The Cadillac brand of General Motors Co. in Detroit and Samsung TV Plus have announced the television premiere of “No Perfect Formula,” a new documentary about Cadillac Racing’s return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June 2023 endurance race.
The film debuts on the Hagerty channel 1194 on the Samsung TV Plus app on Samsung Smart TVs, Galaxy Devices, and on the web on Friday, May 31 at 7 p.m. The 90-minute documentary follows the Cadillac Racing team’s efforts to design, develop, engineer, test, and race a winning race car.
The team achieved success in the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship seasons, including a podium finish in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and sweeping top championship honors in the inaugural IMSA Grand Touring Prototype season.
After its premiere, “No Perfect Formula” will run all night, as well as every Friday at 7 p.m. in the weeks leading up to the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 15–16.
“For more than a century, racing has provided a testbed for Cadillac to transfer knowledge and technology between race cars and production vehicles, and a way to build a fanbase for the brand around the world,” says John Roth, global vice president of Cadillac. “2023 was a pivotal year for Cadillac Racing, and ‘No Perfect Formula’ captures the emotion and celebrates what was a successful season for the team.”
Last year began a new era of sportscar racing with the Hypercar and GTP classes, featuring a new hybrid propulsion system. According to Roth, Cadillac set out to prove its V-Series.R, the third-generation prototype race car, should continue Cadillac’s heritage of success on the track.
The debut of the LMDh racecar platform with common regulations between IMSA and WEC enabled a return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Cadillac.
“As Cadillac moves to an electric future, the LMDh regulations offer a unique opportunity to gather key learnings from these advanced hybrid propulsion systems,” says Laura Wontrop Klauser, sports car program manager for GM. “The Cadillac V-Series.R’s naturally aspirated 5.5L V-8 provides a familiar powertrain platform to work with, and the byproduct is an unmistakable sound that is instantly identifiable as a Cadillac, while enabling competitive performance on the track.”
Racing offers a unique platform to expand Cadillac’s expertise and validate technologies in a variety of competencies, including aerodynamics, additive manufacturing, software, and people development, which benefit Cadillac’s production vehicles and delivers outstanding performance for customers, says Klauser. Cadillac’s V-Series performance portfolio, celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2024, brings what is learned “from the track to the road.”
Tangent Vector produced the film, and it was directed by J.F. Musial.
Samsung TV Plus is a free, ad-support app viewable on Samsung Smart TVs, with more than 2,600 ad-supported linear channels available globally in 24 countries and over 630 million active devices. Samsung TV Plus is accessible on 2016-2024 Samsung Smart TVs, Galaxy devices, Smart Monitors, Family Hub refrigerators, and the web.
