General Hospital Tuesday, May 19, 2026 | General Hospital Spoilers

Czinger 21C VMax: A 1,250-HP Rocket That Bends Reality For the longest time, the automotive world has been waiting for Czinger to deliver on its promises. The father-son duo of Kevin and Lukas Czinger have been talking about this hypercar for years, and we finally got our chance to drive the 21C VMax on a three-day road rally. We’ve already told you about the track story, but what’s it like to drive this $2.5 million spaceship on a 500-mile trek? A Visit to the Future I’ve never needed a U.S. passport to enter a car factory before, but then again, Czinger isn’t like any other car company. The parent company, Divergent Technologies, uses AI and massive 3D printers to create incredibly light and strong mechanical components. That military ID was required because Divergent supplies parts to the Department of Defense, and trust me, some of the hardware looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. I was given a tour by the CEO, Lukas Czinger, and seeing one of the huge printers was mind-blowing. Lasers were fusing powdered aluminum into automotive parts that looked like bird bones. It felt like stepping into the future. Lukas explained that Divergent’s technology reaches the “Pareto optimal,” the point where adding or removing a single gram actually hurts the design. For example, when engineers need a part to hold a rear suspension damper’s remote reservoir, they feed the software the space limitations and required forces. The AI iterates through hundreds of thousands of designs to find the lightest, strongest shape—evolution on fast-forward. Besides the military, nine automotive OEMs use Divergent for 3D-printed parts. Aston Martin, Bugatti, and McLaren are the only ones that admit it, but the Ferrari F80’s control arms sure look suspicious. The Rocket Ship Cabin Czinger builds two versions of the same basic car: the high-downforce, track-focused 21C and the wingless, long-tailed VMax. The VMax is technically called the 21C VMax, but the number doesn’t appear on the car. For the inaugural Velocity Tour, a 500-mile rally through California’s wine country, I found myself piloting a silver VMax. I say “piloting” because the cabin feels more like a jet fighter canopy than a traditional car. Czinger claims it’s like flying a jet, and while I haven’t flown a fighter jet, I have ridden in an Extra 330LT stunt plane, and the feeling is similar. There’s glass less than a foot from both sides of your head, offering incredible visibility. Getting in and out, however, is ridiculous: You sit with your legs out on the massive sill, pull your knees up, spin on your butt, and tuck your feet into the footwell, then duck your head under the roof. Hybrid Powerhouse The massive sills house the batteries, as the 21C VMax is a hybrid hypercar. Each sill has 2.2 kWh of battery power, totaling 4.4 kWh. It’s not a plug-in hybrid; a motor powered by the mid-mounted V8 keeps the pack charged. Those batteries deliver 500 horsepower to the front axle, with one motor per wheel. The combustion engine is a Czinger-designed 2.9-liter twin-turbo V8 making 750 hp on 91-octane gas. Dump in 100-octane race fuel, and the power increases to 850 hp. The small but mighty engine can also run on ethanol for even more power, but Czinger hasn’t released those figures yet—we’re betting on a 10% increase. The gas engine powers the rear wheels through an Xtrac single-clutch automated semi-sequential gearbox. It’s similar to the Xtrac seven-speed Pagani uses in the Utopia, but Czinger 3D prints the transmission case and uses small 48-volt electric motors to smooth out low-speed shifts, eliminating the lurchiness typical of automated single-clutch transmissions. The twin-barrel actuators work flawlessly in low-speed situations, something I was thankful to discover when navigating gas stations, restaurants, and hotel parking lots. Seriously, bravo, Czinger. Track Dominance What never felt normal was the guy sitting behind me for the entire day. Like Bugatti and Pagani do with their big-dollar cars, Czinger put a professional driver, Evan Jacobs, in the car with me to make sure I didn’t drive the $2.5 million machine off a cliff. Thankfully, later that night, Jacobs assured the Czinger team I was no threat and I could drive solo for the rest of the rally. We stopped by Laguna Seca for some parade laps, but for whatever reason, non-Czinger employees weren’t allowed to drive the VMax on track, even at the brutally slow pace we were restricted to. As I’ve learned the hard way, if you can’t drive, at least enjoy the ride. I scrambled into the bizarre rear seat, and the first thing to know is that if you have big calves or feet, the rear seat isn’t comfortable. My XXL calves were wedged between the carbon-fiber tub and the seat, and my feet didn’t fit well either. However, the visibility through the side glass is incredible. Again, it reminded me of a stunt plane and was a truly novel way to experience riding around a track—something I’ve done more than 1,000 times. This was especially true when Jacobs and I convinced the Skip Barber Racing School staff (whose track day we crashed) to let him take the VMax for a couple of “6/10ths” hot laps. The most impressive hot lap I’ve ever experienced was riding shotgun in an Aston Martin Valkyrie LMH race car, during which I could feel the blood pooling in my extremities under braking. The Czinger VMax is now second on that list, and remember, Jacobs wasn’t even going full tilt. Even at less than the limit and without the big-downforce rear wing, it was easy to understand how the Czinger 21C achieved the California Gold Rush—setting five production car track records at Thunder Hill, Sonoma Raceway, Laguna Seca, Willow Springs, and the Thermal Club in five days, driving from track to track in between. Czinger later returned to Laguna Seca to not only beat its own record but reclaim the throne from a track-special Koenigsegg Jesko Sadair’s Spear. That lap time, a ridiculous 1 minute, 22.30 seconds, is quicker than the fastest MotoAmerica Superbike lap ever recorded at Laguna, a 1:22.56. Czinger claims a vehicle weight of approximately 3,600 pounds, which is pretty light for a 1,250-hp hybrid. For context, the Ferrari SF90 Stradale Asseto Fiorano—the highest-performance version of a three-motor twin-turbo V8 PHEV that only makes 986 hp—weighs 3,839 pounds. The new Lamborghini Temerario is another three-motor, twin-turbo V8 (making less power but the comparison stands) that pushes past two tons at 4,185 pounds. Now’s a good time to mention that the SF90 and Temerario are the two quickest-accelerating gasoline-powered cars MotorTrend has ever tested (the Ferrari for 0–60 mph and the Lambo for the quarter mile). If Czinger’s weight claim is accurate, the unorthodox California startup has managed to beat two Italian legends with its first car. That’s remarkable on its own but especially noteworthy considering Southern California isn’t exactly known for supercar building expertise. In other words, L.A. isn’t exactly Modena. Driving the Rocket The route chosen for the rally consisted mostly of true back roads. Tight, winding, lousy, weather-beaten pavement—not the type of asphalt hypercar dream trips are made of. Plus, there was a lot of following the pack, navigating to lunch and coffee stops, and hanging with the camera car. I was perhaps a bit disappointed at the time, but in retrospect, what I got out of the experience is what most owners will experience while living with a Czinger. To my surprise, the VMax was mostly like driving any other hyper-exotic. Take everything out of your pockets as the seats are tight, drink your water before you get in as there aren’t any cupholders, and numb yourself to the fact that almost everyone else on the road, especially males between the ages of 16 and 24, will be looking at you, following you, waving at you, and revving at you, all while (probably) screaming friendly obscenities. Regardless, the Czinger rides much better than I figured it would; the team deserves applause for not making it overly stiff. Even the air conditioning works well. If I have any complaint about the “just driving around doing normal stuff” aspect of the VMax, it’s simply how loud the cabin is. I’m not talking about the sound of the unique V-8, but rather there seems to be a complete lack of sound deadening. That’s great on a dedicated track car like the other version of the 21C but an annoying oversight on a road car like the VMax. It becomes especially apparent