CT4-V Blackwing crash at Lightning Lap

[668LT4]

Interesting...

Car and Driver's Cadillac Blackwing Crash Reveals Something Interesting About the Car

The Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing is a serious performance car, but Car and Driver's experience on the race track revealed a characteristic that might affect your decision to buy one.

www.motorbiscuit.com

 

[shbox]

I can't say I am convinced of their logic. Their conclusion was drawn because of one person's incident and the resulting effect it had on everyone else that afterward drove with that knowledge. Take another sample of drivers with no previous knowledge of the incident and see the results. That would be a more fair evaluation.

 

[Bigfx]

Yeah I don’t get it, every other reviewer has had a blast with this car and had little to no issues, seems like a weak article and argument.

 

[soulsea]

Have they posted a video with telemetry of the incident so we can all observe how the car was at fault?

 

[MatthewAMEL]

In 20 years of driving cars rapidly on track, there is only one characteristic that makes me ‘not trust the car’. Excessive understeer.

The BW4 and 5 are under-tired in the front. I know why Caddy did it, the daily ride and drive experience is better, but performance near the limit suffers. Caddy cheated a bit with the TPC P4S, but there is no way around that both cars need a wider front tire.

The BW5 is heavier than a ZL1, but has a narrower front tire. (275 vs 285). In the ICONS video, Randy and Camisa both mention the uncharacteristic understeer in an Alpha chassis vehicle.

I think the BW4 was a victim of the C&D staff expectations. Alpha chassis cars are known as some of the finest handling on earth. I’m sure he was unprepared for the car to respond the way it did.

 

[Mbar]

Meeeehhh….second tier auto journalism.

 

[RDATLTE]

I believe that they call an article like that a hit job!

 

[668LT4]

And let's face it, to really know the absolute best lap time for each of the cars, they should let the manufacturers bring their own drivers. The dude driving the 5 around admitted to butchering a few turns, and that cost more than 1/4 second IMO.

Maybe Cadillac should send the C&D team to their driving school.

 

[soulsea]

And let's face it, to really know the absolute best lap time for each of the cars, they should let the manufacturers bring their own drivers. The dude driving the 5 around admitted to butchering a few turns, and that cost more than 1/4 second IMO.

Maybe Cadillac should send the C&D team to their driving school.

We do know the 4 has at least three more seconds a lap in it than C&D drivers got out of it. And it was done without wrecking … imagine that.

 

[668LT4]

We do know the 4 has at least three more seconds a lap in it than C&D drivers got out of it. And it was done without wrecking … imagine that.

Right! I know I could not beat the C&D guy, but I'm pretty sure I could get it around the lap without crashing!

 

[Finally-a-V]

Sounds like a way to explain bad driving. Trying to wipe the egg off their faces. I'm sure they're embarrassed crashing a car. "It's the car, not me!"

 

[Mike Martz]

Interesting...

Car and Driver's Cadillac Blackwing Crash Reveals Something Interesting About the Car

The Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing is a serious performance car, but Car and Driver's experience on the race track revealed a characteristic that might affect your decision to buy one.

www.motorbiscuit.com

This article wasn’t written by Car and Driver but by some guy trying to analysis the incident. Car and Driver never said they didn’t know what happened, they acknowledged that the driver messed up. Too fast in, missed the apex and off into the grass; pretty simple.

My concern is this. I raced open wheel cars, ovals and road courses for over twenty-five years and coached long after that. I have torn up some race cars but it always involved a concrete wall, a guard rail or another car. I never hurt anything going off into the grass.

I hope to track my 5BW (if I ever get it) but I haven’t spent much time tracking street cars. Was this an unusual occurrence or do I need to be more careful with “excursions”? Those were “learning experiences” in my much younger days but at nearly 70, I really don’t want to tear-up a new BW.

 

[Throat Yogurt]

Sounds like a way to explain bad driving. Trying to wipe the egg off their faces. I'm sure they're embarrassed crashing a car. "It's the car, not me!"

It's not. Car and Driver did their job, and blamed their own driving, not the car. The crappy article is the "Motor Biscuit" one linked above.

Wow, who would have thought that a guy named "Shields Bergstrom" would be a BMW fanboy?

 

[Throat Yogurt]

After 2 minutes of googling we find that that "Shields Bergstrom" owns not one, but two BMW M3s. Who would have guessed that such an individual would be butt hurt by a great handling GM car? Here, let me show you his butt hurt:

"Car and Driver’s experience with the CT4-V Blackwing suggests that it takes a while to get a feel for the car. It is not as intuitive or communicative as some of its rivals, like the BMW M3. This means that the average driver will take longer to learn how to drive it fast."

So he infers an opinion about the handling of the 4BW a) without actually ever driving one on the track and b) ignoring Car and Driver's own words saying exactly the opposite of his conclusions. Good job, Shields!

 

[RupertH]

This article is stupid.

C&D specifically called out the driver feedback on the BW4 as best of breed, and specifically dinged the 5 for dead brake pedal response. In fact, the way I read the original material they only included the crash because it hit their confidence and they felt they hadn't given the car a fair shake because of it. It reads as more of an apology to Caddy for their poor lap time. I suspect if they'd been able to shake their fairly expensive mistake and returned an appropriately representative time, they wouldn't have included the crash narrative at all. (At least not in the body- maybe as a side panel or something)

What I said somewhere else about YouTube goes double for online 'journalism'- the barrier to entry for these content creators (if they can be reasonably called that) is way too low and the level of effort applied to their work reflects it.

 

[LS7Solstice]

Have they posted a video with telemetry of the incident so we can all observe how the car was at fault?

Probably not. Because you'll probably see an eratic journalist bro behind the wheel with PTM completely off because he is a hardass.

Notice that in the GM video, the professional driver even has PTM on.

I find it hilarious that the only negative article about the CT4 BW and it's dynamics is by the same people who wrecked it by admitting they went into a corner "a little hot".

 

[Throat Yogurt]

I find it hilarious that the only negative article about the CT4 BW and it's dynamics is by the same people who wrecked it by admitting they went into a corner "a little hot".

Read above. It's NOT. Car and Driver blames themselves for the incident. The critical article is by an M3 fanboy who trusts his own inferences over C&D's own statements.

 

[LS7Solstice]

Read above. It's NOT. Car and Driver blames themselves for the incident. The critical article is by an M3 fanboy who trusts his own inferences over C&D's own statements.

Thanks for the clarification. I read an article and chose violence.

 

[Throat Yogurt]

Thanks for the clarification. I read an article and chose violence.

Understandable. It's usually the right choice.

 

[Jameson's Viggen]

This takes credence, more feedback and info from Car & Driver.