When Cadillac launched its new Daytona Prototype International (DPi), based on the Dallara P217, it tried to keep some of the key parts of its design a secret. To do this it took inspiration from both Formula 1 team Red Bull Racing and also the Royal Navy in World War 1.
Motor racing has something of a reputation for cloak and dagger activities, if it is not the ‘Grand Prix Sabotuers’ of World War 2 that Joe Saward is always so keen to chat about, it is modern industrial espionage, stolen technologies and sabotaged machinery. Because of this racing teams, especially manufacturer backed teams, are always keen to keep technical details of their cars under wraps for as long as possible. Many methods have been used from the crude human walls used by Audi Sport at Le Mans in 2016 to the liberal and energetic use of blankets to cover sensitive parts. When Cadillac decided to shakedown its new DPi-V.R it was a little more cunning about the way it tried to keep things under wraps, it did it with a wrap. That is not a typo.

For quite a few years it has been common place for manufacturers to wrap their new cars, both race and road, in black and white liveries featuring what seem to be wild and outlandish designs. This is nothing new, in fact the technique dates back to a Victorian gentleman called Norman Wilkinson who was schooled in Hertfordshire, England. Wilkinson was an artist and his first professional work was for the Illustrated London News, though he went on to h...