Last week Bob Lutz threw down his GM gauntlet at the Monticello driving club in New York. The idea was to pit GM's top dawg executive in Caddy's ziggiest performance sedan versus self-described blogger hotshoes, journalists and a few private owners.

There was much hype from GM PR and much cat fighting from the blogs ironically over a Jaguar. In the end, none of the manufacturers cared enough to send their car to Monticello in the hands of a journalist or blogger, incur any associated potential damages, etc. and the grand show down fizzled were it not for private owners.

When the drivers finally lined up in NY, journalist/bloggers were there in number from reputable titles or boasting semi-pro track experience, but only Jalopnik showed with a car and a Mitsubishi EVO of all things... not exactly a comparable car. Team BlogJourno performed admirably, but most at the wheel of another CTS-V.... sort of a glorified Cadillac press launch.

Kudos then to the owners. Putting their own cars on the line and their own rubber on the tarmac, Lutz at least got to square off against a BMW M3, BMW M5, Jaguar XFR and (our favorite) an Audi RS 4.

Of the group, the M3 driver had the most track experience and his lap times showed it. He was the fastest in the first of three waves to go around the track. The lone Audi went out in group 3, it's driver listed as 'Tom L' boasted only one round of the Audi driving experience as his track time. He wasn't competitive enough to win, but he was competitive enough to show and wave the flag and for that we salute him.

No surprise, the Caddy guys went last and won. Of course, the CTS-V boast more than 100hp more than the RS 4 so we're not all that surprised it won. We'd think it'd be cooler if one of the buff mags put on such a throw down and invited the manufacturers to bring their cars and their own hotshoes.... which'd make for a more interesting experiment in our opinion.

Read more about it with more pics at Automobile after the jump.

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