This past weekend was the 101st annual 24 Hours of Le Mans. For the second year in a row, Ferrari got the overall win — their 11th of all time — and a record nine cars finished on the lead lap. In only its second year taking part in the endurance race, Cadillac Racing (evolved from Ford Chip Ganassi Team) topped at number 7 with one of its three competing Cadillac V-Series.R hypercars. During the weekend, the American manufacturer also debuted a pair of special-edition 2025 V-Series Blackwing models to pay homage to their history at the competition for the 75th anniversary of its debut.
A Scarce But Important History at Le Mans
Admittedly, Cadillac isn’t the first name you think of when discussing Le Mans history, and for good reason. As a marque, Cadillac’s presence at the competition has been somewhat intermittent. In 1950, Briggs Cunningham and S.H. Allard entered a pair of 61 Coupes. One was simply a production vehicle with a racing engine put in (known as “Petit Pataud” to fans), while the other, dubbed “Le Monstre,” was a bit more remarkable — almost prototype in appearance. Neither car did exceptionally well and this would begin an absence from the race for decades.
In 2000, Cadillac finally returned with Northstar LMP, named after the 4.0L Northstar V8 engines under the hood. This was a series of prototypes that competed for three straight years in both American Le Mans and 24 Hours of Le Mans, but with middling results. The project was ultimately canceled until its 2023 return.
2025 Cadillac V-Series Blackwing Special Editions Basics
Based on the CT5-V Blackwing and the CT4-V Blackwing, Cadillac has added some exterior alterations to honor the “Le Monstre” and “Petit Pataud” models, respectively, that competed in 1950. Each car features the same cosmetics with Magnus Metal Frost matte paint finish with Stormhawk Blue Carbon Fiber accents and Royal Blue brake calipers. On the inside, you get Phantom Blue leather detailing and Santorini accents with blue sill plates. Insert options are customizable with either Sky Cool Gray or Jet Black available. Like the other Collectors Series vehicles, you get a bespoke 3D-printed shifter medallion with a numbered plaque.
What’s Under the Hood?
For these special editions, performance specs haven’t been modified, so you still get either the twin-turbo 3.6L V-6 engine on the CT4-V Petit Pataud Edition or the supercharged 6.2L V-8 on the CT5-V Le Monstre Edition. That means 472hp and 445lb.ft of torque with a 4.0-second 0-to-60 time and a 668hp and 659lb.ft of torque with a 3.6-second 0-to-60 time, respectively.
Spec Sheet
Model: V-Series Blackwing Special Edition
Model Year: 2025
Engine: Twin-turbo 3.6L V-6 (Petit Paraud) & supercharged 6.2L V-8 (Le Monstre)
Power: 472hp (Petit Paraud) & 668hp (Le Monstre)
Torque: 445lb.ft (Petit Paraud) & 659lb.ft (Le Monstre)
0 to 60: 4.0 seconds (Petit Paraud) & 3.6 seconds (Le Monstre)
Limited Edition?: Yes, 50 (Petit Paraud) & 101 (Le Monstre)
Pricing & Availability
No prices or ordering dates have been given yet for the V-Series Blackwing Special Editions but you can expect them to be higher than the standard Blackwings, which are $63,590 for the CT4-V and $96,000 for the CT5-V. These will also be limited to just 50 examples of the Petit Paraud Edition and 101 examples of the Le Monstre Edition when they do finally arrive.
Recap
2025 Cadillac V-Series Blackwing Special Editions
Cadillac made two special editions of its 2025 V-Series Blackwing vehicles, based on the Le Monstre and Petit Pataud models that raced in the 1950 24 Hours of Le Mans.
