Cadillac Explains Why CT5-V Blackwing Didn’t Get Supercharged LT5 Engine
Despite claims to the contrary, sometimes size does matter. The CT5-V Blackwing simply can’t accommodate the Corvette ZR1 LT5 engine.
The 2022 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing is going to be one of the most impressive track weapons to ever wear a Cadillac badge. It certainly will not suffer from a lack of power. It will be pumping out 668 horsepower and 659 pound-feet of torque courtesy of the LT4 supercharged 6.2L V8 engine. That is an impressive amount of power. However, there is a more powerful option that we thought could have powered the CT5-V Blackwing. The LT5 from the C7-generation Corvette ZR1 whips up 755 horsepower and 715 pound-feet of torque. Why not go for a knockout punch with that engine? It is a significant step up in power, plus it seems right to drop a LT5 in a CT5.
It turns out that Cadillac did consider the LT5 but ran into some practicality hurdles. V-Series Blackwing Chief Engineer Mirza Grebovic explains in a recent interview with Cadillac Society. When the project began, they wanted to use the engine that would produce the most power possible. That would be the LT5. However, putting that engine in the CT5-V Blackwing would mean driving blind.
“So, if you put the LT5 in the CT5, we ran into simple issues – you can’t see out of the car. In the ZR1, you can notice that it’s a dry-sump system and it uses that shaker hood. We couldn’t put a shaker hood on the CT5,” Grebovic said. “You would have to make it so high that you can’t see outside the car, and we wouldn’t have met regulatory requirements for vision.” OK, seeing out of the car is kind of a big deal.
Also, the dry-sump system is not something that is a need in the Cadillac. Even if it had ZR1 power, the CT5-V Blackwing is not expected to generate the same amount of grip. Because it will not have the same cornering force as the Corvette, the Caddy just didn’t need a dry-sump system. Because of that, they could not drop the engine as low as they could in the Corvette. The Blackwing and ZR1 obviously have a different architecture so the higher sitting engine contributes to the vision issues.
According to Grebovic even if the Blackwing had the power, it would not be any faster. “So yes, we considered the LT5, but aside of just engineering issues, let’s say this car did make 760 horsepower. We wouldn’t have the right chassis for it,” Grebovic said. “It would have been a powerful car, but it probably wouldn’t be any faster at the track or the quarter mile, because 305 rear tires with that much power would be very tough to manage.” We have seen plenty of examples in the past of a more powerful car being slower due to traction issues.
So, it might be good for bragging rights to have the ZR1 engine in your Caddy. However, in the real world where these cars will be driven, it would not make any difference. Zero to sixty in about 3.7 seconds and a top speed of 200 mph is not exactly slow. The LT4-powered Blackwing is still going to be one bad Cadillac. And it does still have one advantage over the current-generation Corvette. You can get the Cadillac with a manual transmission. Give us your thoughts on the CT5-V Blackwing in the LS1 Tech forums.
Photos: General Motors
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