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The Czinger 21C VMax: A Hypercar That Bends Physics, and the Road For years, the automotive world has been buzzing about Czinger. Founded by Kevin and Lukas Czinger in Southern California, this company has been pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in a road car. They’re not just building faster cars; they’re building them differently. That’s why I jumped at the chance to drive the Czinger 21C VMax on a three-day road rally. Everyone talks about the track performance of these 3D-printed, alien-tech, seven-figure hypercars. But what’s it actually like to live with a car that has a center-steer, tandem-two-seat layout for 500 miles? Factory Fresh: A Glimpse Into the Future of Manufacturing To get to the Czinger factory, I had to show my U.S. passport, which is a first for me. This isn’t just a car company; it’s the parent company, Divergent Technologies, a manufacturing innovator that uses iterative artificial intelligence and massive 3D printers to create incredibly light and strong mechanical components. Divergent also supplies parts to the Department of Defense, which is part of why the visit required official identification. One of the machines I saw looked like a spaceship, zapping powdered aluminum with over a dozen lasers to build car parts that looked like alien skeletons. It was surreal. Lukas explained that Divergent’s tech is designed to reach “Pareto optimal,” the point where adding or removing a single gram is a negative. If an engineer needs a part that holds a rear suspension reservoir, it needs to withstand certain forces within a specific space. Using those parameters, the software iterates through hundreds of thousands of designs to find the strongest, lightest shape. It’s like evolution on fast-forward. Besides the DOD, nine automotive OEMs use Divergent for 3D-printed parts. While Aston Martin, Bugatti, and McLaren have publicly admitted to using them, the Ferrari F80’s control arms sure look suspect, though Ferrari doesn’t advertise it. Under the Hood: A Hybrid Hypercar Like No Other Czinger builds two versions of what is essentially the same car. The high-downforce, track-focused 21C (named for the 21st century) and the wingless, long-tailed VMax. The VMax is technically the 21C VMax, but it never has “21C” written on the car. For the inaugural Velocity Tour, a 500-mile road rally through California’s wine country, I got to drive a silver VMax. I say “piloting” on purpose because the cabin feels more like a jet fighter canopy than a car. I’ve never been in one, but I have ridden in an Extra 330LT stunt plane, and there’s a similarity. Glass is less than a foot away from your head on both sides. The visibility is incredible, but getting in and out is a circus. You sit with your legs facing out on the massive sill, pull your knees up, turn on your butt as you tuck your feet into the footwell, and then slide your head under the roof. One reason the sills are so big is because they’re packed with batteries. The 21C VMax is a hybrid hypercar, with 2.2-kWh batteries in each sill, for a total of 4.4 kWh. It’s not a plug-in hybrid; the V-8 engine keeps the pack charged. Those batteries can send 500 horsepower to the front axle, which has one motor per wheel. The gas engine is a Czinger-designed 2.9-liter twin-turbo V-8 making 750 hp on California’s 91-octane premium unleaded. If you pour 100-octane race fuel into the tank, the power jumps to 850 hp. The small but mighty engine can also run on ethanol, potentially delivering even more power, though Czinger hasn’t released those figures yet. We’re expecting a 10% boost. The gasoline engine sends power to the rear wheels through an Xtrac single-clutch automated semi-sequential gearbox. It’s similar to the Xtrac seven-speed in the Pagani Utopia, but Czinger doesn’t just 3D print the gearbox casing—they also use small 48-volt electric motors for faster shifts at low speeds. This completely eliminates the “drunken” surging feeling of other automated single-clutch transmissions at low speeds. The twin-barrel actuators work perfectly, and I was grateful to discover this. Driving into gas stations, restaurants, and hotel parking lots felt almost normal. Bravo on that front. Track Time: 6/10ths of the Maximum What never felt normal was the driver sitting behind me for the entire day. In high-dollar hypercars like this (Bugatti and Pagani), it’s common to have a pro driver, like Czinger’s Evan Jacobs here, making sure you don’t crash the $2.5 million car. Thankfully, Jacobs told the Czinger team later that night that I wasn’t a threat to the car and was able to drive solo for the rest of the rally. We stopped at Laguna Seca for some parade laps, but for some reason, non-Czinger employees aren’t allowed to drive the VMax on track, even at the snail’s pace the rally participants were forced to maintain. As I’ve learned the hard way, even if you can’t drive, go for the ride. I scrambled into the bizarre rear seat. The first thing to know is that if you have big calves or feet, the back seat isn’t comfortable. My XXL calves were squeezed between the carbon-fiber tub and seat, and my feet didn’t fit well, either. However, the visibility through the side windows is incredible. It really did feel like being in a stunt plane, which was a unique way to experience a track—something I’ve done over 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, where I could feel the blood pooling in my extremities under braking. The Czinger VMax is now second on that list. And remember, Jacobs didn’t go full speed. Even at less than the limit and without the aggressive rear wing, it was easy to understand how a Czinger 21C set what the brand calls the California Gold Rush. That means the 21C set five production car track records—at Thunder Hill, Sonoma Raceway, Laguna Seca, Willow Springs, and the Thermal Club—in just five days, driving between each track. Later, Czinger returned to Laguna Seca not just to beat its own record, but to reclaim the title from a track-special Koenigsegg Jesko Sadair’s Spear. That lap, an insane 1 minute 22.30 seconds, is faster than the fastest MotoAmerica Superbike lap ever recorded at Laguna, a 1:22.56. Czinger claims the car weighs around 3,600 pounds, which is pretty light for a 1,250-hp hybrid. For context, the Ferrari SF90 Stradale Asseto Fiorano—the most powerful version of a three-motor, twin-turbo V-8 PHEV with only 986 hp—weighs 3,839 pounds. The new Lamborghini Temerario is another three-motor, twin-turbo V-8 (also with less power than the Czinger) that weighs in at a chunky 4,185 pounds. Now’s a good time to mention that the SF90 and Temerario are the two fastest 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 true, this Southern California startup has managed to beat two Italian legends with its first production car. That’s remarkable on its own, but especially impressive considering that Southern California isn’t exactly known for its supercar building expertise. In other words, L.A. isn’t exactly Modena. On the Road: Mostly Normal, but With a Few Quirks The route for the rally was mostly on real back roads—tight, winding, and lousy pavement. This wasn’t exactly the kind of asphalt hypercar dreams are made of. Plus, I was following the pack, navigating to lunch and coffee stops, and driving with the camera car. At the time, I was a little disappointed, but in retrospect, I experienced exactly what most owners will when living with a Czinger. To my surprise, the VMax was mostly like driving any other high-end hypercar. Take everything out of your pockets because the seats are tight, drink your water before you get in because there are no cupholders, and accept that almost everyone else on the road—especially males between 16 and 24—will be staring at you, following you, waving at you, and revving at you while probably screaming friendly obscenities. Regardless, the Czinger rides much better than I expected. The team deserves applause for not making it overly stiff. Even the air conditioning works well. If I have one complaint about