Cadillac at Le Mans

Cadillac is gonna do what?! I’m sure I’m not the only one who said that after hearing that Cadillac was going to send a car to compete at the 2000 24-Hours of Le Mans. And why not? When you hear the name Cadillac, one thinks of cushy, luxurious sedans. Okay, so smaller versions of their Northstar V8 have won at Sebring and Daytona and Indianapolis, but one doesn’t usually connect the name Cadillac with competition. Funny thing is, historically, it’s not really such a stretch.

In 1903, only a year after the first Cadillac was produced, the first Cadillac exported to England was entered in competition. The car was powered by a 10-hp single-cylinder motor with mechanically actuated overhead valves and a square bore/stroke ratio. It also featured rack and pinion steering. It wasn’t the fastest car, but it had solid engineering and was known to be quite reliable. A Brit named Frederick Bennett drove the Caddy and actually won his class in the Royal Automobile Club’s Thousand Miles Reliability Trial. Such an accomplishment from an unknown marque from “the colonies” must’ve raised a few eyebrows in Blighty.