CZINGER THE GAME-CHANGING HYPERCAR

We meet the father-and-son team behind the stunning 21C and learn how they plan to shake up the automotive industry

- Ellis Hyde

THE Czinger 21C may not have the most evocative name in the pantheon of ultra-exclusive, hardcore hypercars, but it certainly caused jaws to drop when it was unveiled back in February 2020, thanks to its dizzying performance stats, fighter jet-inspired seating arrangement and 3D-printed components. Or maybe it was because it looks like something not of this world.

Since then, the Los Angeles-based start-up's first car has broken lap records at the legendary Laguna Seca Raceway and the Circuit of The Americas. And even when it was on static display, the £1.5million speed machine left quite the impression on attendees at this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed.

But while the 21C is busy giving the likes of the Aston Martin Valkyrie and Mercedes-AMG One a run for their money, the technology used to create the radical hybrid hypercar has much wider applications, as the father-andson team responsible for creating the car tell us.

Kevin and Lukas Czinger's car brand was established in 2019, with the 21C demonstrating the capabilities of the manufacturing system developed by the duo and their other firm, Divergent. But this wasn't going to another scissor-doored diva for posing in, because the objectives for the 21C were to "beat every track record, and every speed, acceleration and braking record," says Kevin.

The heart of the 21C is a twin-turbocharged 2.88-litre V8 engine that was developed completely in house, has a redline of 11,000rpm and alone generates 937bhp. Czinger has then paired the world's most power-dense engine with two electric motors on the front axle that combined produce 296bhp, for a total of 1,233bhp. Plus all-wheel drive and torque vectoring, of course.