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The New Face of Hypercar Speed: A Deep Dive into the Czinger 21C VMax Experience For years, the name Czinger has been whispered in elite circles, a beacon of next-generation automotive engineering. We at MotorTrend have followed this Southern California company with rapt attention. Our chance finally came to pilot the otherworldly Czinger 21C VMax on a demanding three-day road rally. The goal was simple: move beyond the track hype to see how this seven-figure, 1,250-horsepower marvel handles a 500-mile journey. The answer is complex, exhilarating, and, for the first time in my career, a little terrifying. Factory Fresh: Entering the Future of Production Visiting the Czinger manufacturing facility is not your typical automotive factory tour. I had to present my U.S. passport to gain entry, a testament to the company’s unique dual identity. Czinger is the consumer-facing brand of Divergent Technologies, a company that utilizes iterative artificial intelligence and revolutionary 3D printing technology to create astonishingly lightweight and strong mechanical components. The reason for this heightened security? Divergent Technologies serves as a supplier to the Department of Defense. While all military-related hardware was strictly off-limits, the brief glimpse I was afforded was nothing short of spectacular. Walking through the facility, I witnessed a process that felt like peering into the future. More than a dozen massive industrial lasers fused powdered aluminum into intricate automotive components, their shapes resembling the fragile beauty of bird bones. It’s a surreal and awe-inspiring experience to watch a vehicle take shape through light and metal powder. Lukas Czinger, the visionary young CEO of both companies, explained the philosophy driving this innovation. Divergent’s technology reaches what he calls “Pareto optimality,” the threshold beyond which any addition or subtraction of a single gram results in a performance regression. For instance, if an engineer requires a bracket to hold a rear suspension damper reservoir within a specific dimensional envelope and under extreme force tolerances, the software iterates through hundreds of thousands of designs until it identifies the absolute strongest and lightest configuration. It’s evolution at an impossible speed. Beyond their critical defense work, Divergent serves nine other automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Publicly acknowledging their partnership are industry titans such as Aston Martin (DBR22 Roadster), Bugatti (Tourbillon), and McLaren (W1). Whispers persist that even the Ferrari F80 utilizes suspect control arms, though the company remains tight-lipped. Under the Carbon Fiber Shell Czinger produces two variants of what is essentially the same mechanical marvel. The high-downforce track monster, christened the 21C (honoring the 21st century), and the long-tailed, aerodynamic VMax variant, which forgoes a rear wing for maximum velocity. For the inaugural Velocity Tour, a grueling 500-mile rally through Northern and Central California’s famed wine country, I had the privilege of piloting a striking silver VMax. I use the word “piloting” with purpose. The cabin feels less like a traditional automotive interior and more akin to a jet fighter’s canopy. Czinger themselves claim the sensation is akin to being in an aircraft, and based on my experience, I can attest to this comparison. While I have never been privileged enough to ride in an aerobatic plane, I have ridden in an Extra 330LT, and the similarity is uncanny. Essentially, the glass is less than a foot away from either side of your head, offering phenomenal visibility. However, the process of entering and exiting this low-slung hypercar is less elegant. You sit with your legs extending out onto the massive sill, pull your knees upward, and essentially rotate your body as you tuck your feet into the narrow footwell, sliding your head under the roofline. One of the primary reasons for the substantial sill size is their integral role in housing the battery packs. The 21C VMax is a hybrid hypercar, with each sill containing 2.2 kWh of battery energy, totaling 4.4 kWh. This is not a plug-in hybrid; rather, a dedicated electric motor powered by the mid-mounted V-8 engine keeps the battery topped up. These electric motors drive the front wheels, delivering a combined 500 horsepower to the front axle. The heart of this machine is a Czinger-designed 2.9-liter twin-turbocharged V-8 engine. In its standard tune, it produces a staggering 750 horsepower, even when fed the often-criticized 91-octane premium unleaded available in California. When fed 100-octane race fuel, the horsepower rating escalates to 850 hp. The engine can also run on ethanol, which Czinger predicts will yield an even higher output, although official figures remain undisclosed. We speculate a 10% increase in horsepower with E85. The combustion engine sends its power to the rear wheels through an Xtrac single-clutch automated semi-sequential gearbox. This is fundamentally similar to the Xtrac seven-speed unit found in the Pagani Utopia. However, Czinger not only 3D prints the gearbox casing but also incorporates small 48-volt electric motors to execute shifts at lower speeds with unparalleled smoothness. This brilliant innovation eliminates the disconcerting lurching and surging that plagues every other automated single-clutch transmission at low velocities. The dual-barrel actuators performed flawlessly during my test drive, a fact I deeply appreciated. Navigating gas stations, restaurants, and hotel parking lots felt remarkably refined. Honestly, it was a masterclass in hybrid low-speed refinement. Track Time: A Lesson in Extreme Forces While the low-speed refinement was commendable, the presence of a professional driver seated directly behind me for the entire first day was a constant reminder of the car’s extreme capabilities. Similar to Bugatti and Pagani’s practice, Czinger insisted on having Evan Jacobs, a seasoned professional driver, in the car to prevent me from inadvertently destroying their $2.5 million creation. Thankfully, Jacobs later assured the Czinger team that I was not a threat and I was cleared to drive solo for the remainder of the rally. We made a pilgrimage to Laguna Seca for some parade laps, but Czinger enforces strict rules: non-company employees are prohibited from driving the VMax on racetrack surfaces, even during the sedate pace of a road rally. As I have learned the hard way on countless occasions, if you cannot drive, at least enjoy the ride. I scrambled into the rather unconventional rear seat. The first thing to note is that if you have substantial calves or large feet, the rear-seat experience is rather confined. My XXL calves were literally wedged between the carbon-fiber tub and the carbon-fiber seat, and my feet struggled to find a comfortable position. Nevertheless, the visibility afforded by the side windows is simply phenomenal. Once again, it reminded me of a stunt plane, offering a novel perspective on circuit driving that I have experienced over a thousand times. This visual experience was heightened when Jacobs and I managed to convince the Skip Barber Racing School staff (whose event we had essentially crashed) to allow him to take the VMax for a couple of “6/10ths” hot laps. The most impactful hot lap I have ever experienced was riding shotgun in an Aston Martin Valkyrie LMH race car, where I could feel the blood draining from my extremities under hard braking. The Czinger 21C VMax has now claimed the second position on that elite list. And remember, Jacobs was not driving at the limit. Even at significantly reduced speed, without the benefit of the massive rear downforce wing, it was effortless to grasp how the Czinger 21C achieved what the brand calls the California Gold Rush. This remarkable feat involved setting five production car track records across five of California’s most iconic circuits—Thunder Hill, Sonoma Raceway, Laguna Seca, Willow Springs, and The Thermal Club—all within a single five-day period, including the transit time between tracks. Later, Czinger returned to Laguna Seca not only to shatter their own record but to reclaim the crown from the Koenigsegg Jesko Sadair’s Spear, a track-focused variant of the Jesko. That astonishing lap time, a breathtaking 1 minute and 22.30 seconds, surpasses the fastest MotoAmerica Superbike lap ever recorded at Laguna, which stands at 1:22.56. Czinger claims a vehicle weight of approximately 3,600 pounds, which is remarkably light for a 1,250-horsepower hybrid hypercar. To provide context, the Ferrari SF90 Stradale Assetto Fiorano, the highest-performance version of a three-motor, twin-turbo V-8 PHEV generating “only” 986 hp, weighs 3,839 pounds. The recently unveiled Lamborghini Temerario, another three-motor, twin-turbo V-8 (producing less power, but useful for comparison), pushes past the two-ton mark, coming in at a hefty 4,185 pounds. Now is an excellent time to point out that the Ferrari SF90 and Lamborghini Temerario are the two fastest gasoline-powered production cars MotorTrend has ever tested (the Ferrari holds the 0–60 mph record, while the Lambo holds the quarter-mile record). If Czinger’s weight claims hold true, this audacious California startup has managed to eclipse two Italian legends at their own game. This is remarkable in itself, but even more so considering that Los Angeles, while renowned for many things, is not typically a hub for supercar manufacturing expertise. In other words, L.A. is not exactly Modena.