2022 Volkswagen GTI at Lightning Lap 2023

From the February/March 2023 issue of Car and Driver.

Lap Time: 3:11.4

Class: LL1 | Base: $39,425 | As-Tested: $39,445
Power and Weight: 241 hp • 3213 lb • 13.3 lb/hp
Tires: Hankook Ventus S1 Evo3, 235/35R-19 91Y

We invited Volkswagen’s Golf GTI back for a return appearance, owing to a VBox data-card handling error that made last year’s alleged 3:10.6 lap inadmissible in court. We fell short of redemption but did improve on last year’s official time of 3:12.1 with a lap that ultimately landed midway between the two after a fraught prelude.

This year’s chauffeur was facing VIR’s Climbing Esses and the highly technical and surprisingly blind Infield of the Grand Course for the first time. The GTI came with just a single set of tires, so we let the car sit idle through the first day and a half while we used another to suss out the quick way around the place.

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The six-speed manual with its widely spaced cogs turned out to be less favorable than last year’s tighter seven-speed dual-clutch automatic, although each lap was a simple matter of six gearchanges involving third and fourth, with the entire inner loop a steady run in third. As speed came, two things happened: The brake pedal went soft, and the shift knob came off in the driver’s hand on a three-four upshift.

For the last day’s money run, the brakes were back after an overnight bleed. But the snap-on shift-knob retainer was history. Upshifts would have to be delicate.

In the end, your humble servant ran wide at the exit of Spiral and dipped the right-side tires into the grass, losing a couple of tenths. Welcome to Lightning Lap, brother.

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