Hot Lap Commentary Videos Lightning Lap 2025
If you happened to be inside one of the cars at this year's Lightning Lap while our editors were hard at work setting times, you wouldn't hear much of anything beyond tires squealing and engines roaring. Having a conversation at speed isn't ideal, so that's what these commentary videos are for. You get to hear about the cars, the laps, and all sorts of Lightning Lap fun facts from the editors who went out there and put down the times. This year, we've put all five videos—four from our editors, and one from special guest driver Romain Dumas—in one convenient location. Throw on your HANS device and strap in.
Mazda MX-5 Miata Club
This was technical editor Austin Irwin's first year setting timed laps, and his enthusiasm is hard to hide. You might not think of the Mazda Miata as a make-or-break kind of car, but for Irwin, the pressure to set a blazing time was pretty high. The ND3's low curb weight, approachable power, and easy limits made it a great dance partner around the Grand Course configuration. See if you can catch the little giggle the camera picks up just before the three-minute mark.
Subaru BRZ tS • Subaru WRX tS • Hyundai Elantra N • Hyundai Ioniq 5 N
Rich Ceppos isn't just the director of our hallowed Buyer's Guide—he's also a driver with decades of track-hustling experience. And you can hear that experience in his rundowns; we'll never get tired of listening to him dive deep into the minutiae of braking zones and how to squeeze every tenth out of a car, whether it's brimming with horsepower or not. Stick around for the end of the video, where he digs into the trickiness of the Ioniq 5 N's myriad vehicle settings.
Bentley Continental GT Speed • Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing • Porsche Taycan Turbo GT • Lucid Air Sapphire
Now we're getting to the real spicy stuff. Testing director Dave VanderWerp was supposed to avoid gas cars entirely this year, but due to some last-minute staff kerfuffles, he ended up splitting his time between gas drinkers and EVs. If you've ever wondered about the intricacies inherent in slapping a Bentley around a track as quickly as possible, or how the CT5-V Blackwing's new Precision pack feels in practice, or how to actually get all the power out of the Taycan Turbo GT, your answers lie in the video above.
Mercedes-AMG GT63 • McLaren Artura Spider • Lamborghini Revuelto • Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Manthey Racing
The trick to getting Dave Beard to set a blistering lap time is simple: Tell him there's a grilled cheese in it for him at the end. Even if there isn't, he'll still make the magic happen, despite staring down some of the most menacing metal at VIR this past year. Dive in and find out why the Lamborghini Revuelto's insane power delivery turned the front straightaway into a whole nother corner.
Ford Performance F-150 Lightning SuperTruck
Pickup trucks come to Lightning Lap to do anything other than set lap times. But not the Ford Performance F-150 Lightning SuperTruck. Riding atop four electric motors making 2200 horsepower is a feat for no mere mortal. Thankfully, Romain Dumas is no mere mortal. The French racing driver joins us to discuss the truck and the utterly bewildering lap time he set with it. We're still trying to wrap our brains around it.
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