New Hudson-based Pratt Miller is wildly famous as an auto supplier and aftermarket and motor racing firm, but its perhaps less famous as a defense contractor.

Nonetheless, P&M has been making great strides on the defense industry front.

Just last week at the big, two-day NDIA/Michigan Defense Industrial Base Expo at Macomb College in Warren, Pratt Miller had a recruiting booth among 30 or more contractors displaying at the show.

Staffing the booth for Pratt were recruiter Sandy McKinnon and Sara Blackmer, director, Government Markets.

Blackmer discussed Pratt Miller’s progression from being an original auto supplier to now both auto and military.

Asked if there was synergy between auto and defense for P&M, she said, “There’s absolutely synergy.

“Pratt Miller Engineering’s heritage is in motorsports, we’ve been exclusive to GM Racing since 2005.

“From that winning tradition that we have, we’ve been able to translate some of the smart technologies into advanced automotive, and also defense applications.

“So, vehicle lightweighting, reliability, durability, rugged-izing things like suspensions, redesigning chassis and body work are the kinds of things we do for vehicles.”

Pratt Miller’s engineering and analysis work for defense includes a wide range of tools including packaging/architecture design, 3D Solids/Parametric CAD, reverse engineering, industrial design, structure optimization, weight reduction, durability/fatigue analysis and much more.

Their defense applications apply to Tactical Wheeled Vehicles, Tracked Vehicles, Robotics/Unmanned Systems, Trailers, Fleet Resetting, Missile Systems and the like.

“So our facility is soup to nuts: clean-sheet design, to development, to concepting and prototype manufacturing.

“We do not do commodity work, we also do not do volume-anything. But if you’re looking for a full-system prototype or a piece-part prototype, we can absolutely do that. Small quantity volume we can do.”

Asked which was busier, defense or automotive, Blackmer replied:

“We started as racing, we’ve been in racing since 1989 but exclusive to GM since 2005.”

“We still do probably 60 percent of our business is racing, and the other 40 percent is split between advanced automotive and defense.

“Say it’s more defense this year than automotive, but that fluctuates depending on market needs.”

From Badboyvettes.com:

It was announced at the 2012 New York Auto Show that the Viper would return to ALMS competition some time in 2012, and full season 2013 with a 2 car full factory effort team.

Here are the facts:

• -ACO regulations define the minimum engine displacement as 5.5L, but have given SRT Viper a waiver to run a 8.0L engine. This is not an ALMS only waiver, this is a full ACO waiver.
• -SRT Motorsports is partnering with Roush Industries on the development of the 8.0L V10.
• -As of the announcement, Riley Technologies had no real race cars built yet.
• -Other than 3 drivers, Kuno Wittmer, Dominik Farnbacher and Marc Goossens, there is no team in place yet.

As for the engine, this is obviously a sore spot in everyone’s side, especially since Corvette was forced from 7.0L down to 6.0L then down to 5.5L. Our guess is that they will be restricted on revs, as well as intake size, and probably weight for at least a while until their true performance is observed. But with operating at lower revs, means less wear and tear on the engine. This is exactly what the 5.5L rule was made to prevent.

In addition, it has also been rumored that SRT has been in talks with the FIA and ACO to change the GTE regulations for 2014 to allow up to 8.0L. Since Oreca, the French motorsport company, isn’t running the program this time, we are not sure if the French will want to make that drastic of a change to its most balanced class.

Of course this isn’t the first Viper to race in the ALMS in recent years. The Primetime Viper from a few season back was heavily restricted. So much so that they could not be competitive even mid-pack. But on the other hand they were not a factory effort.

SRT has not said it directly, but we know their main goal is to beat Corvette. They have taken a few small stabs at GM/Corvette here and there, but no blood has been drawn…yet.

Graham Henckel – Chief Engineer for SRT Viper claims they will not put the SRT badge on anything that isn’t racetrack proven. Our question is: How many races have the Jeep, Ram, Neon, Charger, 300, Crossfire, and Caliber entered or won?

As for Corvette…..do we really need to make a list?

Regardless, we welcome the competition. The more competition there is, the better the victories are.

http://badboyvettes.com/695

Pilgrim Podiums for Team Cadillac; CTS-V Coupe Still Leads Manufacturer, Driver Points in World Challenge

O’Connell Finishes 7th in Cadillac Sports Car Grand Prix of Monterey

• – Team Cadillac Drivers 1-2 in Driver Points after 5 Races
• – Pilgrim Holds Off Porsche for Podium Finish
• – Detroit Up Next on World Challenge Series Schedule

MONTEREY, Calif. – Andy Pilgrim had to keep track of a lot of information in the closing laps of Friday’s Cadillac Sports Car Grand Prix at Laguna Seca Raceway.

Chief among them was the position of one Lawson Aschenbach.

Aschenbach, who had to start 15th in the field because he missed qualifying, rocketed through the field to fourth place late in the 50-minute Pirelli World Challenge Series event on the 2.238-mile layout, and had he passed Pilgrim in the final four laps, he would have wrested the Manufacturer’s point lead from Team Cadillac.

He didn’t, and Pilgrim hung on to finish third in his No. 8 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe, keeping Cadillac’s lead intact and cutting the distance to the driver point lead to just 14 points.

“Manufacturer points is all we care about,” an enthused Pilgrim said on the podium after the race.

Pilgrim had a couple of chances to put a car between himself and Aschenbach, but missed by inches on both. The Volvos of race winner Randy Pobst and second-place Alex Figge were just too stout off the corners to get it done.

“It was an elastic band effect with Volvo,” Pilgrim said. “They were slow going into the corners and rockets coming out. I had the best shot on restarts, to try and get Alex. He was very clean; we were bumping, but it was clean. He gave me room and I gave him room. But once I got to the end of the corner, they took off. “

Having that buffer between himself and Aschenbach was tops in his mind.

“I tried, really, because I wanted to put him [Figge] between me and Lawson,” Pilgrim said. “Having Lawson behind me, holy smoke…I had to just be perfect for those four or five laps at the end. Luckily, we were. It just really kept me focused. Lawson raced me fair and really close.”

Pilgrim said he had an advantage on Aschenbach under braking with his Brembo brake system.

“The brakes on our car made it for us. He didn’t make anything on us on brakes.”

Pobst ran away with the victory, crossing the line .699 seconds ahead of his teammate, Figge. Pilgrim was third, 1.58 seconds back, and Aschenbach came home fourth, 1.711 seconds behind.

Johnny O’Connell had rough going in the No. 3 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe, starting seventh and finishing there. He was carrying 196 pounds of sanctioning-body-mandated weight, and had a struggle to stay with the lead group.

O’Connell, a master of the restart, had a couple of chances on late restarts to improve his position, but couldn’t close the deal before Turn 3.

Despite the extra weight he carried, O’Connell was pleased with the day.

“Restarts were good today,” he said. “The guys did an amazing job; the race car was the best car I had all weekend. But that much weight was murder here. Not just in the momentum I had to carry up the hill, but in the way my car was handling. You want to win, but you’re glad that Andy had a really good run in third. It was a good event for Cadillac.”

After Pobst, Figge, Pilgrim and Aschenbach came the Porsche of Steve Ott to round out the top five. Mike Skeen came from 16th to finish sixth, followed by O’Connell and the Porsches of Justin Marks, Tomy Drissi and Bret Curtis.

O’Connell still leads the driver points by 14, 573-559, over Pilgrim, with Pobst now third at 502. James Sofronas, who was third coming in, retired midway through Friday’s race and finished 15th in GT. Aschenbach is fourth at 427.

In the Manufacturer’s race, Cadillac doubled its lead from Utah and stands four points higher than Porsche, 37-33, after five races. Volvo leaped into the battle in third place, with 25 points.

Next race for Team Cadillac is on home turf June 1-3 at the Cadillac Detroit Grand Prix on the Belle Isle course in the middle of the Detroit River.

Friday’s Cadillac Sports Car Grand Prix of Monterey is set for broadcast May 27 at 11 p.m. EDT on the NBC Sports Network.

View live streaming on the day of the races and continuously on demand after races.

Cadillac Sports Car Grand Prix Offers Good Chance for Team Cadillac to Keep the Pressure On

Leaders in Driver, Manufacturer Points Look to Strengthen Hold

• Laguna Seca Raceway Site of Round 5 of Pirelli World Challenge
• Pilgrim Qualifies 2nd, O’Connell Eighth for Friday’s Event
• Slippery Surface, Weight Make Things Difficult

MONTEREY, Calif. – Entering the Cadillac Sports Car Grand Prix, Round 5 of the Pirelli World Challenge Series, Team Cadillac’s outlook is pretty rosy.

That can change in a heartbeat inside a series that matches performance vehicles from around the world.

For the moment, Team Cadillac drivers Johnny O’Connell and Andy Pilgrim sit first and second in the driver point standings and Cadillac is atop the manufacturer standings. O’Connell has 49 points in hand over Pilgrim, and Long Beach winner Pilgrim has 94 more than third place, which is good…but there’s plenty of racing left to go before the trophies are handed out.

This weekend’s race, set for Friday afternoon on the 2.238-mile course at Laguna Seca Raceway, will play a role in how it turns out.

In qualifying on Thursday, Pilgrim put his No. 8 Cadillac CTS-V second in line with a lap at 1:26.682, just .321 seconds off the pole-winning run by Volvo’s Randy Pobst. O’Connell was eighth with a lap at 1:27.397 in his No. 3 CTS-V.

“All the credit goes to the team,” Pilgrim said. “They have worked really hard on all the things that we needed, and we’re a lot better than when we started here this week. This place is really slippery now. It’s so slippery that it’s monstrously difficult to put a setup underneath it.”

Typically, tracks like Laguna Seca present difficulties for Team Cadillac, as Pilgrim explained.

“Laguna Seca has low grip, and a lot of middle-speed corners, similar to Mid-Ohio,” said Pilgrim, who posted the quickest time in Thursday’s first practice session. “It’s not an ideal track for our Cadillac CTS-V Coupe. If we can come away with top-five this weekend, we’ll be really doing something.”

The combination of grip level and some tight corners mixed with sweeping corners and some truly breathtaking changes in elevation gives the Cadillac drivers some opportunity for compromise in the setup. Getting off the corners fast is critical at Laguna Seca.

O’Connell, who is driving with an additional 196 pounds of REWARDS weight from the sanctioning body, had some struggles during the test session on Wednesday, but found a handle he liked during the two Thursday sessions.

“After the last session, I was pleased with the car,” said the St. Petersburg Round 1 winner. “All the weight is a disadvantage, but we are dealing with it as best we can. In qualifying, I thought I was going to be fast, but I was wrong again.”

Both drivers are very familiar with the Laguna Seca layout, having run here for years in a variety of series, and that experience could play a role in Friday’s main event.

One of the chief contenders to knock off the Team Cadillac duo, Lawson Aschenbach, will have to start from the tail of the GT field on Friday because he missed qualifying on Thursday.

Rounds 4 and 5 of the Pirelli World Challenge Series will be telecast on NBC Sports, Sunday, May 27 at 11 p.m. EDT. View live streaming on the day of the races and continuously on demand after races.

Feel the Thunder, Hear the Noise as CTS-V Coupe Racer Invades Digital Spectrum

DETROIT – With the release of the Cadillac CTS-V virtual race car from Cadillac and iRacing.com, race fans the world over can now feel the thunder of Cadillac’s powerful coupe and race it for prizes all year long.

The digital version of Team Cadillac’s potent hot-rod, driven in real life by superstar drivers Johnny O’Connell and Andy Pilgrim, features the same heart-pounding acceleration and hard-core performance characteristics of the real thing…and you don’t need an SCCA Competition license to race it.

O’Connell and Pilgrim are currently first and second, respectively, in the driver’s point standings for the Pirelli World Challenge GT Series, and Cadillac is atop the Manufacturer’s points as well.

Cadillac joins iRacing’s base package of cars and tracks, making the CTS-V an integral component of all 30,000+ iRacers’ online racing experience. The virtual Cadillac CTS-V will be featured in the Cadillac Cup, a series of online races at precision-modeled versions of many of the tracks on the 2012 Pirelli World Challenge GT Series schedule including Infineon Raceway, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Mosport International Raceway.

For a preview of the Cadillac Cup action, click here. In addition to enjoying the challenge of door-to-door racing in their digital 520- horsepower CTS-Vs, iRacers will compete for a variety of iRacing- and Cadillac-branded prizes.

“With Johnny O’Connell’s victory in the opening round of the Pirelli World Challenge GT Series in St Petersburg and Andy Pilgrim’s win in Long Beach, the Cadillac CTS-V has already proven to be very a competitive proposition on the real race tracks of North America,” says Cadillac V-Series and Racing Marketing Manager John Kraemer. “Thanks to our partnership with iRacing.com, Cadillac is delighted to enable sim-racers around the world to enjoy the same incredible performance that Johnny and Andy experience every time they buckle in to their CTS-Vs on the race track.”

“We’re excited to be able to make one of the world’s most advanced racing sedans available to our members,” says iRacing.com President Tony Gardner. “We’re proud to partner with Cadillac, not only in creating the virtual CTS-V but through the Cadillac Cup. iRacing and Cadillac have some exciting programs in the making, and we’re all looking forward to making the most of our dynamic partnership for Cadillac, iRacing and iRacers.”

Visit www.cadillaccupracing.com to register for a complimentary iRacing membership code and see more information on the Cadillac CTS- V.

Zeiss Video Interview

Please click the link below to view a video interview that covers our use of the Contura G2 CMM and CALYPSO software and how the Ziess partnership has benefitted us

here at P&M.

http://www.prattmiller.com/engineering/quality_assurance.php

Team Cadillac Finishes Second, Fourth in Grand Prix of Utah; O’Connell’s Driver Point Lead Grows Larger

O’Connell second, Pilgrim fourth in racy Round 4 of Pirelli World Challenge Series

• • O’Connell Leads Pilgrim in Driver Points After Four Races
• • Cadillac Leads Manufacturer’s Points Over Porsche
• • O’Connell Leads 10 laps, Pilgrim Nipped at End for Third

TOOELE, Utah – For the first 10 laps of Saturday’s PrivacyStar Utah Grand Prix, it appeared that Team Cadillac had a shot at a third victory in four races.

But in the end, the team had to settle for second and fourth places, plus a solid points day toward the Pirelli World Challenge Series championships.

Johnny O’Connell took advantage of a standing-start stumble by polesitter Patrick Long to jump to the lead, edging out a gaggle of cars at the entrance to the super-fast Turn 1. For the next 10 laps, the No. 3 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe driven by O’Connell led the way around the 3.048-mile Miller Motorsports Park course until Long got close enough to challenge.

Long dived to the inside into Turn 1 on Lap 11 and completed the pass through the tricky-fast turn complex and raced away to victory.

“It was a really good race with Patrick,” O’Connell said after the race was over. “With us carrying all the weight, I figured out pretty early that he [Long] was just going to try to wear me down, make me use up my tires and then have his way with me. I actually backed my pace off a little to let him get close. I figured eventually he would make a run at me going into Turn 1.”

He did, but was not successful the first time he tried it. Long actually led Lap 7, but O’Connell kept his foot in it and wound up keeping the top spot for another three laps.

“We raced each other super clean, and I think the fans enjoyed watching that,” O’Connell said. “I was just hoping for traffic that never came. You have to give it to them. They were a little bit stronger today, but shoot, with 144 pounds…we were carrying a lot of weight.”

That weight, called REWARDS weight, came from O’Connell winning at St. Petersburg to open the season and finishing second in the second race at St. Pete and third at Long Beach.

Andy Pilgrim, who was carrying 96 pounds after winning at Long Beach, started fourth, lost a spot in the gaggle at the start, and then advanced to third place by Lap 5, chasing O’Connell and Long.

He made up a ton of time through the middle portion as O’Connell and Long battled for the lead, his No. 8 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe shadowing his teammate and looking for opportunities to advance.

But a hard-charging Mike Skeen came from 13th on the grid to fourth place with a handful of laps remaining and passed Pilgrim on the penultimate lap to knock Team Cadillac out of another double- podium finish.

“It was a good race,” Pilgrim said of his battle with Skeen. “I knew [Skeen] was coming; there was nothing I could do. He didn’t have any weight on his car, and we know the Corvette is good. He was really good through the fast corners.”

Pilgrim got a touch loose on the next-to-last lap and Skeen pounced.

“I got a big slide out of Turn 6 and it killed my momentum for that long straight up to Turn 7,” he said. “He got to the inside and there was nothing I could do. He just accelerated faster than I did. I had to let him go. I couldn’t have turned in, and if I had tried to go around the outside I would have just punched right off the track. There’s a lot of stuff on that corner.”

At the end of the day, O’Connell was pragmatic about the result.

“For me it was very difficult, watching my tires and saving some for the end,” he said. “Right now, I am driving as strong if not stronger than I ever have in my career. It was really hard for me to sit back and manage everything, but I was very proud that I was able to do that.”

For Pilgrim, it was a good result, for the big picture, but not the one he was looking for on Saturday.

“I didn’t want top-five, but when you come into one of these races, you want to come away with top-five points if you’re in the championship. That’s all you want.”

Long’s Porsche beat O’Connell to the flag by 3.032 seconds, and Skeen, Pilgrim and David Welch in a Ferrari rounded out the top five. Randy Pobst headed the second five in his Volvo, with the Porsches of Steve Ott, James Sofronas and Madison Snow seventh through ninth. Tony Gaples rounded out the top 10 in another Corvette.

In the points, it was a banner day for Team Cadillac. O’Connell now leads the World Challenge GT driver’s points by 49 over Pilgrim, 501-452. Sofronas is a distant third with 354, Lawson Aschenbach is fourth with 342 and Pobst is fifth with 333.

In the Manufacturer’s points, Cadillac leads Porsche by 2, 32-30, after four rounds.

Next action for Team Cadillac and the rest of the Pirelli World Challenge Series competitors will be May 10-11, the Cadillac Sports Car Grand Prix at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, Calif.

The Grand Prix of Utah will be telecast on NBC Sports, Sunday, May 27 at 11 p.m. EDT. View live streaming on www.world-challengeTV.com day of races and continuously on demand after races.

Team Cadillac’s O’Connell Second, Pilgrim Fourth in World Challenge Qualifying for GP of Utah

CTS-V Coupes In Good Shape for Round 4 of Pirelli World Challenge

TOOELE, Utah – When Saturday’s PrivacyStar Grand Prix of Utah gets the green light tomorrow afternoon, Team Cadillac will have a say in who comes to Victory Lane.

Johnny O’Connell put the No. 3 Cadillac CTS-V on the outside of the front row in qualifying, and teammate Andy Pilgrim put his No. 8 machine right behind him in fourth.

“I was very happy with my CTS-V Coupe,” O’Connell said. “It’s the best it has been since we got here on Thursday, and that has a lot to do with all the people at Cadillac who worked on it so hard.”

O’Connell will line up next to polesitter Patrick Long, who clocked the fastest time at 1:50.834 around the 3.048-mile Miller Motorsports Park layout. O’Connell’s lap at 1:51.358 was second-quick, with Randy Pobst splitting Team Cadillac in third at 1:51.463. Pilgrim’s lap at 1:51.533 rounded out the top four.

“We have been chasing the car since we got here,” Pilgrim said. “We’ve chased the track, the weather, the wind, the temperature…Team Cadillac has really worked hard on getting us to this point.”

O’Connell said that teamwork made the difference.

“This is one of those times where you really needed two cars,” he said. “It allowed us to gain a lot more on the setup for tomorrow’s race.”

Pilgrim said the Miller track was a demonstration in compromise.

“You have to compromise so much here,” he said. “You have to give up a lot in one corner to make good in another, and it’s hard work to set one of these cars up for this track.”

This weekend’s Pirelli World Challenge race from Miller Motorsports Park will be streamed live online, and the online feed is scheduled to start at 2:25 p.m. MDT/4:25 p.m. EDT on Saturday, April 28.

The Cadillac Racing Media Kit is now available online.

Cadillac has been a leading luxury auto brand since 1902. In recent years, Cadillac has engineered a historic renaissance led by artful engineering and advanced technology. More information on Cadillac can be found at media.cadillac.com.

Team Cadillac Drivers Show Well in Final Practice for Long Beach Grand Prix; Both in Top Six

Pilgrim Fourth, O’Connell Sixth in First Dry Session of Weekend

LONG BEACH – After the first real track time of the weekend, Team Cadillac put both CTS-V Coupes in the top six during Pirelli World Challenge Series practice.

Andy Pilgrim led the way in the No. 8 CTS-V, posting fourth-quick time at 1:23.684 around the 1.968-mile street course, and point leader Johnny O’Connell was sixth at 1:23.806.

“It wasn’t bad, for a totally green track after two days of rain,” said Pilgrim of his session. “Traffic is an issue here, especially with the GTS cars around the Fountain. You can’t get them easily. It’s a good start, but this is not the ideal Cadillac track. We’re both in the top six, which is what we need to do, but obviously, we’ve got some work to do.”

Lawson Aschenbach led the way at 1:22.822 in a Porsche, and the Volvo of Randy Pobst was second at 1:23.485. Justin Marks sneaked into the top three on the final lap of the session, posting a lap at 1:23.684, just .001 ahead of Pilgrim. Tommy Drissi was fifth in another Porsche.

O’Connell had a struggle with his No. 3 CTS-V, but is confident it will work itself out.

“I’m not as happy with my car now as I was at St. Pete,” he said. “I’m not showing the grip I want, but that’s why you run these sessions. The beautiful thing about a team like Cadillac Racing is, they have the ability to get it all right in time for qualifying and the race.”

James Sofronas’ Porsche was seventh, followed by the Volvo of Alex Figge, Dino Crescentini’s Porsche and the Ferrari of David Welch rounded out the top 10.

Qualifying for Round 3 of the Pirelli World Challenge Series is set for 8:25 a.m. Sunday, with the race to follow at 4:15 p.m. Live streaming of Sunday’s race is available, and the race will be broadcast on NBC Sports Network on April 29, from 3-4:30 p.m. EDT. The Cadillac Racing Media Kit is now available online.

Cadillac has been a leading luxury auto brand since 1902. In recent years, Cadillac has engineered a historic renaissance led by artful engineering and advanced technology. More information on Cadillac can be found at media.cadillac.com.

Momentum Is With Team Cadillac in the Streets of Long Beach for Round 3 of Pirelli World Challenge

St. Pete Performances Indicate Recipe for Street-Course Success

• • O’Connell Leads Point Standings; Pilgrim Stands Third
• • Tricky Track Makes Performance Critical for CTS-V Coupes
• • Rain Friday Makes Weekend More Compact for Team

LONG BEACH, Calif. – “This is our Monaco.”

That’s how Cadillac CTS-V Coupe driver Johnny O’Connell describes the Grand Prix of Long Beach, which plays out for the 38th time this weekend through the streets of the California city.

O’Connell and teammate Andy Pilgrim take the potent Cadillac CTS-V racers to those streets this weekend, setting up for Round 3 of the Pirelli World Challenge Series.

O’Connell comes in with the series point lead after winning Round 1 in St. Petersburg and finishing second in Round 2. Pilgrim finished fifth and third in the opening two races to stand third in the points.

“With the degree of attention attached to this race, it truly is, to me, America’s most successful street race,” O’Connell said. “Any time you have something this big and historic, it’s pretty special.”

The 1.986-mile road course through city streets presents a challenge to Team Cadillac, because it is so tight and technical.

“It is St. Pete, plus less track time, a weird schedule and a day of rain, so we haven’t really done very much on track,” said Pilgrim following a rainy first practice session on Friday. “Now we have a concentrated weekend. We’re hopefully as well-prepared as any team here, but this is not necessarily the best Cadillac track. We know it’s a good Porsche track.”

O’Connell said the most famous corner on the circuit is also the one that nobody likes.

“The worst part of the track is the hairpin,” O’Connell said. “I don’t think you’re going to find any driver that says, ‘I love this corner.’ It is such a tight-radius corner. I like the whole Turn 2 and 3 area, and then the Turns 7 and 8 combination, which is a good overtaking area. Turns 9 and 10, you have a variety of pavement changes that are very tricky.”

The tight layout presents difficulties for the potent Cadillac CTS-V, which has a longer wheelbase and more mass than most of the cars it competes against, but with a year of development under its belt, the Cadillac is better equipped to handle the tricky, concrete-encased course.

“It’s not the ideal Cadillac track, but I think we can do well here. We have done well in the past here, so hopefully we can keep the momentum going from St. Pete. I’m thinking that a top-five finish for both of us would be awesome,” Pilgrim said. “If we happen to get a victory or a podium out of this, that’s a bonus.

“It’s a street course, and you can definitely have a lot of problems here.”

Hitting Long Beach with momentum doesn’t hurt, either. St. Petersburg, another street course, proved that the CTS-V is growing up as a racing car, and in the hands of veteran racers like Pilgrim and O’Connell, there’s no disadvantage.

The 2012 Pirelli World Challenge Series runs April 15 in the Streets of Long Beach. Live streaming of both races is available, and the race will be broadcast on NBC Sports Network on April 29, from 3-4:30 p.m. EDT.