The annual Lightning Lap roundup from Car and Driver is easily one of our favorite car magazine features of any of the past five years, and this year's extravaganza at Virginia International Raceway delivers ones again. The five classes in the throwdown represent vehicles under $30,000, $30k to $60k, $60,000 to $120,000, $120k to $240k and the elusive "and up" category. C/D asked manufacturers to supply production vehicles that come equipped with the most track-ready options that any Tom, Dick and Harry can get straight from the factory, including uprated tires, brakes and sporting suspensions. The goal? To find out what production car is the quickest around VIR's challenging roadcourse.

After the jump are video summaries of the LL2 and LL3 competitions. The LL2 class features dream matchups of the Ford Mustang GT, Lexus LS-F, Shelby Mustang GT500, Mazda RX8 R3, Mitsubishi EVO and Subaru WRX STI. The LL3 class features the Jaguar XFR, Chevrolet Corvette Z06, Cadillac CTS-V Coupe, Lotus Evora, Mercedes E63 AMG and Porsche Boxster Spyder.

We won't reveal any winners here, but you can find out the LL2 and LL3 champs by hitting the jump. Heck, one LL3 car would have also won the LL4 class, so we're talking serious speed here. There aren't many better ways to spend eight minutes of your life, but if you've got an hour or two to kill, head over to C/D's website for all five Lightning Lap summaries, plus a bunch of individual laps and summaries from past Lightning Laps.


Gallery: Car and Driver's 2011 Lightning Lap




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