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Collard reflects on Cadillac's last Prototype program

Wednesday, 14 June 2017


By Stephen Kilbey / Images by LAT archive & FIAWEC

In IMSA's Weathertech Sportscar Championship this season, racing with three Dallara DPis, Cadillac has been dominating, winning each of the five races so far this year with Wayne Taylor Racing in its return to prototype racing. While winning Daytona, Sebring and Long Beach is no mean feat, the GM brand has yet to win the Le Mans 24 Hours – a race which back in the early 2000s, it attempted to do on three occasions.
Of the drivers who competed with DAMS, and Cadillac Northstar from 2000-'02, only Emmanuel Collard is still racing at Le Mans. This year marks his 23rd consecutive Le Mans as a driver, and his return to racing in prototypes after four years away racing GT cars at the French classic.
Originally, Collard was drafted to Cadillac as a factory driver, he thinks, because of his experience racing with Toyota and its GT-One. Collard failed to win Le Mans with Toyota, but the sheer amount of effort behind the scenes by the Japanese marque made its alumni invaluable to aspirant teams once the programmed came to an end at the turn of the century.
In the three years Collard spent with Cadillac, two of them with French team DAMS, his best finish was 12th overall in 2002. And that's because, he feels, they weren't ready.
"I think it was a good program overall," said Collard, "but the shame is that they really stopped it too early, because while the car was really bad early on, it was quite good when they changed to the LMP02, but they stopped after just three years."

The original chassis, was a Riley and Scott, badged the Cadillac Northstar LMP01, with a four-liter, twin-turbo engine. The five cars that raced struggled for results in 2000, coming away with no podiums in its various ALMS, SRWC, GARRC and Le Mans appearances and multiple DNFs.

"They were very passionate, and they did good as a team effort. The problem was that it came and went so quickly," admitted Collard, who later drove with success for the likes of Pescarolo Sport, Petersen White Lightning and AF Corse, teams that have all achieved notable results at La Sarthe.
"You need experience at Le Mans if you want the success, and that was the problem with Cadillac. It's different now in America with their new prototype, but back then it was a struggle to get the car reliable and fast in such a short space of time.
"You can't win unless you keep coming back and improving a car."

Part of the problem was the team's lack of preparation outside of Le Mans week. Collard firmly believes that you need to be out racing and testing frequently if you want to have any chance of winning. That's why the evolution of the car – the LMP02 (pictured, top and at right) designed by Nigel Stroud – failed to beat the Audi R8 in 2002. All its good results – podiums and top five finishes – came after Le Mans that year, in the ALMS.
Audi's challenger meanwhile, was both fast and reliable at Le Mans, and in the end finished 1-2-3 in '02.
"The first year, was really bad. We started with the Riley & Scott chassis the first year, then we switched, and the car was much better," he said. "The main problem in the end was the engine, and the fact that at the point where it looked like a contender, GM decided to focus solely on Corvette.
"We didn't do much testing before Le Mans (in 2002)," Collard added. "I did that a lot with Toyota in the years before I was with them, and was surprised at how different the approach was. With Toyota we did four 30-hour tests before Le Mans, and we still didn't win. That's the sort of thing you need to do if you're targeting one race, though, and they didn't.
"Performance aside, it wasn't quick to service either, not quick enough when compared to the Audis (which could change a gearbox in a matter of minutes). Every time we had a problem it took forever to get out of the garage. Because of this we weren't ever aiming for the win if we were being realistic."

GM's decision to prioritise Corvette's GT program after 2002 paid off, though, as Collard – who eventually drove for Pratt & Miller in 2010 – can attest. Traveling to Europe to race at Le Mans as an American brand is not easy – it's a different racing culture, with a different organizing body, regulations and environment. Corvette, with its eight class wins, has cracked the code, something Cadillac never managed.
"When I got the call from Corvette, with the chance to drive, it was a really easy decision to make; I knew I could jump straight in, as the C6.R was perfect.
"You feel the experience they have when you walk in the garage," he continued, "they prepared so well – and they still do – the car was quick, and everything behind the scenes was perfect. 90 percent of the team seems to be the same as the beginning of the program, too, so they know what to do.
"I lost my contract with Porsche in 2009, very late, and I contacted Corvette and they told me they were full. But two weeks after, Marcel Fassler committed to Audi, something which I doubt he regrets! So, Corvette called me back with an offer. It was one of the best calls I've ever taken."
This weekend, Collard is racing with TDS in LMP2, with its ORECA 07 alongside fellow Frenchman Francois Perrodo and Matthieu Vaxiviere. Cadillac meanwhile, will be watching from afar, while its IMSA drivers Jordan and Ricky Taylor drive in the race for Corvette Racing (above) and Keating Motorsports, respectively.
Will Cadillac be back to finish what it started? At the moment, it seems unlikely, with DPis not welcome at Le Mans; but who can say what the future holds? Who would have bet on Cadillac winning the 2017 Rolex 24 at Daytona a few years ago?
Either way, with the trophy cabinet quickly filling this year, it's clear that Cadillac has learned from the failings of the last time it went racing with prototypes.