In testing last week at Germany's Nurburgring, Cadillac's upcoming new 2009 CTS-V completed a lap of the legendary Nordschleife in 7:59.32. This time appears to be the fastest ever publicly documented for a production sedan.

Cadillac is nearing the completion of testing for the CTS-V, the limited-edition high-performance model based on the award-winning CTS sport sedan. John Heinricy, GM Performance Division executive and an acclaimed racing driver, piloted the CTS-V through its sub-eight minute lap. The car itself had no performance modifications outside of those planned for consumer production, which is scheduled to begin this fall.

Estimated at 410kW, the CTS-V is at the moment going through the final stages of intensive testing and development. One of the realistic objectives of the Cadillac team is to make the CTS-V the world's fastest production sedan.

The eight-minute mark has long been recognised as a major Nurburgring milestone, reserved for race cars and the fastest exotic sports cars. While there's no single official repository for Nurburgring data from private test sessions, numerous reputable websites and publications report lap times from race teams, automakers and independent sources.

The new 2009 CTS-V includes a suite of performance technologies, including a new version of Cadillac's Magnetic Ride Control suspension and the LSA 6.2-litre supercharged V8 engine. For the first time, CTS-V will include the choice of six-speed manual or automatic transmissions, with the new automatic sporting steering wheel-mounted shift buttons.