Cadillac CTS-v R vs. Cadillac CTS-v

The air was silent right up until his finger pushed the starter button. Then, suddenly, the CTS-v R's exhaust note tore through the air with the razor-sharp crackle of a lightning strike. Andy Pilgrim--the big-game sports-car pilot who drives these things for a living--enjoyed giving us a scare each time he lit off the 6.0-liter V-8. Even when we anticipated its high-compression internal explosion, the crisp, high-decibel fire-up of the race-bred LS2 still made us jump.

Acceleration, braking, a tricky figure eight, and a high-speed road course would be the performance tests of choice for this juiced-up Cadillac. A street-spec CTS-v would establish the baseline. Our shoes and Pilgrim would take turns driving both cars to demonstrate the differences between showroom and racetrack rides as well as those between trained-but-capable amateurs and full-time professional drivers.

The players
Exhaustive testing at Germany's famed Nuerburgring was a major element of CTS-v development. Cadillac's goal was to build a world-class sport sedan that works as an everyday car and delivers the performance of high-buck German offerings without busting your wallet. We've tested several of them, and it's fair to say the Wreath and Crest crew has accomplished its objective. Sharp body lines, track-tuned sport suspension, 18-inch wheels, and a 400-horsepower V-8 team to deliver a raucous sedan that oozes attitude--far from the over-opulent nature, expansive sheetmetal, tepid powertrains, and pillowy ride Cadillac was all too well known for a quarter century ago.

To further the development of Cadillac's v program, GM brass greenlighted a plan to campaign a pair of purpose-built, race-spec CTS-vs in the SCCA's brutally competitive GT class. "We went racing to help sell cars and change the image of Cadillac," says Cadillac general manager Jim Taylor. " With the learning generated throughout our test program, we've been able to make tangible gains to our production products." Before you dismiss the CTS-v R as a one-off box of race bits with no ties to a street CTS-v, know that 58 percent of its components are factory stock or derived from production parts, including the engine, engine computer, six-speed manual gearbox, rear differential, and suspension design, along with many other pieces. The CTS-v R we tested was born on the CTS assembly line at GM's Lansing Grand River facility.