How fast is that car for real?
We have a benchmark for that: lap times from GRM’s official test track, the Florida International Rally & Motorsport Park.
This 1.6-mile course, managed by Larina Hintze, is located half an hour east of Gainesville, Florida, and less than 100 miles from our home base.
The track features a mix of medium- and slower-speed corners, and most of it is run in third and fourth gear–aside from the second-gear hairpin. It also features longer sweepers that test steady-state grip as well as traditional road course kinks that test braking, turn-in and corner exit.
We’ve tested a number of cars at the FIRM–including hot new rides, old favorites and our project cars–and we’re constantly adding to the list.
[How we track test cars and what the numbers mean]
Keep reading for synopses of each car tested–fastest to slowest–and scroll down for an easy-to-digest chart at the bottom.
2023 Chevrolet Corvette C8 Z06
Photography Credit: David S. Wallens
2004 Chevrolet Corvette Z06–LS3 V8 engine swap
Photography Credit: Chris Tropea
2004 Nissan 350Z–LS1 V8 engine swap
Photography Credit: Chris Tropea
2022 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 2LT w/ Z51 Performance Package
Photography Credit: Chris Tropea
Photography Credit: Chris Tropea
2004 Nissan 350Z–LS1 V8 engine swap
Photography Credit: Chris Tropea
Photography Credit: Chris Tropea
2023 Toyota GR Supra–Six-speed manual
Photography Credit: Chris Tropea
1996 Mazda Miata–LFX V6 engine swap
Photography Credit: Chris Tropea
2021 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Convertible 2LT
Photography Credit: Chris Tropea
2023 BMW Z4 M40i
Photography Credit: David S. Wallens
Photography Credit: J.G. Pasterjak
2019 Mazda MX-5–Triple Threat Miata
Photography Credit: David S. Wallens
Photography Credit: Chris Tropea
Photography Credit: David S. Wallens
Photography Credit: J.G. Pasterjak
2023 Toyota GR Corolla Circuit Edition
Photography Credit: Donovan Dwyer
2021 Honda Civic Type R
Photography Credit: J.G. Pasterjak
Photography Credit: Chris Tropea
Photography Credit: David S. Wallens
2022 Volkswagen GTI Autobahn (DSG)
Photography Credit: Chris Tropea
Photography Credit: Tim Suddard
Photography Credit: J.G. Pasterjak
V8 Roadsters V6-powered Mazda Miata
Photography Credit: Chris Tropea
Photography Credit: Chris Tropea
2023 Toyota GR86
Photography Credit: David S. Wallens
Photography Credit: Chris Tropea
V8 Roadsters V6-powered Mazda RX-8
Photography Credit: Chris Tropea
Photography Credit: Chris Tropea
Photography Credit:
Photography Credit: Chris Tropea
Photography Credit: Chris Tropea
Photography Credit: David S. Wallens
Photography Credit: Chris Tropea
Photography Credit: Chris Tropea
Photography Credit: Chris Tropea
2017 Volkswagen Golf GTI Sport
Photography Credit: Tom Suddard
Photography Credit: Chris Tropea
Photography Credit: David S. Wallens
2021 Toyota Prius 2020 Edition
Photography Credit: J.G. Pasterjak
You've been asking, and here it is: Our official lap time board for all the cars we test at the FIRM–new cars, project cars and pretty much anything in between.
Be sure to check back frequently for updates.
Very cool to see where the Elantra N placed, about where I would have expected it. I really hope you are able to add a lot more cars to the board.
In reply to pinchvalve (Forum Supporter) :
That's the plan. In addition to keeping the board updated with times for new cars, we'll be updating the board as we modify our project cars and (hopefully) make them faster.
RadBarchetta said:Reminds me of the old Top Gear leaderboard. Which one of you guys is the GRM Stig?
JG posted most of the times on the board since he does our new car testing, while I posted the times from my projects. Him and I seem to be fairly evenly matched so at some point we'll need to do a race in the same car or something.
In reply to RadBarchetta :
Yeah like Tom said all the new cars are me. And you can check out this sidebar for a look at the methodology. At the end of the day, the ultimate capabilities of these cars is probably a few clicks faster than what you see here, but we also can't be giving cars back to press fleets with chunked tires or crushed unibodies. So while my approach also factors preservation of equipment into it, I'm 100% confident that I'm pushing all the cars to the same relative 99% and the ultimate finish order reflects the real world of unlimited tries and track insurance pretty acuurately.
Kinda curious why JG was driving the Miata whilst wearing his Hans Hybrid, without connecting the tethers?
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