Czinger 21C VMax Review: Future of Performance or Hyper-Exotic Insanity?
For years, automotive enthusiasts have speculated about the Czinger 21C, a hypercar built around revolutionary additive manufacturing technologies and designed to be one of the most extreme road-legal vehicles ever conceived. Finally getting behind the yoke-like steering wheel of the Czinger 21C VMax on a 500-mile road rally through California wine country confirmed everything we suspected: the car is both the future of performance and utter automotive madness.
This review delves into the experience of driving a 1,250-horsepower, center-steer hypercar on public roads, covering the innovative manufacturing process, the unique center-steer, tandem two-seater cabin, the staggering hybrid powertrain, and the unsettling reality of just how fast this machine truly is.
Factory Fresh: Entering the Age of Additive Manufacturing
To understand the Czinger 21C VMax, you must first understand its parent company, Divergent Technologies. Divergent is not merely a car manufacturer; it is a pioneering additive manufacturing company that leverages artificial intelligence and massive 3D printers to design and produce some of the lightest and strongest mechanical components ever seen in production.
My visit to the Divergent facility required a U.S. passport, which is unusual for a car factory. This is because Divergent is also a supplier to the Department of Defense. While all military hardware was covered during my tour, I did see one component that vaguely resembled a rocket—proof of the company’s diverse technological capabilities. I was given a tour by Lukas Czinger, the young CEO of both companies, and it was deeply impressive. Peeking inside one of the massive 3D printers felt like witnessing the future. Dozens of lasers fused powdered aluminum into automotive components that looked like intricate bird bones—an unforgettable sight.
Lukas explained that Divergent’s technology achieves Pareto optimality, the point where adding or subtracting a single gram becomes a negative. He gave a specific example: designing a component to mount the rear suspension damper’s remote reservoir. Engineers input the target space (X) and required strength (Y), and the AI iterates through hundreds of thousands of designs to find the strongest, lightest shape. It’s like evolution on fast-forward.
Beyond the DOD, nine automotive OEMs utilize Divergent’s 3D-printed parts. Aston Martin (DBR22 Roadster), Bugatti (Tourbillon), and McLaren (W1) openly acknowledge this partnership, though other suspects remain elusive, with the Ferrari F80’s control arms showing tell-tale signs of additive manufacturing. This advanced technology forms the bedrock of the Czinger 21C, ensuring structural integrity without the burden of excess weight.
Under the Carbon Fiber: Engineering the VMax
Czinger produces two variants of the 21C: the high-downforce, track-focused 21C (named for the 21st century) and the VMax, a wingless, long-tailed version optimized for top-speed runs and road driving. For the inaugural Velocity Tour, a 500-mile road rally through the rolling hills of Central and Northern California’s wine country, I found myself piloting a silver VMax.
I deliberately chose the word “piloting,” as the cabin feels more like a jet fighter canopy than a conventional greenhouse. Czinger states the experience is akin to being in a jet fighter, and having once been inside an Extra 330LT stunt plane, I can confirm the similarity. There is glass less than a foot from both sides of your head, providing unparalleled visibility.
The process of getting into the VMax is ridiculous: Sit with your legs facing outward on the massive sill, pull your knees up and rotate on your butt as you tuck your feet into the footwell, then slide your head under the roof.
One reason the sills are so substantial is that they house 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. The car is not a plug-in hybrid; a mid-mounted V-8 engine charges the pack while driving. These batteries deliver 500 horsepower to the front axle, which features one electric motor per wheel.
The Czinger-designed 2.9-liter twin-turbo V-8 produces a staggering 750 hp on California’s 91-octane premium unleaded fuel. Pouring in 100-octane race fuel boosts the horsepower to 850 hp. The small but mighty engine can also run on ethanol, yielding even greater power, though Czinger has not released those figures. We predict a 10% increase, pushing the VMax even further beyond conventional supercar performance.
The gas engine powers the rear wheels via an Xtrac single-clutch automated semi-sequential gearbox. This transmission is similar to the Xtrac seven-speed used in Pagani’s Utopia. However, Czinger not only 3D prints the transmission case but also uses small 48-volt electric motors to execute shifts more quickly at low speeds. This eliminates the drunken lurching common in all other automated single-clutch gearboxes. The twin-barrel actuators work as advertised in low-speed situations, which I was thankful to discover. Navigating gas stations, restaurants, and hotel parking lots felt almost normal. Seriously, bravo to Czinger’s engineering team for tackling this challenge.
Track Time: The Astonishing Ride Experience
What never felt normal was the man sitting behind me for an entire day. As is typical practice with many big-dollar hypercars (like Bugatti and Pagani), Czinger assigned a professional driver, Evan Jacobs, to ensure I didn’t drive the $2,500,000 machine off a cliff. Thankfully, later that night, Jacobs assured the Czinger team I was no threat and would be allowed to drive solo for the remainder of the rally.
We stopped by Laguna Seca for some parade laps. However, for whatever reason, non-Czinger employees are not permitted to drive the VMax on racetracks, even at the brutally slow pace the rally participants were limited to.
As I have learned the hard way, even if you can’t drive, go for the ride. I scrambled into the bizarre rear seat. The first thing to know here is that if you have big calves or feet, the back-seat experience is not great. My XXL calves were wedged between the carbon-fiber tub and the carbon-fiber seat, and my feet didn’t fit comfortably, either. However, the visibility through the side glass is incredible. Again, it reminded me of a stunt plane and was a remarkably novel way to experience riding around a track—something I’ve done more than 1,000 times.
This was especially true when Jacobs and I convinced the Skip Barber Racing School staff (whose track day we crashed) to let him take the VMax for a couple of “6/10ths” hot laps. The most impressive hot lap I’ve ever experienced was riding shotgun in an Aston Martin Valkyrie LMH race car, during which I could feel the blood pooling in my extremities under braking. The Czinger VMax is now second, and remember, Jacobs didn’t go full tilt.
Even at something less than the limit and without the big-downforce rear wing, it was easy to understand how a Czinger 21C set five production car track records in five days—at Thunder Hill, Sonoma Raceway, Laguna Seca, Willow Springs, and The Thermal Club. And Czinger didn’t stop there. They returned to Laguna Seca to not only beat their own record but to reclaim the throne from the track-special Koenigsegg Jesko Sadair’s Spear.
That lap time—a ridiculous 1 minute, 22.30 seconds—is 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 pretty light for a 1,250-horsepower hybrid. To give you some context, the Ferrari SF90 Stradale Assetto Fiorano, the highest-performance version of a three-motor twin-turbo V-8 PHEV making only 986 horsepower, weighs 3,839 pounds. The new Lamborghini Temerario, another three-motor, twin-turbo V-8 (making less power, but you get the comparison), pushes past the two-ton mark, coming in at 4,185 pounds.
Now’s a good time to mention that the SF90 and Temerario are the two quickest-accelerating gasoline-powered cars MotorTrend has ever tested (the Ferrari for 0–60 mph and the Lambo for the quarter mile). If Czinger’s weight claim holds true, this unorthodox Southern California startup has managed to beat two Italian legends with Job One. That is remarkable on its own but especially noteworthy considering that while Southern California is known for many things, there isn’t a huge pool of supercar manufacturing expertise. In other words, L.A. isn’t exactly Modena.
On the Road: A Hybrid Driving Experience
