To make sure Car and Driver set a “representative” lap in the Senna, McLaren brought pro driver Andre D’Cruze to the magazine’s “Lightning Lap” event. Yet it was the magazine’s testing director K.C. Colwell that set a record-breaking lap time, circling Virginia International Raceway in 2:34.9.
For reference, a Porsche 911 GT2 RS—the previous record holder—was 2.9 seconds slower, a McLaren 600LT Spider was 6.7 seconds slower and a Porsche 918 Spyder was a full 8.2 seconds slower around the same track in C/D’s testing.
The whole thing was recorded and uploaded to C/D’s YouTube channel and looks genuinely violent. The $964,966 car is frighteningly quick through the corners, maintaining an average pace of 134.5 mph and topping out at 172.9 mph on a straightaway.
Car and Driver had a lot of great cars at Lightning Lap this year, so it’s worth checking out the full list of contenders that includes everything from the Senna and Porsche 911 GT3 RS to the Lamborghini Urus and Hyundai Veloster N.