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Czinger 21C VMax: Is This the Pinnacle of Modern Hypercar Engineering or Just an Exaggerated Science Project? For years, the automotive world has been humming with whispers about Czinger, a Southern California startup attempting to redefine the hypercar with an audacious blend of additive manufacturing and hybrid performance. It’s a company that sounds more like a futuristic sci-fi concept than a car manufacturer, and after spending several days on a three-day road rally through the vineyards of Central and Northern California in their flagship model, I can confirm it’s every bit the otherworldly experience we were promised. But the question lingers: Is the Czinger 21C VMax truly the future, or has it pushed the boundaries of performance so far that it borders on the absurd? My journey began with a mandatory trip to the mother company, Divergent Technologies, the engine behind this automotive marvel. Stepping into their facility felt less like touring a car factory and more like infiltrating a classified aerospace research lab. The need for a U.S. passport to enter wasn’t just a formality; Divergent supplies parts to the Department of Defense, and the air of cutting-edge innovation was palpable. Led by CEO Lukas Czinger, the tour revealed a peek into the future of manufacturing, where massive 3D printers melt powdered aluminum into impossibly complex components that resemble a bird’s skeletal structure—light, rigid, and impossibly strong. The Pareto Paradox: Perfect Engineering or Too Much? Lukas explained the underlying philosophy of the technology as “Pareto optimal,” the point where any further change—adding or removing even a gram—results in a net negative. It’s an engineering concept that sounds logical on paper but feels almost alien when applied to a 2,500-horsepower hypercar. Using advanced artificial intelligence, the software iterates thousands of designs to find the ultimate balance of weight and strength. It’s a process that mimics evolution at warp speed. While Divergent’s technology serves various sectors, including the DOD and nine other automotive OEMs, Czinger has chosen to apply it to their own creation. The list of automotive giants using Divergent’s services includes Aston Martin, Bugatti, and McLaren, with rumors circulating that Ferrari’s new F80 also utilizes some of their 3D-printed components. It’s a testament to the company’s disruptive approach that even the biggest names in the industry are scrambling to adopt their innovations. Under the Carbon Fiber: The 21C VMax Experience Czinger builds two versions of the 21C, both sharing the same technological foundation. The standard 21C is designed for high downforce and track performance, while the wingless, long-tailed VMax is optimized for road use. Technically, the wingless model is still known as the 21C VMax, although the 21C badging is absent from the car itself. My chariot for the inaugural Velocity Tour—a 500-mile road rally through the winding back roads of Northern California’s wine country—was a silver VMax. The cabin of the 21C VMax is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Czinger describes it as feeling like being in a jet fighter, and after a ride in an Extra 330LT stunt plane, I can see why. There’s glass less than a foot from either side of your head, providing an unparalleled panoramic view of the world around you. Getting in and out of the car is a contortionist’s dream: you sit with your legs facing outward on the massive sill, pull your knees up and twist your body like a pretzel to tuck your feet into the footwell, and slide your head under the roof. It’s ridiculous, cumbersome, and utterly spectacular. The substantial sills aren’t just for show; they’re crammed with batteries. The 21C VMax is a hybrid hypercar, with each sill containing 2.2 kWh of battery power for a total of 4.4 kWh. This isn’t a plug-in hybrid; instead, a motor powered by the mid-mounted V-8 engine keeps the pack charged. The batteries deliver 500 horsepower to the front axle, each wheel powered by its own dedicated motor. The combustion engine is a Czinger-designed 2.9-liter twin-turbo V-8 producing 750 horsepower on California’s standard 91-octane premium unleaded. If you opt for 100-octane racing fuel, the horsepower jumps to 850. There’s also the potential to run on ethanol, which Czinger suggests could push the power output even higher, though no official figures have been released. Power is sent to the rear wheels via an Xtrac single-clutch automated sequential gearbox. Czinger not only 3D prints the transmission case but also incorporates small 48-volt electric motors to smooth out shifts at lower speeds. This eliminates the drunken, lurching behavior typical of other automated single-clutch transmissions. In practice, the twin-barrel actuators work exactly as advertised: pulling into gas stations, restaurants, and hotel parking lots feels almost normal. It’s a remarkable achievement for a hypercar of this caliber, and I was thankful to discover it never felt awkward or cumbersome. Track Time: A Dance with Danger One aspect that never felt normal, however, was the person sitting behind me for the better part of the day. As is common with high-end hypercars like those from Bugatti and Pagani, Czinger positioned a professional driver, Evan Jacobs, in the passenger seat to ensure I didn’t drive the $2.5 million vehicle off a cliff. Thankfully, by the evening, Jacobs had assured the Czinger team that I wasn’t a threat, and I was cleared to drive solo for the remainder of the rally. We stopped by Laguna Seca for some parade laps, but non-Czinger employees are restricted from driving the VMax on the track, even at the brutally slow pace of the rally participants. Despite the restrictions, I managed to secure a ride in the bizarre rear seat. The first thing to note is that if you have large calves or feet, the back-seat experience is less than ideal. My XXL calves were practically welded between the carbon-fiber tub and seat, and my feet found no comfort in the footwell. However, the visibility through the side glass is incredible. It’s a truly novel way to experience a racetrack, something I’ve done more than 1,000 times in my career. This perspective became even clearer when Jacobs convinced the Skip Barber Racing School staff to let him take the VMax for a couple of “6/10ths” hot laps. The most intense hot lap I’ve ever experienced was riding shotgun in an Aston Martin Valkyrie LMH race car, where I felt the blood draining from my extremities under hard braking. The Czinger VMax now holds the second spot on that list, and remember, Jacobs wasn’t pushing the car to its absolute limit. Even without the full downforce of the rear wing, it’s easy to understand how the 21C set five production car track records in five days, covering the distance from track to track without breaking a sweat. Later that week, Czinger returned to Laguna Seca to reclaim the throne from a track-special Koenigsegg Jesko Sadair’s Spear. The resulting lap time, a staggering 1 minute and 22.30 seconds, is even 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 astonishingly light for a 1,250-horsepower hybrid hypercar. 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, another three-motor twin-turbo V-8 with less power, pushes past the two-ton mark at 4,185 pounds. The SF90 and Temerario are the two quickest gasoline-powered cars MotorTrend has ever tested (the Ferrari for 0-60 mph and the Lambo for the quarter mile). If Czinger’s weight claims are accurate, the unconventional Southern California startup has managed to outperform two Italian legends with its first production vehicle. This is remarkable on its own, especially considering that Los Angeles is not exactly Modena, the traditional heartland of supercar manufacturing. On the Road: Beauty in the Beast The rally route was chosen to showcase the VMax’s capabilities, featuring tight, winding roads with less-than-perfect asphalt—not exactly the ideal terrain for a hypercar. Plus, there was plenty of following the convoy, navigating to lunch stops, and coordinating with the camera car. While I may have felt a touch disappointed at the time, looking back, this is the reality of what most owners will experience while living with a Czinger. To my surprise, the VMax performed mostly like any other hyper-exotic. You have to remove everything from your pockets because the seats are tight, you drink your water before getting in because there are no cupholders, and you become immune to the stares of men between the ages of 16 and 24 who will follow you, wave at you, and rev at you with friendly obscenities. Regardless, the Czinger rides much better than I anticipated; the team deserves applause for not making it overly stiff. Even the air conditioning works well. If I