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Cadillac's Colton Herta and Jordan Taylor Are Hunting Rolexes at Daytona
Cadillac's Colton Herta and Jordan Taylor Are Hunting Rolexes at Daytona
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About this episode
Colton Herta and Jordan Taylor, two prominent American race car drivers, join the podcast to discuss their upcoming participation in the Rolex 24 at Daytona. They share insights about their Cadillac V-Series R and the adjustments made for the race. The conversation touches on the excitement of endurance racing, the unique challenges of transitioning between different racing formats, and the growing popularity of sports car racing. They also explore the dynamics of racing against drivers from various disciplines, the significance of the Rolex 24, and their aspirations for the upcoming season.
Topics:
rolex 24
endurance racing
cadillac v-series r
driver transitions
sports car racing
NASCAR crossover
racing dynamics
team strategies
manufacturer involvement
Indy 500 aspirations
Colton Herta and Jordan Taylor are joining forces for Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing at the IMSA Rolex 24 at Daytona before Herta heads to Formula 2 and the Cadillac Formula 1 Team. They join Gary and Alex to discuss their big plans for 2026 driving for the American brand.
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Select text to request an explanation
Alex, you know, the intro to the show actually gave me a pretty good idea the other day.
I think it's a good idea.
What if we put the gas station bell at the entrance to pit lane at racetracks, a really
loud one, so you're in the crowd, ding, ding, you look over there, oh, somebody's pulling
in the pits.
I think this is a good idea.
Whatever you say, man, it's up to you, Gary.
I feel like that could get, you know, you have a big field at some place like the Rolex
with, you know, over with 60-odd cars that could get pretty noisy.
You're right.
Might start sounding like, don't feel the reaper.
I'm Gary Gastelou.
This is the gas, Alex.
Is Alex Nunez, of course, this is the official podcast of American Cars and Racing, AmericanCarsandRacing.com.
And coming up in just a couple of minutes, we have two American race car drivers joining
us on the show.
But Alex, I got to ask you first, do you have the Apple TV?
I do.
I was flicking through the programs on the Apple TV the other day, and there's a new
movie on there.
And I know it's a movie because it's called F1 The Movie.
Have you heard of this one?
I'm familiar with the movie.
Yes, Gary.
Apparently, it's so popular that they're making a sequel to it.
They're already working on the sequel.
Now in Hollywood convention, what would you call the sequel to F1, traditionally?
F2.
F2, that's right.
And believe it or not, there is a racing series called Formula 2.
Did you know that?
I am very familiar.
All right, so I think I figured out what the sequel is going to be, what the plot
of the sequel is going to be.
Because F1 The Movie is about a guy who wins the Rolex 24 Daytona and then goes
and races in Formula 1 for the rest of the season.
Next year, there's a guy who's going to be racing in the Rolex 24 at Daytona and then
racing in Formula 2 for the rest of the season.
Can you believe that?
I can believe it because I believe he's on the line.
He is on the line, believe it or not.
And so is his MCT mate that's going to be with him at the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
So I'm going to welcome to the show now Colton Herta and Jordan Taylor from Cadillac
Wayne Taylor Racing.
Guys, thanks for joining the show.
Thanks for having us.
Jordan, last time you guys raced together at the Rolex 24, you came in third.
Are you going to predict a win this time around?
What do you got for us?
Yeah, it'll be nice.
I mean, you have finished third at Daytona.
We won C-bring.
I can't remember what happened at the T.
I think we had a flat tire at some point in that race.
It kind of took us out of contention.
But yeah, it seems like every year that we go to the Rolex, you know,
especially with Wayne Taylor Racing, we have a shot at the win.
They had such a great history there.
So yeah, coming to Daytona this year, kind of with the year under our belts,
the Cadillac, kind of getting the band back together with Colton coming
and joining us, I think we should have a good shot at it.
Louis Delotras also racing with you again, Jordan, this is your second year
with the V-Series R, the Cadillac V-Series R.
But you got the EVO this year, some updates to the car, what's changed?
And I know you've gotten to test it already.
Does it feel like a completely different car?
Is it just a little faster here and there?
Yeah, I mean, hopefully it's faster, a little bit everywhere.
But yeah, we've got some aero updates and brake updates.
And yeah, the big thing with GTP is just always the software updates
and systems updates, you know, basically race to race, session to session.
So it's good that we did the aero update and the brake update.
I feel like it's something we were looking for, you know,
since we kind of joined the program with Cadillac
is something we've always kind of complained about a little bit.
But I think it's all in the step in the right direction.
Obviously, Daytona is not super critical for downforce levels,
more for drag. So it's hard to kind of get an idea for that.
But yeah, we did a test at Coda as well.
And it seems like everything that the guys have done behind the scenes
with these developments have been all in the right direction.
So should be good, good things for 2026.
Colton, you're doing Daytona, Sebring and Road Atlanta with Jordan this year.
But most of your racing is spent in the open wheel cars,
Indy car and soon in Formula Two.
Is there a big adjustment for you when you jump in the prototypes?
Or is it a pretty quick couple of laps and you're ready to go?
No, I mean, it's definitely a different car and you feel that when you drive it.
The positive thing about endurance racing is you have teammates
that are driving the same car, so you get great feedback
and great data to kind of look at and see what you're doing right,
see what you're doing wrong and make adjustments from there.
But I would say there is a little bit of an adjustment period.
Jordan, you're primarily sports car guy,
but you've been dabbling in NASCAR the last couple of years.
Alex and I saw you up at Lime Rock last year racing trucks of all things.
I know Connor Zillich is going to be in one of the other Cadillacs
on your home turf there at the Rolex 24 Daytona.
You like doing the other racing?
Can we see more of that from you this year or are you going to be focusing on the Emsa?
Yeah, I mean, for sure, the focus is on Emsa.
I think the NASCAR stuff usually pops up kind of out of nowhere.
Last year, I wasn't really looking for something and it kind of came out of the blue.
And yeah, anytime it comes up, I love to do it.
I think, you know, it's fun to drive those cars,
whether it's Cup, Xfinity or Truck, they're all their own unique animals
and, you know, very different to drive even between the three.
So it's fun that, you know, I've driven all three now.
And yeah, if another opportunity came up, I definitely jumped at it.
It seemed like there's more and more road courses these days popping up
on all three schedules.
So yeah, I've enjoyed, you know, all my experiences there.
All have not gone that well in the races, but yeah, it's a fun time usually.
It's interesting that both NASCAR and Emsa kick off their seasons
at Daytona with their marquee races.
Is the 24 hours at Daytona really set the tone for the rest of season?
Or is it its own little thing?
Yeah, I mean, for us, it's kind of like its own championship in itself.
It's just probably like Colton treats the Indy 500 like that's a one off race
that you want to win probably more than the whole championship.
So for us, we go into that race, you know, just trying to win that
run race and obviously if you win, yeah, it's good for points for the championship.
But at the end of the day, everyone's racing for that Rolex.
And, you know, if you come out of there where third place, you'll say,
yeah, it's a great points day, but you're more thinking about missing
out on that Rolex watch.
So everyone treats it kind of as a one off.
And then once we kind of leave there and go to Sebring, it's like,
all right, we'll reset now and start racing for points, racing,
you know, a little bit smarter and racing for points and for a championship.
So yeah, everyone's definitely gunning for a Rolex when they go there.
Big field, a lot of guest drivers there.
NASCAR, Indy car, other sports car disciplines.
Do you like seeing that or when you're on the track,
do you rather dice against the guys you're going to be racing against all season?
I think it's cool.
Yeah, we get a bit of everything.
Like I remember racing Kyle Larson back, you know, in 2015 or 16
back in the old Daytona prototype.
So it's cool.
They got to get guys from different disciplines that, you know,
we're used to just watching on TV and wondering what they're like on track
and, you know, how we even compare it.
It's nice having Colton come in, you know, any car guy and just hearing
different perspectives, he can give you perspectives on different guys
we're racing with like Dixon or a Hunter Ray or, you know, any of the other
Indy car guys that are in different cars.
So you learn a lot about different guys, but you also learn, you know,
different driving styles, racing styles when you get around guys on track.
I remember racing Rossi, you know, in the middle of the night,
one year at Daytona and, you know, the next week I'm watching him
at St. Pete, you know, race around there.
So it's cool to kind of get those different perspectives.
And, you know, at the same time, compare yourselves a little bit.
Now, Colton, along with this little side hustle, you've actually got
two full-time jobs next year.
You're the Cadillac Formula One teams test driver, and you're also
going to be racing the full Formula Two season with high tech racing.
We heard from Mick Schumacher a couple of weeks ago, who's moving to
Indy car and used to, he was a Formula Two champion.
He said the Indy car reminded him more of a fast F two car than a Formula
One car. You've gotten to test the F two car.
Is it the reverse of that for you?
Does it feel like a slow Indy car the way it drives?
Or is it something completely new for you?
I mean, to be honest, it feels like something like nothing I've ever driven.
It's very different to, to a lot of what I grew up racing with.
And, you know, there's a lot of things that I'm having to relearn a
little bit of, but that's part of racing.
You know, you hop in all these different race cars.
You got to learn how to drive each one quick.
And yeah, that's it's a fun year for me, though, you know, getting to
drive all these different cars.
And like Jordan said, to kind of get different perspectives from
different people and when you're driving all these things.
So it's it's a cool challenge for me.
You're really the first top tier Indy car driver to make the move
to Formula Two as a step toward getting into Formula One.
What are your expectations for the first season?
Is it when the championship or is it get used to the series?
And see how it goes in year two?
Well, I hope, you know, it only takes one year in the series.
And, and, you know, we're kind of satisfied with the learnings from that.
But, you know, I think there's I don't really have any expectations going in.
You know, I'm here to learn as much as possible, here to learn
about the tracks and tires and better prepare me for hopefully
Formula One in the future.
So, you know, we'll see where the timeline is and how things go.
But my goal would just to be learning as much as possible.
And I would see that as a positive.
Have you been in the F1 simulator yet?
And when do you first get behind the wheel of one of those cars?
Yeah, I've done a few sim days in the F2 sim and also with Cadillac
in the Formula One sim.
My program hasn't really been super defined at the moment.
And I think that's just because it's such a mad rush right now
in the off season to get the cars built and ready for
for the first Formula One season.
And that's kind of the main goal.
You know, I think once things settle down around Melbourne,
it'll kind of be outlined a bit more.
But, you know, I do expect some time in the car and looking for it to that.
You guys allowed to share information between the F1 Cadillac team
and the MC Cadillac team with ready firewalls up there
where you got to keep secrets from each other?
I'm sure, say, if they think it would be relevant.
You know, it's so such a different motorsport that I don't know
how much of it would be transferable.
But I think for sure, if they see things.
But also, it's a good thing for me to come in with info
from what they're doing on the F1 side and saying,
hey, like this is what they do here, I don't know how much it can help them.
But, you know, it is something that I think GM is good at
is kind of spreading resources throughout all of its major motorsports.
And, you know, they seem to do a good job with everything that they do.
Jordan, you spent a lot of time in the what's now the GTD class
before moving up to GTP three seasons into that.
Now, are you comfortable or is there still a lot to learn?
No, I mean, I came from prototypes before going to Corvette.
So I spent a good amount of time, you know, between Daytona prototypes
and the old Cadillac DPI.
So I mean, the new cars are slower lap time wise and the old DPI is they're heavier.
The tire is a little bit worse, probably.
It's got more power, but yeah, it's just a much different animal
and a different set of regulations that, you know, we've gone to.
So the car is unique to drive, you know, especially the braking style
with, you know, having EBS on the rear rear axle and your foot's
basically only connected to the front axle.
So it takes some time to kind of wrap your head around it.
It doesn't feel, you know, fully like a prototype or especially
like an open wheel car that would be used to the big, heavy car,
especially when you're on full tank.
So coming from GT, it's probably almost closer to a GT car
than an old school prototype.
So yeah, it took some time to adjust, but I feel, you know,
pretty comfortable at this point.
Imps is a really robust series right now.
So many manufacturers in it now in the prototype in the GT classes.
That must really be changing things from the driver perspective
as far as your enthusiasm for the sport.
Yeah, I mean, you can see what really exploding.
All the manufacturers kind of want to get in there first
just to get that Le Mans tree.
But yeah, having, you know, Hyundai coming, McLaren, you know,
there's talks of, you know, even more manufacturers coming in
they definitely go to the WEC side first to get the Le Mans tree.
But I'm looking forward to having that kind of trickle over the Imps
aside for it as well and other American manufacturers.
So yeah, the grids, you know, Le Mans, a couple of years
are going to be insane with how many prototypes there will be there.
Hopefully we'll get, you know, some of that trickling over them.
So they have kind of like the glory days we had back in a day.
You know, the Rolex and Sebring 12 hours as well were, you know,
we had a lot of those world championship teams coming over as well.
So it's definitely looking good for sports car racing.
But it does seem like it goes in a cycle of huge grids to small grids.
So I'm happy that we're on the upswing right now and we're kind of all enjoying it.
Speaking of Impsid, though, I was looking at the schedule there
and I was looking at the F2 schedule and it seems like the month of May
is pretty empty for both of those, Colton.
Any chance of you ended up at the Indy 500 again this year
while you got some time off between these other jobs?
I mean, I would love it.
I would love to be racing in it.
I've kind of voiced that a lot of to basically all the interviews
so that people know that I'm available.
But, you know, I would love to be able to to race in Indy again this
this year at the Indy 500, what an amazing race and really a privilege
to be able to do it for the last seven years.
Yeah, it's definitely something that that I'm looking at.
I do have the open time to be able to do it.
But not much has been said about about doing it yet.
So obviously kind of hopefully beating at the door
and maybe there will be an opportunity for me to do it.
These Formula cars and the Impsid cars, they've got the steering wheels
with 50 different buttons on them that you got to try to remember.
That seems more complicated to me than how the cars drive.
How do you juggle all that in your brain when you go in 200 miles an hour?
Yeah, I mean, I think that's where like the sim becomes
an extremely helpful tool, I mean, for a lot of different reasons.
But particularly getting up to speed, learning the wheel, it can be very helpful.
But, you know, I think you do it over so many years,
like these cars all have so many buttons and 90 percent of the time
they're all pretty similar, you know, even jumping from Formula One to to the
GTP car. So you don't have to really remember too many new things.
It's just well, they kind of change on where they are on the wheel
and whatnot from each team to each team.
But, you know, my job is pretty simple when I'm when I'm doing these
Impsid races, it's just to keep the car clean, try to gain some spots when I can.
But not to tinker with and mess with anything too much.
And then I just kind of hand it back to professionals like Jordan
and they kind of do the hard bit.
Jordan, a garage 56 car that Chevy had at Le Mans a couple of years ago.
That keeps popping up.
They keep putting in the garage, but then they keep bringing it back out.
They just had over Japan, got the fans really excited over there.
What is it about that car that gets racing fans so excited in other parts of the world?
I think to begin with, it was just so unexpected.
I think everyone's thought it was kind of a bit of a gimmick
and they were just going to take a cup car over to Le Mans.
It would be, you know, 20 seconds off the pace.
And I don't think anyone expected, you know, Hendrick and GM
and Goodyear to kind of put that much time and effort into it and development.
But man, yeah, we did so many days of testing, you know,
between Daytona, Sebring, Coda, 24 hour test at Sebring.
Like they definitely went to Le Mans to compete and to put on a good show.
And I think when it showed up there, I don't think anyone expected,
you know, it to sound like it did and to be kind of outrunning
a lot of the GT pack back when it was still GTLM.
So I think it's just the unexpected and the uniqueness of it
and kind of the star power that they had, you know, around it
with the drivers they had there for Le Mans with Jensen, Mike and Jamie driving it.
I think it just had so many eyes on it.
So now it's kind of like this iconic car that did this one event and went away.
And now it just shows up for, you know, show car events.
Yeah, I went to Fuji.
I did the lap of America or Lightning lap at a VIR with it.
I think they built a two seater now to take around, you know, laps.
So yeah, I enjoy driving it every every time I drive it.
It's one of the cooler cars I've gotten to drive.
And I know there was, you know, funny talks about it, you know,
becoming, you know, future of some class of racing.
But I think it'd be a pretty expensive car to be fixing up.
More so than the regular GT cars.
I think just because it was so custom built for that one event,
it was pretty much no budget.
I think anytime we said this would be cool,
it was pretty much made for the next week.
So I think to make 40 of those or something, it would be pretty pricey.
But it would be it would be cool.
Listen, gents, really appreciate it.
Any chance we're going to see a crossover?
You get to drive the Cadillac Formula One car.
Maybe the simulator.
I'd be all for it.
I love I love to see Jordan in the car.
It'd be cool.
My my neck would not stand up to it.
That's for sure.
Look, if Brad Pitt can do it at age 61, I think you can do it.
That's the one thing I learned from that movie.
I'll get some workout tips from him.
Definitely looks like he's in good enough shape to race a car.
I listen, guys, I think you're real busy.
It's the holidays.
Do appreciate your time.
Best of luck.
And we will see you on the grid at Daytona next year.
Well, thanks, guys.
All right, thank you.
Have a good one.
Alex, the Rolex 24 at Daytona really is just an all star race.
I feel like it should be a bigger deal among the popular sports audience.
I feel like it used to be.
I feel like it's coming back.
That race does really well.
NBC has a ton of hours dedicated to it.
So it's actually pretty easy to watch.
Imsa does a great job promoting it.
And there's all kinds of sort of shoulder content
that you'll find on YouTube and everything coming off of it.
But yeah, this year will be my see 23.
This will be my fourth year in a row going to the Rolex 24.
It's awesome.
It is a bucket list race that everybody should go to.
Those cars are so much fun to watch.
And like you said, it's as star studded
and event as you get in American motor sports
because of not just the regulars, but all of these, you know,
supplemental drivers who come in for these endurance races
like Colton Hurta and everybody else.
It's it's a ton of fun to watch and the action is great.
I can't recommend it enough.
It's super worth going to do.
And these guys like Colton, Jordan,
all these guys are so easy to root for
and they're driving the Cadillacs, which are so bad ass.
Those cars are so.
Cool. They're the best sounding of all the GTP cars.
They were from the very beginning.
I know some people will argue the Aston Martin.
The Cadillac is still ridiculous.
That that V8 Thunder, the hybrid startup routine.
It's just awesome.
I do love the Aston Martin, but yeah, you can't beat a five point five
leader V8.
And I think this is one thing that people who watch sports car racing
on TV don't get that when you get to the races, you pick up.
The cars do sound very different.
There's nothing cooler than standing at a corner
and watching 10 different cars come by and hearing 10 different
powertrains go by.
And they're so especially in GTP.
I mean, they are so different.
Like the Porsche, like the turbocharged cars are so much quieter.
I mean, the Caddy is like Caddy Thundersby.
The Aston, you know, makes a ton.
It makes a huge racket.
Again, every car has its own unique like audio signature.
The cars are very easily identifiable.
All the GTP cars have unique styling.
Like I said, it's so much fun to watch.
And then you mix in the other classes.
Those L and P two cars are super loud and are fun to watch.
And they're all right.
And then you have the two GT classes, GTD and GTD Pro.
It's just awesome.
So many manufacturers, so much stuff going on.
Like I said, Rolex 24, when you have a chance to go,
you go to that race.
Also very competitive.
They've got the balance performance thing going on.
You know, you look over at NASCAR,
doesn't technically have balance performance,
but the cars are basically the same car now in the Cup Series.
IMSA championship usually is a great fight all the way to the end.
NASCAR, of course, we've got this continued debate
as to what the postseason should look like.
Should they get rid of it?
Should they go back to a full season points championship?
Chris Rice from Call of Racing this week
was talking to Kenny Wallace on his YouTube show.
And he said that you're going to like what they came up with.
He didn't say what it's going to be.
NASCAR hasn't announced it yet.
He said 75 percent of people are going to love it.
10 percent are going to be fine with it.
And then 15 percent are going to hate it
because 15 percent of people hate everything.
And that'll be the most vocal segment of all, too.
Absolutely. Suggestion was it's not full season points.
He made it sound like it's something new.
So I guess it's not going to be a return to the 10 race chase.
More likely than not then.
I guess we're looking at the four race championship final round.
I wouldn't surprise me.
They've already established that Homestead is a championship race.
So I think that you're going to get to that.
There was one way or the other.
I'm looking forward to seeing what comes of it.
The feedback this season was certainly loud, if nothing else.
Then, of course, NASCAR finished the year
with the big antitrust trial, which they finally came to a settlement on.
We still don't know all the details,
but the main thing coming out of that is that they're going to be making
the team charters, the 36 car charters.
They call them Evergreen.
They're permanent.
The deals with NASCAR as far as the revenue sharing
is going to have to be renegotiated every time a contract is up.
But if you own a charter, you keep it forever
unless you break the rules.
The charters were worth 45 million before the trial.
People say they're already worth 100 million.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
thinks they're worth 150 million.
He's also not a fan of the permanent charters.
He thinks it takes away a little bit of that old NASCAR spirit
where you could just show up in a race, win a race, try to qualify.
Impossible to start a full time.
They still have the four open spots for every race,
but you can't do a full season without a charter anymore.
It's too expensive.
You need your billionaire backer now.
That era is completely done.
As far as the fan interests is concerned,
they've got to deal with two things now.
They've got to deal with the aftermath of the lawsuit
and whatever the new playoffs are.
How do you think NASCAR navigates this next year
and can they pull it off?
Are people excited to see what happens now
or is everybody kind of annoyed and needs to be one guy?
Yeah, I think people are excited to see what happens.
Let's all remember.
So we get super close to these things
because we're following it day to day.
The reality is this.
Once speed weeks comes,
everybody's just going to be all about the racing.
First of all, there's other changes coming this year, too.
New cars are getting more power, stuff like that,
stuff that's important that should positively impact the racing.
Listen, the fans are going to be there.
You're not going to be able to move in Daytona.
I think the season's going to start with a bang.
I think that NASCAR is probably counting the days to the season
starting because the minute the season starts,
the focus comes off of this off track stuff
and back to the actual racing product,
which everybody, I think, including the teams and drivers
really wants to just, you know, bear down on.
Regardless of what racing series we're talking about,
including Formula One next year is going to be very interesting.
And we'll be back next year after January 1st with the next show.
But Alex, happy holidays, happy new year.
Happy everything to you. All of this stuff, all of the happy's.
And just want to thank all of our guests
looking forward to a big 2026 for the gas.
The gas is production of a car, media and American cars and recent.com.
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