Autocross. The word conveys an image of auto enthusiasts pitching Miatas and CRXs and BMWs and Porsches around a cone-sea in an open parking lot. The nimble little cars squeak through slaloms and “garages” like so many mice through a maze. It’s a good entry-level scene for the low-buck beginner and, at its highest-level, a precision sport where hundredths of a second matter in the same way they do on the quarter-mile. Except when you bring a 1959 Cadillac Sedan DeVille to play, as one enterprising autocrosser did in Dubai. Then it’s all about style points.
No one will accuse the Caddy of being nimble or even quick, but watching it saunter around the autocross course at Dubai Autodrome is a thing to behold. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anyone autocross on whitewall tires and while big wings are occasionally found on some autocross specials, the DeVille’s classic jet-age fins look pretty unique in the cone-surfing world. Slowest time of the day? Who cares? This Caddy owner has acres of style (and metal).
Hard to say for sure from those camera angles, but it appears to be way more under control than I would have expected.
It appears to be shod with at least 17″ tires and wheels and maybe also lowered. I agree that it wallows much less than I would anticipate. The steering and brakes were so overboosted on my ’59 Coupe d’Ville that feeling was just a word.
Here in England autocrossing was and is driving cars of various types and degrees of power over tracks laid out in invariably muddy farmer’s fields. How I’d loved to have seen that Caddy churning its way around a tight track on a rainy Sunday afternoon. As for the more power issue – a full-on overbored 500 inch Caddy motor would do the trick.
Incidentally we call your version of autocross driving tests which are held on tighter tracks and are rarely troubled by anything with a V8 under the hood..
I didn’t see any smoke off the sidewalls.