October 29, 2009 CTS-V Challenge

Last month, during a discussion with journalists about General Motors’ new “May the Best Car Win” marketing campaign, Bob Lutz laid down the challenge to any journalist to a duel with the Cadillac CTS-V to see if any comparable car could topple the Caddy.

The guys at Jalopnik quickly accepted, putting forward Wes Siler who was originally planning to race in a Jaguar XFR until officials pulled the car because of fears of the brakes overheating. Luckily Siler still had a Mitsubishi Evo on hand (which got its ass whupped even after he put in 100 octane).

He was joined by Jack Baruth from "The Truth About Cars" who also drove a Cadillac CTS-V and several ‘civilians’ driving a BMW M3, a BMW M5, an Audi RS4 and even another Cadillac CTS-V.

Well, the event took place today at the Monticello Motor Club in Monticello, N.Y. and we now have the results. Taking top honors was former GM Performance Division Executive, John Heinricy,  with a lap time of 2:46.56 in the Cadillac CTS-V.

The times below were on the FULL COURSE, about 3.7 miles long. But because of the speeds that can be attained at the end of the 3/4 mile straight, the lawyers put a halt on the fun and demanded a chicane on the main straight to limit any "potential liabilities issues". So comparing their times to what I've run with my car isn't apples to apples.

Johnny O'Connell was the "Mystery Driver" and he beat them all with a 2:45.537 and he only got that on the last lap because of me. They wanted to end his session but I saw him fish-tail exiting the hairpin before the start/finish line and I told them to let him go one more before waiving the checkered flag. Before that lap, his best was slower than Heinricy. Also, they gave O'Connell a different car that had worse tires so I'm sure he could have beaten Heinricy by more if he was in Heinricy's car and had a few more laps to practice. The whole day will be covered on a special episode on Speed Channel in December.

1. Cadillac CTS-V (John Heinricy): 2:46:560
2. Cadillac CTS-V (Aaron Link): 2:48:902  
3. Cadillac CTS-V (Brian Redman): 2:49:183
4. BMW M3 (Michael Cooper): 2.50:424
5. Cadillac CTS-V (Jack Baruth): 2:51:153
6. Cadillac CTS-V (Lawrence Ulrich): 2:53:026
7. Cadillac CTS-V (Bob Lutz): 2:56:321
8. Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X (Wes Siler): 3:08.126
9. BMW M5 (Michael Mainwald): 3:08:989
10. Cadillac CTS-V (Chris Fairman.): 3:14:292
11. Audi RS4 (Tom Loder): 3:15:702
12. Jaguar XF (Archan Basu): 3:16.670