While we're still waiting for it to hit showrooms, Lucid Motors continues to impress with the performance of its Air sedan. On the weekend, a "production representative" Lucid Air put in a hot lap of Laguna Seca that was faster than an Aston Martin V12 Vantage S, a Lotus Evora S or a BMW i8.
While the car may have had its interior replaced by a six-point roll cage and upgraded brake pads and fluid, its weight was "within a few percent of [its] production weight," giving us a genuine look at what this thing should be capable of out of the box.
On the car's stock Pirelli P Zero PZ4 summer tires, the team hit a fastest lap of 1:41.67, which is impressive, and enough to best the above exotica and many others according to the laptime-keeping boffins over at fastestlaps.com.
That site doesn't hold any Tesla Model S lap time records, which is disappointing since the Lucid Air is squarely targeted at the Model S, with a focus on matching or bettering its performance with a lower price tag. But it's some seven seconds faster than a Model 3, if that's of interest to anyone.
Later in the day, the Lucid team switched out the hoops for something stickier – Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R, a road legal track tire. And with sticky rubber, the team managed a 1:39.30 time, which is faster than the Porsche 911 GT3, BMW M4 or Aston Martin DB11.
Suffice to say, this thing will be quick. But we knew that already, after watching it smash its way to a blistering 235 mph (378 km/h) a little over a year ago. We get it, guys, it's going to be a monster. But when will it hit the road?
Check out the 1:39:30 lap in the video below, which highlights how much audio feedback you get from the tires when there's no roaring engine to drown it out.
Source: Lucid Motors
