From the October 2015 issue
Every year, without fail, reader response to Lightning Lap includes multiple pleas to enter an everyday car—a Camry, an Accord, a Fiesta without an ST badge. You know, an average ride built for the average commuter. Well, this year we happened to have our long-term 2015 Honda Fit EX present at VIR and we put it to work, the test gear strapped in for what might be the slowest lap in VIR’s Grand West Course history.
Everyone was sure the 130-hp hatch wouldn’t break four minutes. Everyone was proven wrong when it did a respectable 3:37.7.
But what’s most surprising is how comfortable the wee Fit is on a track. Sure, the all-season tires howl in protest, the economy-oriented engine can barely muster 104 mph on the front straight, and you’re fighting to stay in the flat seat against 0.74 g’s worth of cornering grip. But the brakes don’t fade, stability control doesn’t intervene, and the steering is delightfully light and precise through faster corners. Beneath its overstyled skin lies the soul of a contender.
Part of the Fit’s speed—and this is a relative term—comes from being so narrow. Take the esses, for example: The skinny Fit essentially straightens out the curves, having to turn less than a wider, faster car. Plus, with its entry speed lower here than the exit speed or the esses’ average speed (94.8 mph), the Fit’s driver is dead flat on the throttle throughout the whole climb.
Going wide open through any corner is a total hoot, regardless of whether you’re in a go-kart or a golf cart. But please don’t ask us to lap a golf cart.
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