Cadillac CTS-V Blisters the Ring in Under 8 Minutes
The Cadillac CTS-V is getting ready for launch and what better way to demonstrate the performance than to break the Nurburgring lap record for a production sedan. GM announced a time of 7 minutes and 59 seconds was achieved this morning by an unmodified model, confirmation of the record run will be released in the coming days with a video of the entire run.
The Nurburgring run is part of the intensive testing in the final stages of development before the CTS-V goes on sale this fall. We are still yet to get full specifications for the new model, but we told the full SAE power ratings, acceleration specifications and U.S.-market pricing will be released in the coming weeks.
Now all that remains is to find out if one of GM's other high performance model - the Corvette ZR1 which is powered by the same 6.2-liter Supercharged V8 engine can beat this time by over 30 seconds to surpass the time of the GT-R which the Corvette engineers have claimed. Judging by recent a spotting of the ZR1 near the famous German race track, it surely won't be long before we find out.
Anything under 8 minutes is bloody fast... especially for a big 4 door like the CTS-V. I wonder though, how that stacks up against rivals like the M5 and AMG CLS63/E63 models. Anybody know?
really good question, this Cadillac just keeps moving up in my books. 8:02 Mercedes CLK 63 AMG - Black Series 507 PS/ 1790 kg Autobild 07/07
From what i know, the M3 and RS4 are just a big faster on the Ring, M3 by about 2-3 and the Audi by 1 or so.
It's not quite stock. If you look closely, there's racing seats and some kinda roll bar... hard to tell if it's a full cage or not. A good roll bar/cage would do wonders for body stiffness, and lightweight race seats would save a bit of weight compared to the standard leather clad, electronically adjustable climate controlled seats. GM says the powertrain is stock however. It doesn't really matter significantly though. In full production trim it'll probably still be within a second or two of this time.
If it's 50 kg lighter the time difference will be more then just second or two. Plus - less weight in front of the middle of the car means better balance. You all know what better balance and less weight means ;)
Even of they saved weight with the seats the surely at least made it up with that roll bar.
What you get in body stiffness is way more valuable then the gain in weight from the bars. And to install those bars you need to remove some of the interior panels. Anyway - I truly agree with phobos - it's a great achievment from Cadillac after all.
But let's wait for the official times ;)
Yes nice effort , but whats all the fuss about ..
This car is an RWD, right? Bur it does not look to be as big as a BMW-5 series. Anybody knows the size of it?
American cars are not supposed to handle. Especially the luxo barges from Cadillac. That's why it is a big deal.
Picture in the track is NOT STOCK! look at the wheel gap!!
It appears the driver is braking hard, and the car is squating hard.
The information in this article is completely misleading. It says the CTS-V and the ZR1 share the exact same engine. THEY DON'T!!! The CTS-V doesn't have the LS9 that the ZR1 does, it has the LSA. IIRC, the EATON TVS Supercharger even is the smaller of the two. The ZR1 has a larger one and who knows, the pulleys could be different too. But to say that the ZR1 has the "same engine" and needs to cut the CTS-V time by 30 seconds to beat the GT-R tries to make it seem impossible to be done.
Now if stating that the CTS-V is 80hp lower than the reclaimed 638hp ZR1, which just happens to have a V8 and TVS supercharger also, it seems more realistic for the ZR1 to get 30 seconds lower than the CTS-V!
...from what I read the engine is the same. The 6.2 liter V8 is called LSA in Cadillac V guise and LS9 in Corvette use - the supercharger is whats different. I would think the difference is to protect the Corvette ZR1 as GM's top sportscar. It does make you wonder what numbers the CTS-V would post if it had the identical setup as the ZR 1/638 hp / 476 kW with 819 Nm of torque...that would be M5/Audi RS killer without a doubt...
Picture in the track is NOT STOCK! look at the wheel gap!!
There's a hard braking zone right after a sharper drop in the hill, so the car will squat and/or bottom out there, sometimes catching a tad bit of air first.
So it's normal for it to look like it's lowered.
I agree with tristancauvin here. it looks like the picture was taken at the Brünnchen complex, which starts with a slow entry right corner. besides, when you go fast, there's just a bump before the braking zone, so there you go.. then again, let's be serious: if you do want a fast saloon, what's the first thing that pops into your mind ? Cadillac ?.. I'd rather go for an RS, M or AMG there, thank you.
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