*Photography by: Robb Sutton
If there were a car that, in our opinion, offers the total package in terms of class, luxury, style, performance, room for five, a usable trunk, and sheer badassery, that vehicle would be a CTS-V.
It’s America’s answer to the BMW M5, Mercedes/AMG E-class, and the Audi RS6. Well, actually, it’s the car that made the manufacturers of those coveted cars up their own game. The CTS-V is truly in a class by itself.
The first-generation was quick and had huge amounts of potential with its 400 hp LS6/LS2 (depending on year), massive Brembo brakes, and Nurburgring-tuned suspension.
While that car set the bar for American luxury performance, the encore presentation that followed along in 2009 raised said bar a few levels.
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- Robb’s ‘V came to Vengeance stock, even down to the tune. The only change under the hood was an aftermarket cold-air induction kit.
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- …and so it begins!
Leaving the Lansing, MI assembly line with a 556 hp supercharged LSA, easy bolt-on horsepower was child’s play, thanks to the blower’s untapped potential in its intake and exhaust tracts.
Low 12s are the norm out of the box, but install a cold-air kit, smaller pulleys, headers, and a tune and you’ll have a solid mid-11 second performer on your hands. Sometimes even better!
So when we ran across a picture of this one strapped to the dyno on the Vengeance Racing Facebook page, we knew something potentially, brutally awesome was brewing!
Putting down a very healthy 532 rwhp with nothing more than a KPE cold-air intake, this CTS-V is owned by Robb Sutton, an apparent professional photographer, who has an excellent taste in cars.
With the baseline set, Vengeance is going to tear into this thing; giving it the full treatment; VR custom camshaft kit, 102mm Nick Williams throttle body conversion, ported blower/snout, ZL1 lid, American Racing long-tube headers, Lingenfelter Performance Engineering upper and lower pulley system, and powdercoated brakes with the VR logo.
Sutton’s car is also equipped with Nitrous Outlet spray, too, but we won’t get to see its benefits until around December. The car rolls on a killer set of black ADV.1 Wheels, which further the already sinister overall theme of a CTS-V. We’ll bring you an update on this car once it’s completed!
The next time you see this car, it’ll be back together and putting down some serious numbers! Stick around…
***UPDATE***
Since we’ve last brought you this story, the car has been completed, it has put down some serious numbers. too – 750.27 rwhp and 715.66 lb-ft. of torque to the rear tires, to be exact.
For the work that’s put into this car, those are some truly results. Keep in mind, those numbers are on a conservative street tune utilizing a stock bottom end.
Like before, the car’s owner, Robb Sutton, shot all of his own photos, and even cooked up this nice little video for you to enjoy. We posted it below for your viewing pleasure.
Rick Seitz is the owner and founder of GMEFI Magazine, and has a true love and passion for all vehicles. When he isn’t tuning, testing, or competing with the brand’s current crop of project vehicles, he’s busy tinkering and planning the next modifications for his own cars.
