Cadillac confirms two-car Speed GT programme

US manufacturer Cadillac has formally confirmed its new 'works' track racing programme. The luxury GM brand will campaign two GT race versions of its CTS-V sport sedan in the 2004 SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge. "This is a significant day for Cadillac," said the company's GM, Mark LaNeve. "The CTS-V racecar is further evidence of the dramatic changes taking place at Cadillac."

Jan 6, 2004, 9:48 AM

The CTS-V is the first racecar developed by GM Racing in conjunction with the new GM Performance Division, an in-house centre designed to explore potential enthusiast-oriented versions of production models.

"The CTS-V racecar starts from a great set of blueprints," said GM Racing director Doug Duchardt. "The outstanding performance characteristics of the rear-drive Sigma based CTS and CTS-V lend perfectly to a racing application. We were able to maintain a significant amount of shared parts, technologies and processes in developing the CTS-V racecar."

The GM engineers who conceived the CTS-V for street use were directly involved in the creation of the racecar, which is powered by the same, 5.7-litre, all-aluminium, DOHC V8 engine. The new factory-backed team will debut at the SCCA World Challenge race supporting the 12 Hours of Sebring in March.