Cadillac Seville STSi Safety Car
It took 25 years, but golly, those lunatics at General Motors and Jota and various technical partners, consultants, and drivers have put a Cadillac race car on pole for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
This is not that, but bear with me.
Each generation is interesting in its own right, here’s how well each of the brand’s Le Mans prototype cars have fared at Le Mans.
- 2000-2003: Cadillac Northstar LMP, Northstar LMP02; best finish of 9th.
- 2023-2025: Cadillac V-LMDh, now Cadillac V-Series.R; best finish of 4th (2023)
You’re all caught up.
Ride along in the OPEN TOP Cadillac Northstar LMP Le Mans car for 2000. A different time!
When the brand went to Le Mans in 2000, Cadillac shrewdly did a deal to supply safety cars (five lights) and pace cars (two lights) for the event, until 2003.
As you’ve no doubt concluded, a front-drive American sedan used as the pace-setting car for the world’s preeminent endurance race was (still is?) pretty odd.
This is awful. Fair warning.
At least one of these was not taken at Le Mans, care to guess which…? • Cadillac
Internally called ‘Project Blackfin’ that had been developed in part to be a last hurrah for Cadillac’s front-drive platform, the STSi fleet for Le Mans ended up with a host of upgrades: from 14-inch front Brembo brakes, to a Northstar V8 with an output of 320 horsepower, plus a trick Delphi-developed stability / active suspension — and an early MagneRide was added in its final year.
Tldr: The Le Mans cars were certified factory hot rods, possessed with the devil’s drive axle.
