The Czinger 21C is now the production car record holder at COTA

The wild Czinger 21C has just built on its recent Goodwood Hillclimb record by setting the first official ‘production car’ time at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) with a run of 2m 10.7s. That’s just two-tenths quicker than the Hennessey Venom F5 managed a few months back, though that was before COTA had officially started to validate lap records.

And since it was a proper production car time, the 21C had to be set up accordingly. That means proper road tyres (the make of which are unknown) and all its standard safety equipment in place. Just to make sure Czinger wasn’t looking for a few cheeky corner cuts, members of the IMSA were even in attendance.

Despite sharing so many traits with your aunty’s Ford Fiesta Active X, the 21C does have something a bit more… exciting beneath the bonnet. A hybrid V8 powertrain, to be specific, with the piston engine supported by a pair of electric motors to deliver 1,332bhp.

The design is also quite mad. It looks like a Praying Mantis that’s doing its best Arnold Schwarzenegger impression. But behind the serrated canards, protruding arches and downforce-inducing wings, the 21C’s COTA record proves it's not just a facade; the stuff actually works.

Lukas Czinger, the company’s co-founder, has also confirmed it'll continue to challenge other records globally as production and subsequent sales of the 21C continues. Records in... Germany, perchance?