single racetrack it’s driven on, including during our State of American Performance party at Chuckwalla.
