New Cadillac CTS-V sets Nurburgring record for saloon

What rear-wheel driven car with an American passport has got a 6.2-litre V8 that will propel it to 62mph in five seconds and will top out at around the 190mph mark? Yup, the muscly new Cadillac CTS-V saloon that comes in both manual and automatic transmission and will be available as a right hooker when it makes its UK debut in 2009.

Cadillac has made no attempt to disguise the fact that it intends to make its CTS-V the world's fastest production saloon, emphasising the manufacturers V-Series interpretation of performance and technology, if not environmental concerns. And to prove its point, a standard CTS-V has now set a new Nurburgring lap record for a four-door saloon, getting from starting grid to finishing line in 7 minutes and 59 seconds.

Sub eight- minutes is the Holy Grail for motoring manufacturers, and is traditionally reserved for race-bred car exotica with more than a little added ingredient, however Cadillac confirmed that its car had no modifications above and beyond what would make production in the states later this year.

Americans – God love them – have to do everything bigger, better and now it seems, faster. So it probably comes as no surprise to hear that performance yank tank with a boot and four doors – the Cadillac CTS-V – has set a new record time lapping the Nurburgring.

7 minutes, 59 seconds - and a half, to be exact - was the official clocked time the Cadillac CTS-V took to circumnavigate the fabled German automotive proving ground, in doing so chalking up the quickest-ever ring of the ring recorded by a four-door sedan. Place of birth aside, the 567bhp Caddy will have blisters on its tyre treads as it says ‘over to you my Japanese friends’ as the blow-for-blow duel between US, German and Japanese car manufacturers for Nordschleife bragging rights gains momentum.

If you recall, the new Lexus LF-A Concept threw down the gauntlet late last year with a 7 minute 24 second blast that left spectators agog, only for the Corvette ZR1 to give it a crack in 7 minutes 40-something seconds earlier this year. No sooner had the gauntlet been chucked back down trackside by the US pretender to the scorching crown, than the Nissan GT-R picked it straight back up and set its own mightily impressive lap time of 7 minutes and 29 seconds.

So right back at you America. OK, this 7 minute 59 seconds ain't exactly ‘bringing it on’ with the aforementioned, but then again the additional weight and an extra two-doors and a trunk, sorry, boot, figures as part of the equation. As does tightened suspension, magnetic ride control, electro-mechanical rear end and a six-speed selector that means the Caddy is no ordinary repmobile.

Of course, the British lead the way at the Nurburgring, with the Radical SR8 remaining the fastest ever recorded vehicle to lap the testing Nordeschliefe circuit, posting a time of 6 minutes 55 seconds in 2005. Closely – although not technically – followed by the Radical SR3 Turbo, which set the modern day then record of 7 minutes and 12 seconds in 2003.

The Lotus Seven-doppelgänger – the Dutch-built Donkervoort D8 RS - did it in 7 minutes 14 seconds in 2005, whilst a name that actually might mean something to you – the Porsche GT RS for instance – bettered this by 1 second in the same year. Skipping another absurdly named creation, and the BMW M3 CSL pipped the Lexus in the current roll of honour in 2007, setting a time of 7 minutes and 22 seconds, prior to all this recent activity.

Incidentally, the feverish likes of the Bugatti Veyron, Pagani Zonda, Koenigsegg CCR and McLaren Mercedes SLR are found wanting further down the list, after the Nissan GT-R rather amusingly.