Liam White 
The goal for the new Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing, according to Tony Roma, the chief engineer at the Cadillac V-Series Blackwing program, was “to create a capable and balanced performance sedan not just with mechanical grip, but aerodynamically as well.” It’s safe to say that Cadillac exceeded those goals, considering that the CT4-V Blackwing records more downforce than any other V-Series Cadillac before it.
How Is Downforce Achieved?
The 2022 Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing can be configured with two different carbon fiber aero packages. The first carbon fiber package includes front dive planes, underwing strakes, an extra aero front splitter, front wheel deflectors, and an extra aero rear spoiler. The second package adds carbon fiber rocker extensions and a rear valance diffuser. Both the carbon fiber aero packages were developed with the help of a new five-belt rolling-road wind tunnel at the General Motors Technical Center as well as the traditional Windshear wind tunnel at the GM Charlotte Technical Center in Concord, North Carolina, which headquarters both the Chevrolet Performance and Cadillac Racing programs.
The impressively extreme aerodynamic adroitness of the CT4-V Blackwing is achieved without a gigantic, out-of-place rear wing. Though it might’ve been a cool feature, it just wouldn’t have looked right on a Cadillac sports sedan. Instead, the CTV-4 Blackwing underwent over 500 hours of thorough wind tunnel testing and more than 300 hours of computational fluid dynamics simulations. Cadillac engineers even used virtual reality headsets to fine-tune every aerodynamic component to its full potential. The CT4-V Blackwing downforce proficiency is the result of plenty engineering and design iterations.
The Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing Embodies Form and Function
The engineers also took design inspiration from the front underwing of the awesome Cadillac DPi-V.R race car, and implemented a similar design into the CT4-V Blackwing. The front underwing, like the one on the prototype race car, provides extreme airflow management and presses the car into the road. The V-Series Blackwing grille mesh, which looks menacingly cool from a pure design standpoint, is much more than just eye candy. The radii of each of the tiny V-shaped grille inlets are tuned to optimize airflow and are textured specifically to control airflow. A closer look at the CT4-V front end and you’ll notice the brake cooling ducts which were 3D-printed in the General Motors Additive Manufacturing facility.
The 2022 Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing is built to withstand pretty extreme levels of track use, as seen through both its wildly impressive laptimes, and the means to which they are achieved.
Image via Cadillac.
