Autoblog

Over the past two decades, John Heinricy has probably done more to enhance the performance image of General Motors than any other single individual. From the perspective of a petrol-head, Heinricy has for many years held what is probably the coolest job at GM as the director of the Performance division and top-dog test driver. We found out today that Heinricy is retiring after 38 years as an engineer and test driver for GM. In his off time, Heinricy has raced a wide variety of cars at many different levels and captured 11 SCCA national titles. Much of his best known work has been at the wheel of the last several generations of Corvettes along with the Cadillac CTS, but this year he got the most attention for his exploits in the new CTS-V. Specifically, he became the first driver to record a sub-eight minute lap time at the Nurburgring in a production four-door sedan with the new Cadillac CTS-V. When we attended the first track preview of the CTS-V a few months ago, Heinricy was on hand with the record setting car to talk about the big lap. You can check out video of Heinricy's chat and the record lap after the jump.


[Source: Cadillac Driver's Log]

Click above for high-res gallery of the 2009 Cadillac CTS-V

We thought Bentley's announcement earlier today that it's adding a Speed model to the Continental Flying Spur lineup was exciting news for sedan fans. After all, a 600bhp saloon that can hit 60 mph in 4.5 seconds and reach 200 MPH is pretty exciting, no? Not really when compared to Cadillac's news that the 2009 CTS-V will officially be rated at 556 horsepower, hit 60 mph in 3.5 seconds and run the quarter mile in 12 seconds flat. No offense to Bentley, but a sub-3-second sedan is about as exciting as it can get on a Monday. For the record, the Edmunds' Straightline Blog reports that the sport sedan's 6.2L supercharged V8 will produce 556 hp at 6,100 rpm and 551 pound-feet of torque at 3,800 rpm. That engine is the LSA, derived from the new Corvette ZR1's LS9 motor and detuned for duty in the CTS-V. Fortunately, the LSA wasn't detuned too much and the '09 CTS-V should destroy its German competition, specifically the BMW M5 with its - can't believe we're saying this - relatively meager 500-hp 5.0L V10.

UPDATE: Official press release added after jump.

[Source: Edmunds' Straightline Blog]

Click above for more shots of the CTS-V on the 'Ring

The badassery going in inside the supercharged LSA V8 stuffed under the domed hood of the 2009 Cadillac CTS-V appears to translate well on the Nordschleife's graffiti-marked tarmac. GM announced today that John Heinricy exercised his right to life, liberty and the pursuit of a record time by wheeling a CTS-V with production-spec performance mods around the Nürburgring's north loop in 7:59.32, which is believed to be the "fastest documented lap time" for a production sedan. Even if that turns out not to be the case, it's pretty freakin' fast. GM shot video of the whole thing, which should be released in the coming days. Somewhere, Nissan engineers with furrowed brows are shoving the GT-R's 3.8L V6 into a G35 sedan...


[Source: GM]