2025 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing ‘Le Monstre’ Celebrates Le Mans Race, Also Joined By CT-4 V ‘Petit Pataud’

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by Carl Malek | June 17, 2024

Cadillac celebrates return to Le Mans racing with 2025 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing ‘Le Monstre’ and CT4-V Blackwing ‘Petit Pataude’ special edition models.

Cadillac may have lost in Le Mans but these special edition models aim to deliver a consolation prize to buyers.

Cadillac made it clear that it was going to take its return to the 24 hr of Le Man race in France very seriously. While the brand came up short in its attempts to snatch victory away from its European rivals, the company still wanted to give its buyers a small taste of Le Mans glory that they could show off when out on the road.

Cadillac chose to do this with a pair of special edition models the 2025 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing ‘Le Monstre’ and the 2025 Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing ‘Petit Pataude’ which pay homage to a pair of Le Mans entries from Cadillac’s past that managed to leave a lasting impression on the French public when they made their respective debuts on the fabled circuit.

‘Le Monstre’ shines a spotlight on the past

‘Le Monstre’ CT5-V Blackwing pays tribute to an iconic 1950’s Series 61 racer.

Both of these special edition models focus on entries that were made by racing legend Briggs Cunningham to race in the 1950 event. Cunningham didn’t have any direct involvement with Cadillac, but entered as a privateer who wanted to take advantage of a rule that allowed re-bodied road cars to enter the race with Cunningham originally wanting to use a Cadillac V8 in a Ford body. However, that idea was shot down due to separate rules that stated the engine and chassis had to be from the same manufacturer.

Undeterred, Cunningham chose to build two entries based on the Cadillac 61 Series Coupe. ‘Le Monstre’ (the monster in French) was the most ambitious of the two with Cunningham enlisting the services of the Grumman aircraft company and their wind tunnel to help sculpt the bodywork that would make the car stand out on the circuit. ‘Le Monstre’ was a bold reflection of early jet-age technology and it even included a tubular crash structure to enhance safety while also reducing weight.

The modern version of ‘Le Monstre’ is mainly a styling package with the Magnus Metal Frost paintwork getting Stormhawk Blue carbon fiber accents and Royal Blue brake calipers. The black mirror caps and badges add a pop of contrast while the iconic number two and an American flag are faithfully recreated on the side sills. The Phantom Blue interior gets Santorini accents and the seats can be covered in either Jet Black leather or a retro-inspired Sky Cool Grey with the shifter for the six-speed manual getting a 3D-printed medallion with the race number. Performance still comes from a 6.2-liter supercharged V8 that makes 668 hp.

Petit Petaud puts icing on Collector Series cake

Both of these special edition models will be the latest entries into Cadillac’s “Collection Series.”

The ‘Petit Petaud’ (Little Clumsy) follows the same basic formula as its bigger counterpart with the exterior and interior getting the same special edition treatments. The lone difference is that the Petaud swaps out the number “2” for the number “3” in some of its special edition details which allows it to properly fall in line with the original racer. Performance hardware is also unchanged from a standard CT4-V Blackwing with the car getting the familiar twin-turbocharged 3.6 liter V6.

Both of these models are also the latest members of Cadillac’s “Collector Series” which is a response to European rivals and some of the limited production models that they allow their buyers to get. In the case of the CT5-V Blackwing ‘Le Monstre’ and CT4-V Blackwing ‘Petit Petaud’ Cadillac is embarking on a tight production run with the ‘Le Monstre’ being limited to only 101 units while the ‘Petite Petaud’ is limited to a mere 50 examples before production ends.

Cadillac hasn’t released pricing yet for the duo but look for the final sticker to be noticeably higher than what you see on a standard CT4 and CT5-V Blackwing model.