Cadillac Racing to Re-enter Prototype Endurance Racing!
Cadillac! Talk about a brand with big ideas and grandiose plans! Not only are they making world class street cars that you or I can buy, but they are also really having one hell of a run in motorsport. Cadillac Racing has successfully been involved in World Challenge racing since 2004, taking the Manufacturer’s Championship 5 times and Driver’s Championship another 5 times, first with the CTS-V.R and now the ATS-V.R race cars.
Now, Cadillac is taking on the next level of motorsport by throwing their hat into the ring with endurance racing. Specifically, Cadillac Racing is fielding a prototype endurance racer in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series. It’s name: DPi-V.R. It may be a mouthful, but your jaw will drop when you see it:
The Dee Pee eye-Vee Arh has features that are unmistakably Cadillac: the wheels look like widened versions of the ATS-V’s 18-inchers; the Brembo brakes also look like the binders you would find on the ATS or CTS-V; in race ready form, the prototype racer will feature familiar colors and design scheme of other Cadillac race cars, reminiscent of the brand crest that adorns every street car.
Then, there is the engine: a naturally-aspirated 6.2L Cadillac V8 salute to America. Based on the architecture of the supercharged LT4 V8 engine in the CTS-V, this racer makes 600 horsepower with IMSA-mandated air restrictors and screams to 7,600RPM. The mid-engined monster sends it’s power to the rear wheels via an XTRAC sequential shift gearbox. To put it in perspective, this prototype weighs half of what a CTS-V does, coming in at just 2050 pounds. Lord have mercy.
So, Cadillac is making it’s return to endurance racing. Guess who else is making a return: Jeff Gordon. The NASCAR retiree has found a seat in the DPi-V.R for the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, where the Cadillac Racing DPi-V.R will make it’s racing debut this upcoming January.
