Jalopnik Some “Mystery Driver” just turned a 2:45…
Some say he roams the woods at night, foraging for wolves… :snky:
What was the mystery driver driving?
^^^CTS-V
Mystery Driver is none other than Johnny O’Connell of Corvette racing fame.
If you take GM’s ringers out of the equation, a BMW M3 won the CTS-V challenge. GM won’t be mentioning that, we suspect.^DP
Just saying 
apparently, all the CTS-Vs that beat the M3 where driven by race car drivers, where the M3 was driven by the owner
John Heinricy is an engineer…
Thought he was also apart of the vette racing team member
EDIT: Jesus… do some research before posting
John Heinricy is a U.S. automotive engineer and noted racecar driver.
Heinricy has had a long and distinguished career at General Motors, serving as assistant chief engineer for the Corvette and as Director of the GM Performance Division. John retired from GM in October 2008
He also campaigns a variety of GM products in SCCA competition, winning the annual SCCA National Championship Runoffs in Corvettes and Camaros , Firebirds and a Chevrolet Cobalt.
In 2007, Heinricy claimed his 11th SCCA Runoffs championship (driving a Chevy Cobalt in Showroom Stock C). Heinricy presently holds the third most Runoffs titles, behind Duane Davis (13) and Jerry Hansen (27).
John also has a sub 8 minute time in a Cadillac CTS-V around the Nurburgring.
He was the chief engineer for the vette and he races GM stuff for promotional shit. He’s not a full time racecar driver. Who knows, the M3 driver may have just as much experience
He campaigned for them for over 13 years…
EDIT: actually since 1981
He is also the performance division test car drive
http://www.hotrod.com/thehistoryof/hrdp_0704_gm_performance_test_driver/index.html
he is also part of the vette racing team
WAHHHHH THE M3 GOT BEAT BY A FUCKING ENGINEER IN A CADDILAC.
meh, if they had allowed SUVs on the track, the trailblazer SS would have smoked the M3 for sure.
Probably this kid?
Name: Michael C.
Hometown: Long Island, NY
Our second Michael has trained at Skip Barber. At just 21 years old, Michael is the younger driver in the Challenge. He owns a BMW M3.
Great. He’s a retired engineer during the day. There’s no way of knowing the level of the owners. If Michael Schumacher owned a CTS-V he’d probably walk all of those times.
Well Aaron Link is a development engineer. Also did some time in the MT6 V around the ring.
There is a difference between having a full time job plusracing as a hobby and full time racing.
regardless, this was an engineered experiment and they got what they wanted.
Chris Fairman must suck at driving :lol:
Jalopnik [Al Navarro]: Hope for the rest of us: I caught Corvette hotshoe Johnny O’Connell talking to Michael Cooper (M3 guy) and Johnny seemed genuinely impressed with Cooper’s performance. O’Connell said “You hit all your marks, man.” The extent of Cooper’s training/experience? The Skip Barber advanced class and a few arrive and drives. Oh, and Forza 2. Walter Mittys of the world, rejoice.
You gotta love it. :tup:
Also interesting:
[Al Navarro]: After my laps (I was a passenger, btw), I spoke to Michael Cooper, the winning M3 driver. He had just gotten out of a CTS-V himself…and said something like “I could probably find another 3 seconds in that car [the CTS] vs. my M3. The brakes are amazing.”
Can’t wait to own one of these in 2011.
Not really, for every pro race driver there are 100 amateurs equally fast. The difference is luck, getting the job.
Kid who drove the M3 was a local. Only ones to beat him were the ringers in CTS-V’s.
Caddy’s official vids are up, starting here: