If Nissan's lap time for the GT-R at the Nurburgring (a paltry 7:29, by the way) was a shot heard 'round the world, other automakers are responding with what may well be the equivalent of a nuclear arms race.

Case in point: the hoons within General Motors' Performance Division. Although we're still waiting for word on the ZR-1's figures, GM has released that the 550-hp 2009 Cadillac CTS-V makes its way around the Green Hell in 7 minutes 59 seconds.

Although the track doesn't have its own official database of track times, some quick searching brings up other cars that've lapped the 'Ring in the same amount of time - perhaps most notably, a 2008 Chevrolet Corvette Z51 piloted by former engineer Dave Hill. Not bad, considering the four-door CTS-V weighs in at a portly 4200 lbs.

GM claims the time may well be the fastest for any production sedan. That may well be true, but we do see mention online of an 2005 Audi RS4 lapping the track in 7 minutes 58 seconds. That's splitting hairs, but until we see firmer data (GM says videos of the record run will soon make their way to the Cadillac blog), we'll just sit back, relax, and wait for official ZR-1 times.