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<\/p>\n<\/div>Since its founding 115 years ago, Cadillac has been synonymous with luxury, even frivolous opulence. High-end products were referred to as \u201cCadillac models.\u201d Athletes are nicknamed \u201cCadillac\u201d for their stylish play. Even Obamacare took on expensive insurance coverage it called \u201cCadillac plans.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now Cadillac is setting a new standard by which it wants to be judged: speed.<\/p>\n
In winning the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona <\/a>last month, General Motors Co.\u2019s luxury marque has joined an elite group \u2014 Porsche, Ferrari and Jaguar \u2014 of high-performance brands to have won America\u2019s Super Bowl of endurance racing<\/a>. Name-dropping in such company may be jarring to those who once dismissed Cadillac as a manufacturer of overstuffed land yachts. But the 21st-century Cadillac isn\u2019t your grandfather\u2019s Eldorado.<\/p>\n The Cadillac DPi-V.R\u2019s dominating Daytona 1-2 win is an important marker in the transformation of GM\u2019s luxury brand from a builder of boulevard cruisers to a sculptor of four-wheel athletes. While the media buzz for Cadillac\u2019s transformation has largely centered on the edgy \u201cArt and Science\u201d design language that breaks with the bloated past, Cadillac\u2019s commitment to racing at the sport\u2019s highest level is also a key piece of the new DNA.<\/p>\n \u201cRacing is beautifully connected to the passion at the center of Cadillac brand,\u201d said Matt Russell, marketing manager for V-Series, Cadillac\u2019s performance badge. \u201cIn the 21st century our high-performance cars and race cars have been the change agents for the brand. They have allowed us to capture the attention and the passion of … the car enthusiast and car-buying community.\u201d<\/p>\n Cadillac dabbled with racing in the past, most notably its 1950 entry at LeMans with the legendary Briggs Cunningham racing team. But the sedan-maker\u2019s commitment paled next to sports car companies like Ferrari and Porsche. In 1968 Porsche scored its first-ever endurance win at Daytona \u2014 the first of a record 22 overall wins that has helped make the Stuttgart, Germany-based carmaker a performance icon. Even mainstream manufacturers used Daytona to establish their speedy bonafides as Ford did 50 years ago when the storied GT40 won back-to-back trophies.<\/p>\n Cadillac\u2019s pivot to performance with the new century has coincided with a major commitment to racing. From 2000-02 it flirted with prototype racing at Daytona and LeMans, then won five Pirelli World Challenge championships with a production-based CTS-V. This year\u2019s Daytona program took it up a notch.<\/p>\n Caddy\u2019s quest began just over a year ago with the IMSA racing series\u2019 change of its so-called prototype format that governs the fastest cars in American sports car racing. General Motors had previously flown its Chevrolet Corvette flag in IMSA in both the prototype and GT classes.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a strategic decision for Corvette to focus on its GT presence, sunset the Corvette prototype, and launch Cadillac,\u201d said Russell.<\/p>\n For its assault on Daytona \u2014 and IMSA\u2019s 11-race 2017 championship \u2014 Cadillac partnered with some of the premier names in motor sport. It went to Italy to have the DPi-V.R\u2019s chassis made by Dallara. Three 600-horsepower, V-8 powered prototypes were entrusted to a pair of premier racing teams: one with Wayne Taylor Racing, two with Action Express Racing. Behind the wheel would be some of the top jockeys in the business, with the winning Taylor entry including teammates Jordan and Ricky Taylor, Max Angelelli and ex-NASCAR superstar Jeff Gordon.<\/p>\n \u201cCadillac really got behind the styling and the bodywork in the last year,\u201d said Jordan Taylor. \u201cIt was cool to be there from the ground up, through the whole design and development process, to see the aggressive styling coming from Cadillac.\u201d<\/p>\n Dillon Blanski, 33, an exterior designer in Cadillac\u2019s Warren studio, racked up frequent-flier miles between Michigan and Italy for months as he worked with Dallara to craft a wicked-looking, world-class weapon.<\/p>\n \u201cOur designer spent many, many hours alongside Dallara making sure the design was as productive as emotive,\u201d said Russell. \u201cThe car is a wonderful ambassador for the Cadillac brand, because it almost serves as a concept car.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s no coincidence that the prototype program blossomed under new Cadillac boss Johan de Nysschen. As head of Audi North America until 2012, De Nysschen was part of a brand that soared to global prominence in part on the shoulders of a race program that won the 24 Hours of LeMans 13 times. After a brief stint at Infiniti, De Nysschen came to Cadillac in 2014 and found a kindred spirit in GM product development czar and motorhead-in-chief Mark Reuss, a race-licensed driver. Reuss has made performance cars \u2014 from Corvette to Camaro to Cadillac \u2014 central to GM\u2019s image.<\/p>\n