Cadillac is rolling out a new, smaller-displacement engine for its DPi (Daytona Prototype international) race cars in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next year. The new engine is a normally-aspirated, 5.5-liter V8, which will replace the 6.2-liter mill that helped propel Ricky and Jordan Taylor to the top of the driver’s championship podium last season. Like the motor it supplants, it will be built for Cadillac by ECR Engines in North Carolina.
The new 5.5-liter has already been approved for use by IMSA, Sportscar365 reports. It was tested earlier in the month at an IMSA-sanctioned test at Daytona International Speedway.
Why Go Smaller?
Cadillac’s DPi race cars were hit with Balance of Performance (BoP) adjustments throughout the 2017 IMSA season in an attempt to keep the class competitive. Ricky and Jordan Taylor’s No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R is likely largely to blame, having won each of the first five events in the series.
Cadillac’s new, smaller DPi engine could help Cadillac achieve a more balanced torque curve without incurring BoP penalties, according to Sportscar365.
The 2018 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season will officially kick off next weekend at the Roar Before the Rolex 24 three-day test event. Ricky Taylor won’t be behind the wheel of the No. 10 Cadillac DPi-V.R in 2018, having chosen to take a spot driving for Team Penske; in his place will be Dutch racing driver Renger van der Zande.
Comments
It’s probably the new cadillac/corvette DOHC 5.5. But it could just be the current corvette racing 5.5L LT based engine.
Or mid-engine Vette engine?
Might want to note that the 6.2 was mostly little modified production engine.
The 5.5 is a race engine GM built for the Pratt and Miller Corvette with DI. This is a highly tuned engine that is perfectly suited for road racing and endurance racing as the wins and championships the Vette team have won over the last 3 years they have used it.
The smaller size should help in the BOP but they should not be hurting on power.
You can make as much power here with a smaller engine as a larger one. IMSA also can adjust the intake restrictions along with weight to make sure everyone is on an even playing field.
The goal is to keep everyone competitive and to keep cost down. IMSA back in the 80’s pretty much let them run what ever they built but it got expensive and only one team would dominate. The results were no one watched the races and most of the other companies would leave. It killed the series just like Can Am died in the 70’s.
I think you will find Cadillac will be very competitive this year but 5gey will also try not to stink up the show too much so they do not get hit with BOP measures.
The 5.5 should see 650 to 700 HP and that should make them very competitive and we already know it is curable.
The Engine they had was just the left over Daytona Prototype Engine.
corvette racing used to use a 7 liter engine with the power restricting air intakes because the engine just loafed along and made it last in those long distance races. i think IMSA got static from the other teams as the corvettes were winning all the time and i bet the same thing has happened with the caddys.
Cadillac’s DPI was too successful and if anyone who watched any of the races from this past year.. the only thing that stopped a Cadillac from possibly winning was usually an accident of some type; but one has to wonder whether any of the knowledge learned from the program made it’s way to production or future Cadillac vehicles.. wouldn’t you LOVE to see a production 2-seat coupe based on the DPI.
Cadillac was good st the start and was only competitive from the Long Beach race on. The BOP kicked in.
Cadillac will be competitive again this year but the series will make they and Penske and Ford do not stink up the show.
As for learning for production……. this class is more marketing and has little to to with anything production. These are full blown poupose built race cars nothing more.
The GTLM class is more closely related to production and the lower classes are even more stock.
The GT CLASS AND Continental challange series are where they learn.
BOP has already restricted the 5.5 with added wright and smaller throttle body. While the Acura and Nissen are untouched.
Same ol BOP….
Here are some numbers that give some details
http://autoweek.com/article/imsa/imsa-sets-balance-performance-ahead-rolex-24-test?utm_source=RacingDaily20171229&utm_medium=enewsletter&utm_term=headline-center&utm_content=body&utm_campaign=awracingdaily
Could this be Cadillac positioning themselves to run the car at Lemans this year as well?
Yes that is the end goal I believe. They first are working to bulletproof the car and then take on the world.
This is what a Corvette did win in America and then win in France.
Might also note too word is one of the new DOHC TT V8 engines GM has coming is 5.5 liters.
Could this be the beginning of the new Cadillac V8?
I said last year that they used a proven engine in a pro built chassis and I speculated the new CT6 V8 would replace the old engine once they sorted the chassis.
Horsepower is suppose to be the same but the v8 torque is killer and that advantage is what adds the restrictions. The imports don’t have that advantage and thus not penalized. Plus they cried all 2017 about that even the restrictions and huge amount of weight was added making the Cadillac slower in class. They won based pit strategy.
Most professional sports manage to go a whole season without changing the rules to disadvantage winning teams. That’s likely because in most sports in on weekend half the teams win while in racing one team takes all.
But to me, BOP just killed my interest in road racing. After 3/4 of a season of back and forth BOP adjustments, what does it really matter that Team X came in slighty ahead of Team Y? Is Team X just better at campaigning or whining? Has plucky Team Y really stepped up and is snapping at heels of the seasoned Team X, or should I check the Web to see how much everyone else is handicapped to get Y their participation award?
the racing associations are trying to keep everyone happy. the lesser funded teams need to be assured that they have the same chance as the higher funded teams so they keep coming back to fill the fields
And now during this 24 hours race we watch the ford gt our class the 4+ year old c7r as the ford just has more speed but yet the claim bop? It was happening last year but corvette used strategy to win the title though the gt was normally the faster car. It isn’t balance of power but balance of who cries the most and gets the edge. There is no level playing field in gtlm as the two fords are walking all over the field during race conditions as where the vette could put in a few good fast laps for qualifying and that’s it. Can’t wait for the new c8r with mid engine to be out here then will be a little more fair in this class for GM anyway.
THE NEW CADAILLAC TT ENGINE IS FOUR LITERS NOT 5.5, EXTRA ROOM FOR ADDITIONAL FUEL PUMPS SHOW IT COULD BE THE BASIS OF A COMPETITION ENGINE AND IF AT FOUR LITERS THE CAR COULD BE MADE LIGHTER. IN ROAD RACING WHEN TWO CARS HAVE EQUAL POWER TO WEIGHT RATIOS THE LIGHTER ALMOST ALWAYS HAS THE ADVANTAGE IN TIRE WEAR IF NOTHING ELSE.