On this episode of Ignition
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MotorTranscript
00:00 (dramatic music)
00:02 Time flies, people.
00:04 Even on a Daytona-winning Rolex.
00:06 Guess what?
00:07 This is the third generation Cadillac CTS-V.
00:11 It's got the engine straight out of the Corvette Z06.
00:15 640 horsepower, 630 pound-feet of torque.
00:20 I'm a race car driver.
00:22 This is a racetrack.
00:24 Let's go.
00:25 (dramatic music)
00:27 (dramatic music)
00:30 (dramatic music)
00:40 Leaving pit lane in the third generation Cadillac CTS-V.
00:53 The rumble's different.
00:56 It's now more of a cyber rumble
00:58 done electronically through the exhaust.
01:01 Still sounds strong.
01:04 But I miss that old pure Chevy V8 sound.
01:12 It's still a V8, and it's a monster.
01:18 Supercharged, 640 horse,
01:21 running an automatic transmission.
01:26 Good running car.
01:28 Broad torque curve.
01:29 We're pulling 135 on the way into turn eight,
01:33 and I can sit here and talk to you.
01:35 This is a good handling car.
01:36 Look at the relaxation of my hands.
01:39 120 miles an hour in turn eight.
01:42 That's a sign of how well balanced that the CTS-V chassis is.
01:46 It's always been an impressively good handling car,
01:50 and this third generation is better yet.
01:54 (engine revving)
01:57 (tires squealing)
02:01 (horn honking)
02:03 (engine revving)
02:07 (tires squealing)
02:10 (engine revving)
02:12 (tires squealing)
02:16 (engine revving)
02:19 (tires squealing)
02:22 (engine revving)
02:26 (tires squealing)
02:28 (engine revving)
02:39 (tires squealing)
02:52 (engine revving)
02:55 (tires squealing)
03:20 (engine revving)
03:22 - Hey, Randy.
03:44 - Hi, Johnny.
03:45 - How is the CTS-V?
03:47 - It's got really good handling.
03:49 It's powerful, strong brakes.
03:51 I like it better than the Corvette.
03:53 - So let me ask you a question.
03:54 I know you just did Pike's Peak.
03:56 How do you think the CTS-V would do as a hill climb car?
03:59 - This would be a terrific hill climb car.
04:01 It's got a supercharger to help compensate
04:03 for the altitude, strong brakes, good stable handling.
04:07 It'd be good.
04:08 - Well, this is what I wanted to hear,
04:09 because I just entered this car
04:11 in the 44th annual Virginia City Hill Climb,
04:14 and I'm driving.
04:15 - Really?
04:17 - Oh, yeah.
04:19 - Johnny, you better get in.
04:21 I think you need some tips.
04:22 - Done.
04:23 - Apex late.
04:27 - Apex late.
04:28 - Late, over there on the right.
04:29 Now, late again, and I'll get kind of close,
04:32 'cause you want to set up for the,
04:34 set up close.
04:35 So you set up for this,
04:37 'cause it's important to get a good run through here.
04:40 See how long this entry is?
04:42 Then apex very late right here.
04:44 Go straight for a moment.
04:46 Down in here, yeah.
04:48 And don't be stabby.
04:50 Smooth, especially, you know, a long, slow brake release.
04:54 And on the power, you have a tendency to get on, off,
04:56 on, off.
04:58 Look ahead, feed that power on gradually.
05:01 Well, whatever you do, don't do what I did at Pike's Peak.
05:06 (tires screeching)
05:10 (upbeat music)
05:13 (dog barking)
05:16 Virginia City is your classic Western boom town.
05:22 The massive Comstock Lode was discovered there in 1859,
05:26 just before the Civil War broke out,
05:28 turning the mining camp
05:30 into one of the wealthiest cities on earth.
05:32 Rumor holds that the town got its name
05:34 when a prospector named Old Virginia Finney
05:37 dropped and subsequently smashed a bottle of whiskey
05:40 on the steps of a saloon.
05:42 Virginia City also happens to be high up on Mount Davidson,
05:46 and the road, Highway 342, is quite treacherous.
05:49 Luckily for driving enthusiasts,
05:51 Story County went ahead and built Highway 341,
05:55 a truck bypass parallel-ish to 342
05:58 that serves as the course for the Virginia City hill climb.
06:02 I've been graciously invited to participate
06:04 in the 44th running of the climb.
06:06 First run in 1964 by a Bay Area Aston Martin owners group,
06:11 the modern version of the event is jointly put on
06:13 by the Ferrari Club of America Pacific Region
06:16 and the NorCal Shelby Club.
06:18 The climb itself is 5.2 miles long
06:22 and rises 1,200 feet in elevation along the way.
06:25 There are 20 major turns to deal with.
06:28 Both lanes are at your disposal,
06:29 and there's no speed limit whatsoever.
06:32 (engine revving)
06:36 (upbeat music)
06:39 (engine revving)
06:42 So you can't talk about the new CTS-V
06:45 until you talk about the previous second generation CTS-V,
06:48 and that was a car I loved, the wagon specifically,
06:52 because, remember, it had a 6.2 liter supercharged LSA V8,
06:57 556 horsepower, 553 pound feet of torque,
07:01 and a six-speed manual.
07:03 It was just so cool.
07:04 This generation, though, things have changed.
07:08 Yes, more power, and we will get to that,
07:11 but I hope you like four doors with automatic transmissions,
07:14 'cause that's all you get.
07:15 There's no coupe.
07:16 They've told me point blank to my face a million times.
07:18 There's no wagon.
07:19 I think it's a big mistake, not just because I love wagons,
07:21 but because Cadillac wants to become a global brand.
07:25 (engine revving)
07:28 That said, the new CTS-V, it's a hell of a beast.
07:32 Back to the engines, the LT4,
07:35 it's the same engine that's in the Z06.
07:37 It's detuned marginally, so instead of 650 horsepower
07:42 and 650 pound feet of torque,
07:43 we're talking 640 horsepower, 630 pound feet of torque.
07:48 There's nothing close to it, except for, of course,
07:52 the Hellcat, but that's a much bigger, much heavier,
07:55 much sloppier car.
07:57 General Motors, specifically, Cadillac, Camaro, and Corvette
08:01 has invested a massive amount of money
08:04 in developing cars on the Nurburgring.
08:06 Why do you develop cars on the Nurburgring?
08:08 To make 'em better.
08:10 The Nurburgring just beats the hell out of anything,
08:13 and so what you get is you get these wonderful chassis.
08:15 This is the Alpha chassis, the Alpha platform,
08:18 which is the same as the ATS,
08:20 which is the same as the upcoming,
08:21 about to be launched Camaro, and it's magnificent.
08:25 Stiff, light, imagine the best E46 BMW M3 you ever drove.
08:30 This is like that, just blown up.
08:33 Terrific chassis.
08:36 As for the road, I like this road.
08:38 This is the kind of road I grew up driving.
08:40 It's similar to some of the Cans in Malibu,
08:43 or like Big Tujunga, or Angeles Forest.
08:45 There's nothing super technical about this road.
08:48 There's no blind, off-camber, decreasing radiuses.
08:52 It's just a big, flowing road.
08:54 I can tell already, it's high speed,
08:57 not a lot of brake zones.
08:59 And not only is this road gonna be good for me,
09:01 it's gonna be great for the CTS-V,
09:03 because cars like this, big luxury sedans
09:06 with all the horsepower in the known universe,
09:08 they love roads like this, where you can just get on it,
09:11 not a ton of braking, really just use that power,
09:14 use the great chassis, and flow from one corner to the next.
09:17 I'm not really seeing anything that's gonna trip me up.
09:20 There's no one corner where I was like, whoa.
09:23 The one thing that's a little scary
09:25 is there's no shoulders whatsoever,
09:27 and if you go off that way,
09:29 you're gonna fall down a silver mine.
09:31 But aside from that, it's a pretty good road.
09:33 The pavement's in great quality.
09:36 I like it, I like it a lot.
09:38 The thing is, I'm not going absolutely nuts right now,
09:42 but tomorrow when I'm competing
09:44 and Sunday when I'm competing,
09:46 things change as you go faster.
09:47 I'll never forget that Sterling Moss,
09:50 when he was talking about the 55 Mille Miglia,
09:53 saying, "We pre-ran the route at 120 miles an hour,
09:56 "everything seemed fine, but at 170,
09:58 "that little crest became a jump."
10:01 (engine revving)
10:02 I'm gonna have fun.
10:03 I don't know if I'm gonna be competitive
10:04 in any way, shape, or form,
10:05 but I know I'm gonna have a really good time.
10:08 Saturday is considered a practice day.
10:15 After a long, but entertaining, safety briefing,
10:18 rookies were given three practice runs
10:20 with an instructor in the passenger seat.
10:22 The idea is that you get a chance to practice on the hill
10:25 while a wiser driver tells you about the tricky bits.
10:28 At some point, I asked my guy, Chris,
10:30 "What's a good time to aim for?"
10:32 "Four minutes is a pretty respectable time," he tells me.
10:35 Later, as my buddy Scott stands there and eyeballs the CTS-V,
10:38 he says, "Nah, in this thing,
10:40 "you should be able to pull off a 350."
10:42 (dramatic music)
10:45 - Go ahead.
10:57 (engine revving)
10:59 - Imagine my surprise when on my second run,
11:02 I caught the car in front of me
11:03 and still ran about three minutes, 45 seconds.
11:07 What would a clean run bring?
11:10 A pretty damn fine time, if I don't say so myself.
11:13 336.859.
11:16 My head was spinning.
11:17 That's way faster than I was supposed to run.
11:24 Not only that, I was in a bone stock,
11:26 4,100 pound, four-door Cadillac.
11:29 I didn't even put fancy tires on the CTS-V,
11:32 even though when I got to Virginia City,
11:33 I noticed that half the field was running DOT slicks.
11:36 I was in danger of hurting my wrist
11:38 from patting myself on the back.
11:40 That night, I tossed and turned
11:44 with visions of grandeur dancing through my head.
11:47 How much faster would I go when it counted?
11:49 I could probably shave a couple of seconds off here or there.
11:52 In fact, after talking to some guys at dinner,
11:54 I even had a better idea of line through some
11:57 of the trickier corners.
11:58 My first run on Sunday was a big bucket of cold water
12:05 dumped on my head.
12:06 Three minutes, 42 seconds.
12:08 Not even kind of close to what I did the day before.
12:11 But hey, that was just the first run.
12:13 The road was cold.
12:14 I'll nail it on the second run.
12:17 I happened to talk to a guy from Cadillac
12:18 after that first slow run, and he suggested
12:21 I leave the transmission in full auto.
12:23 After all, Cadillac spent a lot of time and money
12:26 calibrating the thing.
12:28 I tried it.
12:29 Three minutes, 41 seconds.
12:31 That's not good.
12:32 Most entrants in the event get about 10 runs in on Sunday.
12:35 But because I was busy screwing around with my video crew,
12:38 I'd be lucky to get five.
12:40 The next one had to count.
12:42 I went back to full manual mode for the gears and pushed.
12:45 338.
12:47 Better, but still not nearly as good as the day before.
12:50 What the hell?
12:51 [MUSIC PLAYING]
13:21 Result, 336.953.
13:25 Success.
13:26 It was just less than a tenth of a second
13:28 off my best run on Saturday.
13:30 But who cares?
13:31 I did it.
13:32 We did it.
13:32 Me and the Cadillac, we did it.
13:34 Need further proof?
13:36 We beat every single Ferrari present.
13:38 Two of the three McLarens, though the P1, of course,
13:40 slaughtered us.
13:41 All of the Porsches save one.
13:43 All the Vipers, except for my buddy Scott's.
13:45 And a Ford GT.
13:47 Of course, we got beat by a Datsun 240Z, 260s Mustangs,
13:51 and a whole bunch of Z06, Z01 Corvettes.
13:53 But again, who cares?
13:56 Could I have driven better?
13:58 Yeah, sure, of course.
13:59 Could the CTS-V be any better?
14:02 Yes, there's room for improvement.
14:04 Tires, of course, are the big thing.
14:05 Randy told me that Pilot Sport Cup 2s would
14:08 have shaved a second per mile.
14:09 Easy.
14:10 But I'm just fantasizing out loud.
14:12 As it stands, the Cadillac CTS-V is the ultimate production
14:16 hill-climb sedan on earth.
14:19 Can't wait for next year.
14:20 [CAR ENGINE]
14:50 [CAR ENGINE]
14:57 [BLANK_AUDIO]