By Ed
In testing today at Germany’s Nurburgring, Cadillac’s upcoming new 2009 CTS- V completed a lap of the legendary Nordschleife in 7:59.32. This blistering time appears to be the fastest ever publicly documented for a production sedan.
Cadillac is nearing the completion of testing for the highly anticipated CTS- V , the limited-edition high-performance model based on the award-winning CTS sport sedan. John Heinricy, executive with GM Performance Division and an acclaimed racing driver, piloted the CTS- V through its sub-8 minute lap. The car itself had no performance modifications outside of those planned for consumer production, which is scheduled to begin this fall.
Estimated at 550 horsepower, the CTS- V is at the moment going through the final stages of intensive testing and development. One of the realistic objectives of the Cadillac team is to make the CTS- V the world’s fastest production sedan, as a part of the overall goal to make the V -Series Cadillac’s ultimate expression of performance and technology. More updates will be released in the coming weeks as testing is finalized, including the car’s certified SAE power ratings, acceleration specifications and U.S.-market pricing.
Video documentation of the car’s breakthrough Nordschleife performance will be posted here in the coming days. Stay tuned.
The eight-minute mark has long been recognized as a major Nurburgring milestone, reserved for race cars and the fastest exotic sports cars. While there’s no single official repository for Nurburgring data from private test sessions, numerous reputable websites and publications report lap times from race teams, automakers and independent sources.
The new 2009 CTS- V includes a suite of advanced performance technologies, including a new version of Cadillac’s acclaimed Magnetic Ride Control suspension and the LSA 6.2-liter Supercharged V8 engine. For the first time, CTS- V will include the choice of 6-speed manual or automatic transmissions, with the new automatic sporting steering wheel-mounted shift buttons.
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Comments
That's an awesome result!
Posted by: Jamieson | May 9, 2008 1:58 PM
Amazing! Well Done!
So much for people saying pushrod engines are obsolete!
Great Engine!
Posted by: Mark | May 9, 2008 5:56 PM
Count me in!. I just hope the price will fit in my budget.
Posted by: William | May 9, 2008 8:12 PM
I LOVE IT! And the fact that you can get it in all those colors is fantastic, imagine blowing the doors off a $100K+ Carrera in a Pearl White Cadillac sedan! Counting the days...
Posted by: teidsmore | May 9, 2008 8:20 PM
This is great news. A world class mile stone.
Well Done
When can I get a test drive?
Posted by: Bob Zeliff | May 9, 2008 9:26 PM
rollcage?
Posted by: danth | May 11, 2008 1:23 PM
What transmission was used in breaking the record? The Auto or Manual?
Posted by: Rob | May 11, 2008 2:37 PM
there is a lot of skepticism on the internet about this so I cant wait until you prove them wrong. From what I have seen this beats documented times for the E63 and M5 pretty handily. Folks are making all types of excuses about this being "unofficial" or unproven so the video should come in handy.
Posted by: sheth | May 12, 2008 11:07 AM
Does the Audi RS4 that Frank Stippler drove to a 7:58 count as a sedan?
lol
Posted by: Fred | May 12, 2008 12:48 PM
When the times GM is reporting aren't official, how can anyone compare anything. What you want are: average speed, top speed, average corner entry, average corner exit, and average straight speed. Then, and only then you can compare cars in the same class. A Carrera will beat you on the corners, which is where nuerburgring is the toughest. The car that was run on Nuerburgring had a full roll-cage. Makes me wonder what other modifications were made to it just for the sake of publicity. I seem to remember a few weeks back Chevvy claiming a top Nuerburgring record too. Looks like claiming to have a new record without substantiating evidence, or even official times is the new fad for the American auto industry.
Posted by: Doug | May 13, 2008 7:31 AM
Re: transmission - John was driving the auto on the N'ring.
Posted by: jvp | May 13, 2008 7:42 AM
Rob/Danth -
No, there was no roll cage in the car. However, for safety purposes there was an additional harness bar in the car to support a racing-style 6-point safety belt.
The car had our new auto trans.
Posted by: Chris | May 13, 2008 8:38 AM
This is Kevin from Cadillac writing to provide clarification on the questions regarding the harness bar and racing seats in the 2009 CTS-V that set the new stock production sedan lap record on the Nordschleife. This 2009 CTS-V that John Heinricy drove to set the record was an absolutely stock, right down to the production-spec Michelin Pilot Sport 2 tires, 2009 CTS-V with a few minor changes to add safety that wouldn't in any way positively impact the result. As Chris already posted, the item that people see in the car and refer to as a "roll bar" or "role cage" isn't either. This is simply a harness bar that mounts to the floor and B-pillars to enable the use of a six-point racing harness for added safety. This harness bar is intentionally installed in the car so that it DOES NOT increase the torsional rigidity of the chassis or in any way change the way the chassis will function so their testing and development work will be of value for the production car. The racing seats are installed for added safety as well and don't positively impact the performance of this production-spec CTS-V because the lighter weight of the racing seats is a little more than offset by the added weight of the steel harness bar. In all, this production CTS-V weighs a few pounds MORE than the production car because of the weight of the harness bar and the few bits of test equipment onboard.
Posted by: Kevin | May 13, 2008 7:40 PM
What a fantastic car. I really love my 2008 CTS (3.6L DI, Premium Package, Y43 Package) but I think I would love this CTS-V even more. Unfortunately it sounds like it will be expensive, at least for the first year it is available. My salesman told me he had already been told by his dealership that they will be able to charge “Market Price” for the cars (sounds like LOTS of dealer markup to me) when they are available later this year. Too bad. Maybe after the initial demand subsides and if the “list price” is not too steep I’ll be able to consider a trade in the second year of production. Keep up the good work, based on all the great engineering work you folks are dong, I’m really glad I switched from European to Cadillac.
Posted by: Jim | May 14, 2008 9:47 PM
Congrats!
Can you tell us why you decieded on running an automatic instead of a manual? I would assume the manual delivers more ponies at the wheels and it's lighter.
Looking forward to trading in my 05V for this beast.
Posted by: Joe | May 14, 2008 10:00 PM
This seems to have made the M5 boards very cranky LOL. I hear they are offering reinforcing kits to protect their doors from suction....
Posted by: Hi Tech | May 14, 2008 10:19 PM
Great accomplishment!!! Would love to get my hands on one, but unfortunately the Caddy dealerships will be increasing sales at the BMW/Benz Dealerships next year yet once again!
Posted by: M3 | May 15, 2008 12:00 PM
Great accomplishment!!! Would love to get my hands on one, but unfortunately the Caddy dealerships will be increasing sales at the BMW/Benz Dealerships next year yet once again!
Posted by: M3 | May 15, 2008 12:00 PM
Boy, M3, you got that right!!! First of all, it was Heinricy driving it. He drives race cars and we DONT!! Second, the stealerships will jack this thing so HIGH us mere mortals will not be able to touch one. Thats sad Cadillac. Get control of your stealerships and tell them to stop using the bump sticker. Look what it did to the XL-R
Posted by: Joe C32 | May 16, 2008 3:22 PM
This seems to have made the M5 boards very cranky LOL. I hear they are offering reinforcing kits to protect their doors from suction....
Thats all right, the Cadillac owners will need it to keep the dealers from sucking the $$ right out of their wallets. Can you say it together? BUMP STICKER!!!
Posted by: Joe C32 | May 16, 2008 3:31 PM
Reinforcing kits.Yeah right.V boys know;only one ultimate driving machine can be.M5.
Posted by: Dino H | May 19, 2008 5:09 PM
Curious about that too. Is the automatic faster?
Also, please respond to the claimed 7:58 time by the Audi RS4, that seems to be the fastest 4-dr. Did they run full stock or were they using R1s o something?
Posted by: Rob | May 19, 2008 10:44 PM
Kevin,
The CTS-V appears to use a flying lap and ends just short of a full lap. Is this normal for GM as I have heard on firly good authority that the Z06's run involved a standing start full lap? I have also seen where John ran the Ring in a Cobalt from a standing start full lap. Just wondering what is/has been GM's policy on running laps at the Ring.
Thanks,
B
Posted by: Bwright | June 3, 2008 12:33 PM