Cadillac Loses Nurburgring Record

If you’re any one of the many large auto manufacturers, chances are good that you’re spent massive amounts of time watching your latest creation going around and around the uberfamous Nurburgring. The fastest public road in the world (for it is considered a toll highway), it’s favoured for its varied surfaces and curves that give a reasonable approximation of public road the world over.

Which made it perfect for GM’s testing of the all-new CTS-V. Equipped with a variant of the ZR-1’s supercharged V8, the 556 horsepower super saloon set a Nurburgring record for stock sedans in a single hot lap at the conclusion of a testing session. Driven by factory driver John Heinricy, and equipped with an automatic transmission, the Cadillac whittled out a time of 7:59; an amazing feat given the single-hot-lap nature of the record run.

Now, one year later, that record has been bested by, unsurprisingly, the new Porsche Panamera Turbo. With 500 horsepower, the Panamera lapped the ‘ring in just 7:56 with one of Porsche’s test drivers behind the wheel. Definitely far from a commanding lead, one can expect to see Cadillac return to the ‘ring in an attempt to regain the crown.

However, in any case, with a base price of $155,000 CDN, the Panamera is over twice as expensive as the $68,995 CTS-V. Boiled down to dollars and cents, that marginal lead around the ‘ring will cost you a whopping $28,668.33 CDN per second aboard the Panamera.