Scroll down this page for on-board video footage of an amazing high-speed lap in Muscle Milk Pickett Racing's HPD ARX-03a prototype during a recent test session at Virginia International Raceway. The lap time is approximately 1:36.6 – just 0.3sec off the lap record around the 3.27-mile full course, set in a Benetton ex-F1 car back in 2004.
Notes from the test:
- Track personnel and several corner marshals working the test said they had never seen a car go through the turns with as much speed and stability as the HPD.
- Top speed was reported at 175mph and the average speed was 121.863 mph.
- The car was on full throttle for 17 seconds from the exit of Turn 6a to the entry of Turn 10. That means wide-open runs through the Climbing Esses – past the Lodge and the Villas at South Bend.
- It was full throttle for another 15 seconds from the exit of the Oak Tree Turn (T11) to the entry of Roller Coaster (T14).
- Counting those two sectors plus the run from T17 to T1, prototypes should run nearly half the circuit at full throttle on a clear lap.
The ALMS' four-hour race at VIR is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 15.