Cadillac, an eventful and atypical history at the 24 Hours of Le Mans

Americans have an expression to symbolize their desire for greatness. “ Bigger than life ". Briggs Cunningham does not in fact want to copy what his European comrades are doing. Born in Cincinnati (Ohio) in 1907, the adventurer was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. His father founded a powerful bank, the Citizen Bank, as well as a railroad company, the Pennsylvania Railroad. A student at the posh Yale University, he developed a passion for sailing (he won the America's Cup in 1958) but also fell in love with automobiles. To give you a good idea of ​​the character's influence, the great Rudolf Caraciolla (three-time European drivers' champion in the 1930s) even gave him the Mercedes-Benz SS that he bought during his honeymoon on the Old Continent in 1930.

ALSO READ > Cadillac, optimistic but cautious before the 24 Hours of Le Mans

It was also during the Monaco Grand Prix that he caught the racing bug. After a few short escapades back in the United States, Briggs Cunningham gains in ambition at the same time as he finally obtains the inheritance left by his father after 35 years of waiting, at the end of the Second World War. With his friends Sam and Miles Collier, they have an idea: participate in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1950. The bet was launched, they wanted to enter “Fordillac” hot rods, Ford chassis powered by Cadillac blocks. The commissioners of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) objected to this unorthodox desire, with engine changes being prohibited by the regulations. In no way dejected, the three entrepreneurs will make the trip with two Cadillacs. The Collier brothers play it safe by applying almost no modifications to their Coupe Type 61; apart from a double-barrel carburetor, additional air inlets for the brake drums as well as an additional reservoir. Friend with the outgoing winner Luigi Chinetti (he was one of the first customers at his dealership Ferrari of Connecticut) Briggs Cunningham wants nothing more and nothing less than to imitate the Italian. Certainly influenced by the importance of aerodynamics in maritime racing and by his past as a plane pilot for the Civil Air Patrol, he made the Cadillac unrecognizable.

The 1950 Cadillac Le Monstre is on display at the 24 Hours of Le Mans Museum until early July 2023. © DPPI / Julien Delfosse

The bodywork resembles a reduced tank and impresses the people of Manceaux so much that it acquires the nickname “Monster”, a name which is still used in the language of Molière across the Atlantic. Indeed, the wheeled parallelepiped was modified by Howard Weinman, an aeronautical engineer. The shape of the car was even studied in a wind tunnel, an innovation for the time. The aerodynamicist's idea is to take inspiration from planes flying at low altitude. A tubular metal structure is hidden under this aluminum dress, but the Sarthe commissioners are convinced that the chassis is not original. They had to face the facts and after several hours of relentless analysis, allowed Le Monstre to take the start, the 8 liter V5,4 being “stock” despite the addition of five carburettors. The vehicle also becomes convertible and is surprisingly seven cm narrower than its cousin.

ALSO READ > Scott Dixon: “Arriving at Le Mans with Cadillac is very special”

From the tests, Briggs Cunnigham's gamble seemed to pay off, at least in the Mulsannes, where he reached 209 km/h, or 21 km/h better than the Cadillac Coupe, called "Petit Pataud" by the public. Unfortunately, the “self-made man” failed to brake and damaged the beast in the mound of sand outside. Rather than throw a scarlet rage, he sets out to find the best craftsmen in the area to repair the aluminum panels. The deadlines were met and on Saturday at 16 p.m., the two Cadillacs, decked out in their white and navy blue colors, took off. Finally, with a little delay for Cunningham, who faces a locked right door as he runs across the straight.

The Cadillac Coupe 61 regularly returns to Le Mans Classic. Photo DPPI

From the second round, again for Cunningham, who crashes into the sand at Mulsanne and has to manage alone to remove the sand from his machine, without receiving outside help under penalty of disqualification. To think that he had ignored Miles Collier's remark to take a shovel with you, just in case! The tank leaves despite spending around twenty minutes, and begins an ascent from the 36th row, which will be disrupted by an unforeseen stop in order to avoid a stray dog ​​as well as several jolts of the gearbox. On Sunday, only the third and last gear will be usable by teammate Phil Walters! But on this type of engine, the torque is such (the 160 horsepower are available at 3 rpm) that the Monster finishes 800th, eight km behind the Cadillac Coupe (11th), not without having worn out the typically soft suspensions. This curious first will be followed by other attempts, but in complete independence. Neither Cadillac nor General Motors reached an agreement with the American designer, who became a manufacturer in its own right with its Cunningham C- series, until 10.

Half a century later, and Cadillac, the luxury firm of the giant GM, has notably let rival Ford acquire a sporting reputation thanks to its GT40. As the brand's centenary is fast approaching in 2002, the Detroit manufacturer sees the classic Le Mans as the ideal opportunity to give itself a facelift and mark its anniversary with great fanfare. The transition to the year 2000 is an opportunity for the Michigan giant to announce its comeback in France, with an official three-year program: one year to learn, the other to aim for places of honor and the final bouquet with victory. Great resources are being deployed.

Cadillac places an order with tray specialist Riley & Scott for an evolution of their Mk III. Four examples of the Northstar (polar star) with in-house twin-turbo V8 engine from theIndyCar under the name Oldsmobile will equip two teams: Team Cadillac founded by Wayne Taylor in IMSA and the team Ladies of Jean-Paul Driot in the Sports Racing World Cup, before the duo reunites for the high mass of Le Mans. Youthful flaws accumulate at the start of the year, so much so that Le Mans is above all a full-scale training session, where the promotional campaign is in full swing. Part of the stands and grandstands are redecorated with the logo of the Cadillac family emblem while some of the circuit's intervention vehicles are supplied by GM.

It's difficult to see the prototypes at the level of the Audi R8, which give off an impression of modernity thanks to their slender line compared to the more cubic Northstars. The high-tech side is hidden in the cockpit, where night vision has been installed. An infrared camera is placed in the headlights on the right side and is connected to a screen placed on the steering wheel. In order to test the relevance of the system, a pedestrian had to cross the runway of the airport adjacent to the circuit while a Cadillac was moving. Obviously, no incident was to be deplored.

The drivers are a clever mix of experience and youth, as proven by the association between Éric Bernard (36 years old) and the hopeful Franck Montagny, then aged 21 years old on the all-black No. 3 from Dams. It is precisely this crew, completed by the former official pilot Toyota Emmanuel Collard, who will carry the hopes of the American firm at arm's length, until a rupture of the left rear suspension puts an end to the dream of a fourth place on Sunday at around 12:30 p.m. Consolation prize, three of the four Northstars reached the finish, which indicates promising reliability.

With these lessons learned, Cadillac is focusing all the work at Le Mans 2002 on the training based in Ruaudin. In Uncle Sam's country, Herb Fishel, the big boss of competition within GM, tasks engineer Nigel Stroud (father of the Mazda 787B) with designing a new car for 2002, and modifying as much as possible the Northstar, without completely rebuilding it. The aerodynamics are revised, as are the suspensions and the gearbox. Jean-Paul Driot is motivated: “The whole mechanics have changed, and if nothing happens to us, if we don't lose time in the pits, we can aim for the podium! »

The Cadillac built by DAMS at the 24 2001 Hours of Le Mans.

In testing, Manu Collard slipped between the two official Bentleys in eighth place. Unfortunately, only the No. 6 (Taylor-Angelelli-Tinseau) passed between the drops and finished in 15th place, the three other Northstars having been damaged in track excursions. The Dams boss sees the glass half full. “With a car that is only an improvement of a base that is absolutely not in the game, it was difficult for us to dream of doing better than a top 5. This is the position we occupied at the halfway point. It's a shame that these starter problems have handicapped us so much. » Come on, cheers, there's one more attempt and a new car to end on a good note.

However, some curious management choices heralded the rout suffered in 2002. First of all, Team Dams was simply excluded from the program, despite their experience at Le Mans. Team Cadillac resumes the entry with two new Northstar LMP-002s. The Audi inspiration is found in the front face which has a snout to let air into the hull. The 12 Hours of Sebring highlighted yet another starter problem. One of the weak points is the 8-liter twin-turbo V4.0. Derived from the series, it shows the weight of the years compared to an identical block but built specifically for competition from Audi and Bentley (direct injection). This partly explains the 10 second deficit suffered during the Test Day! There will be no miracle at the 24 Hours, even if Emmanuel Collard gets 6”2 in the space of a month of preparations. One time fifth, the No. 6 still assigned to Taylor-Angelelli-Tinseau fell back due to the start of a fire and an accident (8th). The beautiful American story turns sour.

The 24 2002 Hours of Le Mans were a failure for the Cadillac Northstars. © DPPI / Eric Vargiolu

As is too often the case in racing, the decision to abruptly end the program at the end of 2002 was taken in high places, just as the Northstar began to tickle the Audis in the American Le Mans Series (first podiums at Mosport, Laguna Seca and Miami). A demanding event, Petit Le Mans saw the Cadillacs conclude their program in third and fourth place. The leaders are adamant: the cars will not even be sold to private teams. Officially, GM prefers to focus all its human and financial resources on the Corvette C5.R, more likely to win Le Mans in their GTS class than the Cadillacs. The height of irony is that the Audi reference will be absent the following year, leaving the field open to Bentley, a team far from being dominant during its previous participations with the Speed ​​8.