Yes, this is a Cadillac...if you consider the 8.8-liter iron block engine under the, er, hood.
Don’t try this at home. Or in your stock CTSv. When Amir Rosenbaum set out for the world record for the fastest Cadillac, he headed to the Bonneville Salt Flats, clocking two runs at just under 331 mph.
A quick look at the bullet-nosed Speedliner says this isn’t your ordinary Caddy. The product of two years of research and development, it started out as a fuel tank for a Canadian VooDoo bomber. Measuring 38 feet in length but only 29 inches in width, Spectre Performance’s aerodynamicist, Ken Rappaport developed a tapered tail fin to house the rear wheels while minimizing drag.
The heart of the Speedliner was a specially modified Cadillac iron block engine bored out to 8.8 liters and fitted with twin intercooled turbos. In an unusual design touch intended to further reduce wind drag, Spectre skipped the usual, top-mounted scoop, instead drawing air into the engine from high-pressure areas on the lower side of the body. There was one drawback: during each run down the Flats, the scoops sucked in 100 pounds of salt that had to be filtered out before reaching the engine.
With driver Kenny Hoover behind the wheel, Speedliner had a tough start, when it set off on Bonneville’s 5-mile course, last Friday. Though it hit 287 mph by the three-mile market, Speedliner’s fire system failed, forcing an emergency shutdown.
But a day later, Hoover tried again, launching the black, rocket-shaped racer to a record-setting 328 mph average speed. A day later, Speedliner made a mandatory bid to clock a second complete run down the Salt Flats, this time hitting 340 mph by the end of the course, and maintaining an average 332 mph. For the two runs, the record came in at 330.569 mph.
“I can’t wait to come back next year,” says Spectre founder and Speedliner owner Amir Rosenbaum. “I want to break our own record and the 400mph barrier.”