General Motors Co. Vice Chairman Bob Lutz recently challenged any journalist or private citizen to race a rival production sedan against the Cadillac CTS-V as part of the automaker’s “May the Best Car Win” marketing campaign.
According to Monday's AutoTech Daily, several people took him up on the offer, including Gawker Media’s Jalopnik enthusiast Web site, which has been publicizing the challenge for weeks.
GM held the CTS-V Drive Challenge last week at the Monticello Motor Club, a members-only track in Monticello, N.Y. A dozen cars competed -- seven of them CTS-V models. By the end of the day, the 550-hp CTS-V had notched six of the top seven fastest laps in the event, with a BMW M3 finishing fourth. John Heinricy, who heads GM Performance Division and was described by the company last year as “an acclaimed racing driver,” was the fastest competitor with a lap time of 2:46 in the CTS. Heinricy set a production car record at the Nurburgring in a CTS-V last year.
The mercurial 77-year-old “Maximum Bob” Lutz finished seventh, 10 seconds off the pace. But he beat several other notable entries, including a BMW M5 (8th), Mitsubishi Evo (9th), Jaguar XF (11th) and Audi RS4 (12th). One CTS-V finished 10th. The last-place Audi was 29 seconds slower than the fastest Cadillac.
Lutz emphasized that the point was simply to show the CTS-V can compete with other high-performance cars. Some bloggers griped that GM had an unfair advantage, but they didn’t explain what it was.
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