Cadillac has broken the drivers into four groups for this afternoon's timed laps. So let's have a look. Lutz? Right. The dude who owns the M3 (Michael Cooper of Long Island)? Right.
Link? Who's that? He's one of GM's resident hot-shoe engineers. Heinricy? That's right Cadillac's ultimate ringer is in -- no surprise -- the last group, just in case. And who is this Redman. Oh, that would be Brian Redman, legendary road racer and Grand Marshall of Monticello. He'll also be in a CTS-V.
Good to have the home-field advantage, eh? If you put away the competition portion of this challenge, something that's easy to do in this convivial atmosphere, it will be nice to see how quickly a pro driver gets around the course in the V.
actualsize says:
10:31 AM, 10/29/09
Hmm. Let's see how things stack up for GM: A drying track and the most rubbered-in session of the day. A members-only circuit none of the challengers is likely to have seen before. A multiple-time SCCA national champion (Heinricy) and an IMSA GT legend (Redman) standing by to bolster the boss. And a load of journalist challengers and anonymous privateers that talk faster than they drive. Sounds like an infomercial to me.
I'm not saying the CTS-V isn't fast. I just think it deserves more than this.
bankerdanny says:
11:22 AM, 10/29/09
As a publicity stunt this event is fine. But what is the take away here? That professional drivers are faster than random journalists and members of the general public with unknown track experience levels?
For this even to have any value after the hot lap in their own cars, the drivers would then repeat the process in the CTS-V and see if (a) they are faster and (b) is the car easier or harder to drive in a track setting.
By itself two professional drivers being able to outdrive 3 amateurs means nothing at all.
jjacquot says:
11:23 AM, 10/29/09
The only question is...
If GM will admit that any of its "lesser" drivers is quicker than Heinricy. Can you say Link?
bankerdanny says:
11:28 AM, 10/29/09
Looking at those two name I would say that, should the CTS-V win, BMW sould issue a rematch challenge then bring over Sabine Schmitz from the Nurburgring, fair is fair.
dougtheeng says:
12:39 PM, 10/29/09
This would have been more interesting if the private owners got to drive a CTS-V around the track as well. Then they could properly compare times. As is, these results are flawed. I don't care if the car is faster by a huge or small margin - if its driven by a pro, it negates the results.