Yeah... You gotta put yourself in 1950 and limit yourself to what they knew. The Cadillac was fast, exotic, and built better than just about anything else coming out of Detroit. So... those things seemed to be given priority over weight ratios, stopping, staying flat, etc... you know, the things you need to race. Makes ya think the goal might have been to just finish... not compete. Regardless, this was the era that Briggs and other Americans were learning a lot of stuff that folks in Europe had years and years invested in developing - fundamental things.
Neat car for sure. But I bet the "aerodynamic" version was much more fun! I had to look it up because I didn't know much about Briggs' pre hemi racing activities. From here: https://stevemckelvie.wordpress.com/2012/06/07/briggs-cunningham-and-cadillac-at-le-mans-in-1950/
His original plan was to run the Cad motor in a Ford... But the folks at Le Mans wouldn't allow it. In the end, this car averaged something like 80mph over the 24 hour period... not fast... but it finished and I think just about everyone was surprised by that - not just because the car was completely inadequate for the task at hand, but because there was so little experience on the team. In fact, between the two Cads and four drivers, only one had ever even seen the course before. And ironically, these two Cads were more successful than the famous Briggs Corvettes that would follow.
Both cars at Laguna Seca four months ago…part of the kickoff celebrating the centennial of 24 Hours of Lemans.
Here's Derek driving the '50 Cadillac at the 2022 Goodwood Members Meeting: image from Derek Drinkwater's April 14, 2022 Facebook post
Can’t even read the post cause of all the adds popping up.what happen ?? Never this bad , can’t even enjoy site ??? Classified.
I worked the gallery at the REVS yesterday up close and personal. Interesting facts it averaged 85MPH for 24 hours. C Miles and Sam Collier co-drove the car. It still had radio, clock, heater etc. They added a Sun Tach and seat belts only, took off the hub caps, fender skirts painted the white and went racing. It has a trailer hitch. After shipping by boat to Europe they trailered the LeMontsure' car on a trailer to the racetrack. The other car was 13MPH faster with the Gruman alloy body but Briggs covered the wheel wells so no air could get to the brakes a big mistake as the car would not stop on the tight turns. The 331 Cadillac engine was the fastest in America at the time.
Google translate has "petit pataud" as "little clumsy" but pataud is the pejorative derived from "patte" so a better translation might be something like "little clobberfoot" which likely described the way the Cad plowed through the turns.
Another excellent video, this is so cool, and I am very interested in big cars and road racing events. I have sold my old truck and am piloting a big Chrysler 300c now and am going road racing styling; an old friend showed up in the form of a 1961 Ford F-100 Unibody truck, and it will be the road support vehicle. An old mans attempt to stay in the game!
The Jalopy Journal
