10 replies to this topic

[Keith Steele]

Cadillac Announces STS Cunningham Edition

DETROIT, Dec. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Commemorating the Cadillacs entered in the 1950 24 Hours of Le Mans race by legendary racer Briggs Cunningham, Cadillac announced that its special edition STS that is to Pace the 24 Hours of Le Mans next June will be named the STS Cunningham Edition.

"Cadillac's return to Le Mans opened a door of communication between The Cunningham Company and Cadillac last spring," said John F. Smith, GM vice president and Cadillac general manager. "We felt commemorating the Briggs Cunningham Cadillacs of 1950 was a natural fit for our pace car program."

The ultra-high performance Seville STS pace car was initially revealed at the Frankfurt Motor Show last September. Cadillac has agreed to the pace car association for the 24 hour race and will be providing The Cunningham Company a STS project vehicle for evaluation in the coming months.

The STS Cunningham Edition is conceived in the same spirit of the original Cunningham 1949 DeVille that competed in 1950 as a near-stock vehicle. Powered by Cadillac's 331 CID V-8, the Cunningham DeVille finished a highly respectable 10th overall in the race.

The STS Cunningham Edition further improves on the extensive enhancements Cadillac made to the STS for the 2000 model year, particularly in the areas of powertrain, chassis control and occupant safety.

While Cunningham and Cadillac are still evaluating additional modifications to the vehicle the initial features include:

* 320-horsepower rating -- 20 more than the production STS Northstar V8

* Enhanced StabiliTrak® 2.0 chassis control system specially adapted

for the high-speed, all-weather conditions of Le Mans

* High Intensity Discharge (HID) headlights

* Night Vision technology

* Performance seating with improved lateral support and Cervigard™

anti-whiplash head restraint and seat system

* 18-inch open-spoke, cast aluminum wheels mated to Goodyear Eagle F1 GS

Z-rated P275/40ZR-18 tires

* Larger brakes with oversized rotors, pistons and calipers

* Modified version of the European-configured STS front fascia to

increase airflow and improve aerodynamics

* "Argentinium" silver exterior paint first used on Cadillac's Evoq

roadster concept vehicle

The world-renowned Northstar V8 is the heart of the 2000 STS in both street and STS Cunningham Edition trim. The STS Cunningham Edition boasts 320 horsepower -- 20 more than the already impressive 300-hp rating carried by the standard STS. The extra performance is achieved through a combination of reduced inlet restriction, lower exhaust back-pressure and blue printing of the ports.

All Northstar engines in 2000 feature an all-new cylinder head design, new intake manifolds, coil-on-plug ignition and roller cam followers to reduce friction. In fact, virtually every engine component was changed or updated, including the pistons, valves, connecting rods and cam shafts. The result is significantly lower emissions, quiet operation and improved fuel economy on regular (87 octane) unleaded fuel -- attributes important to the European luxury car market.

Recognized as one of the most sophisticated integrated chassis control systems in the world, every 2000 STS -- including the STS Cunningham Edition -- is equipped with a new version of Cadillac's StabiliTrak® as standard equipment. Referred to as StabiliTrak 2.0, the system now includes side slip- rate control and active steering effort.

The STS Cunningham Edition features additional software modifications to provide peak performance during the varied weather conditions and sustained high speeds encountered during the race. The additional software control systems are being demonstrated on the STS Cunningham Edition as part of a production validation program.

In addition to StabiliTrak 2.0, both the production STS and STS Cunningham Edition are equipped with three significant enhancements to the Continuously Variable Road-Sensing System or CVRSS. The improvements include transient roll control, lateral support and stability control iteration.

STS Cunningham Edition safety innovations making their debut on current or future production STS vehicles include a sophisticated air bag suppression system, Night Vision, High Intensity Discharge (HID) lighting and Cervigard™, an anti-whiplash head restraint and seat system.

To assist the pace car drivers in the dark hours at Le Mans, Cadillac has added HID headlights (equipment slated for the 2001 STS) and adapted its Night Vision technology for use on the STS Cunningham Edition.

The STS Cunningham Edition is also equipped with a bolstered driver's seat for added lateral support during high-speed driving and an anti-whiplash head restraint and seat system, Cervigard™. The latter is designed to ergonomically support the head, neck and spinal curves while preventing excessive head and neck movement through controlled damping of the forces incurred during whiplash.

Adding to the performance look and feel of the STS Cunningham Edition are specific 18-inch cast aluminum wheels mated to Goodyear P275/40ZR-18 Eagle F1 GS tires, as well as larger brakes with oversized rotors, pistons and calipers.

The STS Cunningham Edition features a modified version of the European- configured front fascia to improve airflow to the engine and brakes as well as the overall vehicle aerodynamics.

The STS Cunningham Edition is dressed in "Argentinium" silver paint in keeping with Cadillac's critically acclaimed Evoq concept roadster unveiled at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit last January and the Le Mans prototype racecar or LMP.

In June, Cadillac announced its return to race at Le Mans after a 50-year hiatus and unveiled the LMP prototype racecar. World-renowned race vehicle builders Riley and Scott are currently developing the actual Cadillac racecar powered by Cadillac's Northstar V8.

SOURCE Cadillac Motor Car Division

[Don Capps]

If you ever get a chance to see the 1950 Cunningham roadster, Le Monstre, please do so. It was huge! And really a pretty neat idea, even if the basically stock de Ville in the team beat it.

I am really hoping that sports car racing makes a true comeback. The ALMS that Don Panoz has put together really makes sense and I have tried to keep up with it as much as possible. With Caddy coming back, perhaps not only a better sports car series, but more interest in road racing in the US.

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Yr fthfl & hmbl srvnt,

Don Capps

[Don Capps]

Here is the Cunningham C4R, with Denise McCluggage at the wheel:



And another view:

You can actually buy one of these cars, a C4R, from the son of Briggs Cunningham for about $175K. The line starts here...

An view of the sedan: and one of the sedan and Le Monstre at the old Cunningham museum:

Here is Briggs Cunningham in a C3 that won at Sebring and finished 3rd in 1953 at Le Mans:




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Yr fthfl & hmbl srvnt,

Don Capps

[Racer.Demon]

Don, huge is one word.

Ugly is another!

You should ask Doug Nye to write Atlas a piece on the Monster. He drove one just recently, so he has some first-hand experience. He tiptoed in it, so it looked even slower than its looks already betray.

The great story of course is that the Grumman aircraft factory was involved with its windtunnel to create this Briggs Cunningham/Phil Walters Le Mans 1950 machine. If that was the first windtunnel design in motor sports, then they did a bloody awful job! In the end, the thing was totally outpaced by the normal-body Cadillac 61s...

They still finished 11th though, with Briggs even digging the thing out of a sandtrap (!).

Even reaching the finish seems a miracle to me as it looks like it's going to break as quick a rotary Mazda. But that's what Herbert, Gachot and Weidler thought when they started the 1991 edition.

'Let's go and break the thing as quickly as possible and leave for a quick drink at the bar.' Yeah right, Johnny.

Enjoy,
Mattijs


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[Don Capps]

The Herbert line is pure Mike Hawthorn!

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Yr fthfl & hmbl srvnt,

Don Capps

[Keith Sawatsky]

Keith....

It's amazing...isn't it.....the American automotive industry has finally realised that a "special edition" vehicle should consist of more than just some paint and pinstripes.

[Todd]

Don Caps,

That sure looks like a C4R that Briggs is sitting in. 360 miles from where I'm writing this, I've got a black and white picture of what I believe to be a C3. It has a wide grill opening and recessed headlights compared to the C4R. Rudolf Uhlenhaut drove a C4R and remarked that it was the best handling racing car he ever drove.

Did Le Monstre lap any faster than the Cadillac 61? I thought it only finished in 11th because in encountered more problems.

[Don Capps]

Todd, Le Monstre was big & Uggggggggggly and spent a lot of time in a sand trap early on in the race. Potentially it should have had a clear advantage over the sedan, but niggling problems keep the advantage down to only a smaller margin than expected. It really was a roll of the dice and a daring thing to do. If Cunningham had gone to an approach along the lines of Sydney Allard, it might have been much more interesting.

Here is a 1952 Allard-Cady J2X at Laguna Seca in 1997:



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Yr fthfl & hmbl srvnt,

Don Capps

[Todd]

Don,

The swing axle front suspension of the J2 always intimidated me from really wanting to drive one hard. They were certainly successful enough. Was it just a matter of power-to-weight ratio, or did Zora make those things handle too? I wish I could afford to drop $175,000 for a toy. I grew up with a big Mopar bias, and the C4R always sounded like the perfect car to me. I've even grown to like the aircraft oil cooler sticking through the hood. I've heard stories that the Chrysler engineers built Cunningham's Hemis of special secret alloys that still haven't worn after all these years of vintage racing. I don't know if it is true, but it makes for a nice story.

[ry6]

The great story of course is that the Grumman aircraft factory was involved with its windtunnel to create this Briggs Cunningham/Phil Walters Le Mans 1950 machine. If that was the first windtunnel design in motor sports, then they did a bloody awful job! In the end, the thing was totally outpaced by the normal-body Cadillac 61s...
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I have seen a photo of a wooden model of a 1930's Indianapolis Studebaker ("junk formula" car) that was apparently tested in a wind tunnel.

Was this not perhaps the first race car developed in a wind tunnel?

[fbarrett]

Originally posted by Don Capps
If you ever get a chance to see the 1950 Cunningham roadster, Le Monstre, please do so. It was huge! And really a pretty neat idea, even if the basically stock de Ville in the team beat it.

Don:

As you no doubt know, both cars are in the Collier Automotive Museum in Florida. A few years ago, the Colliers brought Le Monstre on the Colorado Grand, which covers 1,000 miles through the Rockies. One day we were to have lunch in the park in Lake City, a tiny hamlet about as far away from anywhere as you can get in this state. As Miles drove Le Monstre onto the lawn and parked it, a local old-timer sidled up to him and said, "I know where there's a car just like that, in a museum in Florida!" Miles patiently explained, of course.