Celebrating Cadillac’s Racing History And You’re The Winner!

Celebrating Cadillac’s Racing History And You’re The Winner!

Everybody enjoys winning. In 2017 the Cadillac brand had just started cutting apexes in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season with its all-new Cadillac V-Performance Dpi-V.R prototype race car. The all-new Cadillac race car dominated the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season and secured the Manufacturer’s Championship by winning seven of the 10 races, including the “36 Hours of Florida” which includes wins of the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the Twelve Hours of Sebring early in the season.

Cadillac celebrated its record-breaking return to endurance racing in 2017 with The Championship edition of all three of its high-performance models the following year – the 2018 Cadillac ATS-V coupe and sedan, and the 2018 Cadillac CTS-V super sedan.

The following year, Cadillac rightfully celebrated such a stellar year’s outcome with two specially-prepped, street-going cars that not only touted the race car’s winning streak, but also stood as a pinnacle of performance for most anything with a license plate. For 2018, Cadillac announced a special limited run of “Championship Edition” cars for all three of its ultra-high-performance models – the 2018 Cadillac ATS-V coupe and sedan, and the 2018 Cadillac CTS-V super sedan.

Celebrating With Stripes & Supercharging

When it came time to sound the bells about Caddy’s winning season, it would obviously take more than slapping a few celebratory stickers onto a production vehicle as it slowly travelled down the assembly line. To impart a status which the car deservered, Cadillac started by making sure the car performed on the street with the same dominating level the race car exhibited on track.

Championship Editions earned their stripes touting Caddy's dominance during the 2017 season. Both front and rear of the cars was treated to tasteful badging extolling the multi-championship year.

That began by adding the supercharged 6.2L LT4 engine under the hood – so adorned with the requisite “2017 Championship Edition” tagging and a tasteful carbon fiber hood vent – which brings 640 horsepower to the four-door luxo-racer. Those are some impressive street numbers when you consider that the 6.2L race engine in the Dpi-V.R prototype only managed “around 600” horsepower and it dominated all competitors on track.

The under hood area of this CTS-V was treated to a complete fitment of engine dress-up thanks to American Car Craft, a $4,000 value!

Behind that super-smooth, supercharged V-8 is an eight-speed transmission that keeps the car’s acceleration well within the torque band of the engine. The performance duo would push one of the 2017 Championship Editions from 0-60 in 3.7 seconds, and if you could stay in it long enough, a quarter-mile would become history in 11.6 seconds.

The 2017 Cadillac CTS-V super sedan is powered by a supercharged 6.2L V-8 high-performance engine SAE certified at 640 horsepower and 630 lb-ft of torque. The race-prepped Cadillac 6.2L V-8 engine, is naturally aspirated and outputs near 600hp at a maximum allowable 7,600 rpm. The race car engines were modified, built, and maintained by ECR Engines.

The Championship Editions of the ATS-V and CTS-V super was available in Black Raven or Crystal White Tricoat exterior paint with Cadillac V-Performance graphics located on the car’s hood and rear spoiler. Red Obsession side-view mirror caps and DPi-V.R graphics on the quarter windows rounded out tagging the lick-em, stick-em celebrations. The car’s Championship Edition badging can be deceptive, as the car is actually a 2018 model that celebrates the 2017 winning season. Understandably, Caddy couldn’t ring their own bell about winning the 2017 IMSA Manufacturer, Driver, Team, and Endurance Championships until after the season was over.

The Inside Party

While these Championship Editions can surely brawl with the best street fighters, they also wear a fitted suit quite well. Upholstered in a Morello Red interior detail package which includes Jet Black RECARO® race-inspired seats, red front, and rear door armrests, and Morello-accented high-gloss carbon-fiber interior trim, there is a lot going on inside the cabin. The smell of fine leather mixes well with the modern, electronic capabilities of the Performance Data Recorder with Cosworth Toolbox, sunroof, the industry-leading Rear Camera Mirror, and next-generation Cadillac user experience. That next-gen user experience gives you connectivity to your cellphone for ease of use and communications and traffic reports that rival even those of the race teams who served as the inspiration for these cars.

The interior of the Championship Edition Caddy is luxurious but performance-minded.

Beyond all the coms, there are also many accouterments expected when considering a Cadillac. This car features Cadillac’s Tri-zone climate control, heated rear outboard seating positions, power rear-window sunshade, manual rear side-window sunshades, and a 110-volt power receptacle, just in case you need to use a hairdryer instead of opening that Ultra-View sunroof.

The dash of the 2018 Caddy is a blend of buttons and dash displays which affords customizing displays to your liking and providing tactile inputs for both virtual, and actual responses. Just beyond the sueded microfiber steering wheel and shifter (paddles included), there are enough command buttons throughout the cockpit to satisfy the most committed driving enthusiast. Because it’s all wrapped up in a Cadillac package, it is served up in a tasteful, reserved manner, but don’t let that fool you.

The CTS-V wears subtle badging denoting the brand's accomplishments.

When viewing from the outside, a little splash on the surface is always nice to get noticed, but if it’s performance you’re after, there has to be more than just on the surface. The Championship Editions have the requisite eye-candy, but also utilize the go-fast goods to back it up. Beyond the special edition’s two-color offerings, the Championship Edition Caddys came with lightweight carbon fiber bits such as a carbon fiber front splitter, hood vent, rear spoiler, and rear diffuser.

This particular vehicle was also adorned with a Corsa Performance Xtreme 2 ¾-inch axle-back exhaust. Does the exhaust help performance? With over 600 horsepower already and that distinctively Corsa growl, who cares! Click HERE to hear all those horses work their way through those four-inch tips.

Deep within those 18-inch “V-series” wheels coated in Polished Alloy with Midnight Painted pockets resides a set of Brembo red brake calipers to help keep those 640 ponies in check. Michelin rubber does its best to keep the car connected to the road when the tall, skinny pedal is exercised. Which is exactly what we did.

Driving Like A Champion

When Dream Giveaways’ Chris Phillip tossed us the key fob and said, “Wanna take it for a spin?” he didn’t have to ask twice. The 2018 Cadillac CTS-V Championship Edition uses the same engine as found in the C7’s Z06 Corvette and the engine’s smooth transition of power makes it a perfect match for the Cadillac. As mentioned, it churns out 640 horsepower, but what may surprise many is how smooth it actually delivers each one of those horses. The introduction of power is so linear, you’d swear the car is serving up each one of those ponies individually. Of course, if you stomp the pedal, it’ll make all 600-plus of them kick you in the pants and you’d best hold on! The eight-speed transmission selects the appropriate torque multiplication quite adequately and allows for driver input via the steering wheel located paddle shifters. It also interprets your wishes quite well when submitted through the gas pedal also.

Driving the 2018 Championship Edition Cadillac is both thrilling and relaxing. It all depends on how hard you press the pedals.

We’ve driven high-horsepower muscle cars and performance-minded sports cars quite regularly, and while each one has its focus of operation, cars such as the Cadillac CTS-V Championship Edition somehow blur the line between them. It has all the creature comforts you’d expect from a vehicle bearing the Cadillac Crest but also brings all the performance and tuning that has afforded the Cadillac Racing team such success. Somehow, you get to enjoy both ends of the spectrum and can seamlessly slide from one end of the spectrum to the other with ease.

The best part about this Championship Edition Caddy is that YOU can own it! The folks at Dream Giveaways are offering chances to win this car as the Grand Prize of its Cadillac CTS-V Dream Giveaway and pay $17,000 toward taxes if you’re the lucky winner! Submissions will be accepted through August 31, 2021 and the winner will be chosen on September 14, 2021. As a loyal LSxmag.com reader, you can also get yourself additional 50% bonus tickets for any amount over $25. Click THIS LINK to be directed to LSxmag’s special offer and promo code. If you’re undecided whether you prefer a muscle car or a fine tourer, you could possibly win this 2018 Cadillac CTS-V Championship Edition sedan so you won’t have to settle one way or the other! Good luck!

About the author

Andy Bolig

Andy has been intrigued by mechanical things all of his life and enjoys tinkering with cars of all makes and ages. Finding value in style points, he can appreciate cars of all power and performance levels. Andy is an avid railfan and gets his “high” by flying radio-controlled model airplanes when time permits. He keeps his feet firmly grounded by working on his two street rods and his supercharged C4 Corvette. Whether planes, trains, motorcycles, or automobiles, Andy has immersed himself in a world driven by internal combustion.
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