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SANTA MONICA, California — Confidential sources within GM and its contractors has filled in many details about John Heinricy's epic 7-minute, 59.2-second lap of the Nürburgring's Nordschleife circuit in a production-spec 2009 Cadillac CTS-V.
Yes, it's the automatic — Heinricy's run was made in a CTS-V equipped with the new six-speed automatic. More incredibly however, even though the new transmission is equipped with shift triggers on the steering wheel, Heinricy never once touches them during the run. "He's letting the computer do the shifting," one source told us. "It matches the right gears to the braking perfectly."
The manual isn't as fast — "The reason you see John wave at the beginning of the video," another anonymous source told us, "is because (ride and drive engineer) Aaron Link is right behind him in a manual-transmission CTS-V." Link, an excellent driver in his own right, simply couldn't keep up with Heinricy and throughout testing, the automatic has proven to be the hot setup for this
car. "There's video of Aaron's run, and he's incredibly busy" an insider told us. "Meanwhile, John barely moves."
The run was made from a flying start — Heinricy began his lap three corners behind the start/finish line. So he was already up to speed by the time the clock started.
The CTS-V is airborne at three points in the video — The 'Ring's notorious for flinging cars up in the air and it tried to send this Cadillac into orbit as well. However the active suspension incorporating the magnetic ride shocks has been tuned to deal with precisely such launches. Because he knew the car would leap flat, fly flat and land flat, Heinricy never had to lift once during the run. "Dave Mikels is the guy behind it," our source told us, "and he's done an absolutely amazing job."
There was a roll cage in the car — For safety's sake, as well as for an anchor point for the six-point safety harnesses, there was a four-point roll cage bolted into the car. However the cage was "loose fit" and didn't add any structural heft to the car. "We didn't want to change the car's balance at all," said our hush-hush source.
Stock tires — Heinricy's run was made on production-spec Michelin Pilot Sport 2s. However, the tires were heat-cycled and scrubbed the previous evening to ensure their
performance the next day.
Cool of the morning — The run was made between 7 and 8 a.m. when GM could rent the track before it was open to the public for that day's usual mix of romping and roiling. The cool of the morning may have made the track a bit quicker, but it also meant there was no chance Heinricy would come over a berm and find a stalled tour bus in front of him.
Wet sump simplicity — While the CTS-V's engine is similar to the new
Corvette ZR-1's in that it's a supercharged 6.2-liter V8, it's not the exact same engine. One of the big differences is that the ZR-1 runs a dry-sump oiling system, while the Cadillac uses a conventional wet-sump oiling system. "The CTS-V simply isn't capable of the lateral loads the
Corvette can generate," the source explained. "It's heavier and has smaller tires."
Burnouts 'R Us — Unrelated to the run around the 'Ring, but good to know is that epic burnouts have been part of the new CTS-V's engineering all along. In both manual or automatic transmission modes it will be possible, said our confidante, "to annihilate the tires like John Force if you want."
Our source further reminds us that Heinricy's run was a nearly perfect one and it won't be easily duplicated simply because few people have Heinricy's talent or familiarity with the track. To those who were disappointed in the soundtrack accompanying the run, a source insists that these tapes are generated for engineering evaluation and not for marketing considerations. And, another of our sources promises, the new CTS-V sounds as awesome as it looks.
What this means to you: This time next year, for the first time ever, the world's premier performance
sedan could be a Cadillac. —
Kelly Toepke, News Editor
