David Beard

It isn’t pretty, but it’s the most capable production off-roader ever built.

From the January 2024 issue of Car and Driver.It should come as no surprise that Chevrolet’s Corvette has earned another 10Best trophy. After all, it’s now made the list 25 times, trailing only the Honda Accord as the all-time leading recipient of our most prestigious award. Like so many things in today’s world, the Corvette’s price continues to rise. This mid-engine beast is now in its fifth production year, and the cost of entry has crept up $10,000 since the car’s introduction, albeit to a st…

There once was a time when sport trucks roamed the streets. The lineage dates to the ’60s when Chevrolet first planted powerful big blocks under the hoods of its pickups. The 1990s brought the wild GMC Syclone, an all-wheel-drive truck decades ahead of its time that could beat a Ferrari 348ts in straight-line acceleration. The movement would also spawn the full-size Chevrolet Silverado 454SS and Ford SVT F-150 Lightning, which were all displacement and not much more. The Dodge Viper’s V-10 and a…

From the March/April 2024 issue of Car and Driver.Lap Time: 2:50.0Class: LL3 | Base: $128,195 | As-Tested: $132,695Power and Weight: 543 hp • 3893 lb • 7.2 lb/hpTires: Pirelli P Zero PZ4; F: 275/35ZR-19 (100Y) ★, R: 285/30ZR-20 (99Y) ★ It’s no surprise that the BMW M3 CS outpaces the all-wheel-drive M3 Competition, given its 40 extra horsepower, specific chassis tuning, and $29,900-higher price. But the CS’s 3.5-second advantage should’ve been even greater. The M3 CS is essentially a continuatio…

In my earliest days of Lightning Lap, I worked as a flagger before migrating to collecting and sorting lap data. Now, in my sixth year of navigating the hottest cars and SUVs around VIR’s 4.1-mile torture test, I’m behind the wheel of three powerful rear-wheel-drive coupes and an all-wheel-drive supersedan. So come and ride along with deputy editor Carlos Lagos and me while we talk about how the BMW M2 marches ahead of the previous generation, Nissan’s Z NISMO finally has the hardware it has beg…

From the March/April 2024 issue of Car and Driver.Lap Time: 2:42.7Class: LLMOTORCYCLE | As-Tested: $40,000 (est)Power and Weight: 205 hp (est) • 430 lb (est) • 2.1 lb/hp (est)“If you crash in Rain mode, you probably shouldn’t be riding motorcycles,” proclaims former BMW Motorrad racer, brand ambassador, and genuinely great dude Nate Kern regarding how easy the 205-hp BMW M1000 RR is to ride. For years, we (and you, readers) have wondered where a sport bike would land on the Lightning Lap leaderb…

From the March/April 2024 issue of Car and Driver.Lap Time: 2:51.2Class: LL2 | Base: $68,805 | As-Tested: $74,500Power and Weight: 500 hp • 4024 lb • 8.0 lb/hpTires: Pirelli P Zero Trofeo RS; F: 305/30ZR-19 (98Y), R: 315/30ZR-19 (100Y)As fans of lightweight things, we looked like cartoon characters with eyeballs popping out of their skulls when the Ford Mustang Dark Horse rolled onto the scales. Weighing in at 4024 pounds—just 43 fewer than the 2020 Mustang Shelby GT500—the Dark Horse has spent…

From the March/April 2024 issue of Car and Driver.Lap Time: 2:56.2Class: LL2 | Base: $66,085 | As-Tested: $68,690Power and Weight: 420 hp • 3675 lb • 8.8 lb/hpTires: Dunlop SP Sport Maxx GT 600; F: 255/40R-19 100Y, R: 285/35R-19 103YEvery year at Lightning Lap, on the evening before the event, the drivers huddle around to select the vehicles they’ll focus on for the next three days. When it came to the final picks this year, two key fobs remained: the Lucid Air Sapphire and the Nissan Z NISMO. T…

From the March/April 2024 issue of Car and Driver. While the roar of Ferrari V-8s lives on in the SF90 and Roma, we pour out espresso shots for those that powered the likes of the 458s, 488s, and F8s and their glorious eight-cylinder soundtracks. And though it’s unlikely any V-6 will ever win a Grammy, Ferrari’s new 120- degree 3.0-liter V-6, code-named F163, might get a nomination.The turbos mounted in the F163’s valley mark a departure from the V-8’s outboard compressors. The hot-V configurati…

From the moment we laid eyes on the Maserati MC20’s striking curves, we couldn’t help but imagine a more aggressive version. After some seat time, thoughts of a street-legal track machine competing with the downforce behemoths from Chevrolet and Porsche raced through our heads. Maserati clearly had similar thoughts but instead skipped the road-ready version and went right to track-only mode. After all, before the latest iterations of Corvette Z06 and Porsche 911 GT3 RS came to be, the C8.R and 9…