2009 CTS-V vs CTS-VR

[Bruce Nunnally]

The 2009 Cadillac CTS-V will have the new 6.2L supercharged V8 and sport 556 horsepower (415 kW) at 6100 rpm and 551 lb.-ft. (747 Nm) of torque at 3800 rpm. It is interesting to note that this will make the 2009 CTS-V have very comparable power to the RACING version of the CTS-V, the CTS-VR. The 'published' figure for the CTS-VR is 515hp per this Motortrend article comparing the previous generation V to the racing car.

One should note that the racing version is limited per series approved engine tune.

The racing car has a weight advantage, hitting the scales at only 3,150 lbs vs the 4,200+ lbs of the production 09 CTS-V. But it is remarkable that in only a few years we have gotten to a production car that has many of the performance advantages of the racing car in terms of brakes and suspension, and now sports MORE raw power than the racing car.

The resulting projected production CTS-V performance figures of 0-60 mph in 3.9 seconds and the quarter-mile in 12 seconds at 118 mph compare well enough to Motor Trend's figures for the racing model of 0-60 mph in 3.3 sec and quartermile in 11.1 sec @ 130.1 mph given the weight difference of over 1k lbs between the cars. As a thumb rule 10 hp cuts 0.2 sec off acceleration times, and 100 lbs adds 0.1 sec to acceleration time. And the facts are of course that most of us want the full luxury and creature comforts of a full street car on our daily commute vs the stripped configuration of a dedicated race car.

Of course, we have not yet seen the RACING version of the 09 CTS-V...

[Cadillac Jim]

Excuse me please, but I would like to know what items need be removed, or replaced with magnesium or carbon fiber replacements to get the weight down to 3150 pounds. Or, will an R version be made available with license plates as a limited edition?

[Bruce Nunnally]

Pratt & Miller did the modifications for the racing cars. To start with, the doors/hood/trunk lid are carbon fiber. Obviously little of the interior is needed, although the roll cage would add some weight back.

Nice thread at ls1tech.com here show among other things the CTS-VRs in the P&M shop. I wish my garage looked like that.

Katech did the engine preparations. Nice article about them here at Popular Hotrodding.

[Cadillac Jim]

Hey, it's good to know that GM still works with these people. I know that supercharging is the order of the day, but do you know if the normally-aspirated tuner, Lingfelter, is still in the loop?

[Bruce Nunnally]

Lingenfelter continues to offer a variety of packages for the CTS-V, including up to 620hp normally aspirated kit for $27K. I assume that includes installation.

I think we will increasingly see turbos and superchargers from here. The appeal of the off-throttle fuel economy combined with the on-demand boost performance is very attractive. 6.2L does not seem small except that the other options for power were to use the 7L engine or the 8.1L.

For every day cars, powerplants like the ecotec 2L turbo making 260hp and good fuel economy are very strong.