On Friday, Cadillac revealed a prospective customer car that looked far more than casually related to its V-Series.R Le Mans racer. Named the V-One, the circuit-only machine was presented purely as a concept for now. However, if enough well-heeled buyers show serious interest, that status could change quickly.

“It is a concept in name,” Cadillac LMDh propulsion manager Sean O’Shea told Road & Track when asked about the V-One. “We are always looking to see where interest is, and what we want to do in the future.”

As its design makes clear, the V-One is very closely related to the V-Series.R race car. O’Shea described it as “as close as we can get” to the competition machine, then reinforced the point by saying it is “as close to the race car as we can possibly make it without infringing on the rules.” In practical terms, that means customers would get the same naturally aspirated 5.5-litre V-8 powertrain, including the aggressive bump-start that has helped make the Cadillac race car well known in sports car racing circles.

The Dallara chassis also carries over from the race car. According to O’Shea, Dallara has told GM that it has the capacity to support whatever still-undisclosed number of V-One models Cadillac may eventually choose to build. And although supplying components for both a race car and a track-only customer car could present certain complications, those possibilities are already being taken into account.

“The big thing with this is that we don’t want to affect our race program,” O’Shea added. “This is supposed to elevate our brand and bring awareness to everything we’re doing, then allow somebody to get in the car and do the same thing as our professional race drivers. Especially with the body side, and what we would do for different suppliers on the engine side—if it became a reality, we want to be sure that everything’s changed enough that we can use our network, but not take away from the race car side.”

Although the V-One shares a great deal with the company’s IMSA and World Endurance Championship racer, one change is immediately obvious at the front: the Cadillac decal on the nose structure has been removed and replaced with an actual illuminated emblem. O’Shea made it clear this detail mattered a great deal to him. “When I was 13 or 14,” he said, “I saw my first Formula 1 car, and it was a Ferrari. I was so impressed that everything was like this, flat and finished, except it had a badge inserted in the car. When we did this program, I was adamant: ‘Please put a real badge on it. Let’s make a real badge.’ It’s what our future badge will be, the elongated badge; it’s a real piece.”

While a track car derived from a Le Mans hypercar is not a fresh concept, it would be unusual territory for a larger carmaker. Ferrari and Aston Martin already sell track-only cars based on their race machines, and McLaren has also announced plans to follow a similar route. But all three are low-volume manufacturers serving a very limited customer base, whereas Cadillac is a comparatively higher-volume luxury marque within the much larger and even higher-volume General Motors portfolio.

That, combined with the growling V-8 mounted at the rear, would make the V-One a rather distinctive proposition. And if Cadillac identifies enough serious buyers, these prototypes could soon be seen lapping race tracks in private ownership.