Where would Panoz be?

[Heeltoe6]

Given that their year old(and not run all year) car finished 3rd at Sears Pt(beating a year old customer Audi), where would Panoz be today if they had not totally redone everything last year(new car, engine, drivetrain) and had simply made some small update to their current body/engine?. I think they'd be pretty close to kncoking off the audis, and think this case is another illustration of the benefits of evolution over revolution

[pink69]

probably about the same place. the panoz couldn't beat the Audis last year unless it rained so I'd say they would be battling with the champion and Gulf Audis which have shown that the mighty Audis can be fragile.

[Speedworx]

They would be about where they are with the old car. They did well at Texas with the old car. I never liked the LMP07, it was ugly!

[Liz]

Had they rainproofed the car as Audi did, they would have beaten Bentley to the podium. I'm very glad they retired that Batmobile and are going back to the Manly Muscular "Goes like lightning, sounds like thunder" car of yesteryear! The LMP-07 was too fragile for endurance racing from the beginning as that engine was way too small and cute, and it didn't surprise me to see those cars out at Le Mans acting like underfunded privateers ... but what a heartbreaker to have your favourite team out of the running before the race was even into the dark bits.....

I hope they will evolve the LMP-01 and never go back to the 07.

[Liz]

UPDATE: Autosport.com reports that the LMP-07 (described by David Brabham as "a museum piece") will not reappear, and the Roadster S will be used from now on.

Intense lobbying efforts are being made to continue the development of the Manly Roadster S this winter.

Sometimes common sense DOES prevail! Hurrah!

[racer69]

Does this mean the rumours of Panoz with drawing the team are true. If they are shelving their new car and running a 99 spec car from now on, why would they bother other than to go out with some good finishes.

[SL]

What car won the ALMS at Portland ??

Not an old Panoz, surely not, beating the Champion Audi.

Simon

[KC]

Panoz are bringing out the new car once more at the next race. I do not think the problem has been nearly as much the chassis as the engine package.

The old car uses a Robert Yates NASCAR derived 6.0 liter engine. This sounds like blasphemy to many racing fans, but there are very few people out there that can better tune a Ford big block V8 for power, torque and reliability than Robert Yates Racing. The plan with the new car was to create a lighter and more efficient racer and maintain the traditional front biased mid-engine design Panoz is famous for. By using a smaller displacement engine, the ACO gives concessions on fuel cell size, lesser curb weight and even better tire wear (which the Panoz already does very well). In keeping with his aspirations, Panoz started up Elan Motorsport to create and maintain the new 4.0 liter engines. As any engine program in its first year, they are suffering from reliability issues, power generation and a lack of resources compared to their more established rivals.

I do not think the new chassis can be modified to carry the old engine. It is designed around an engine 1/2 the size and the resulting radiator inlet sizes, undertray and transmission package probably will not accept the larger and heavier engine.

BTW, SL, the old 6.0 liter Panoz of Brabham and Magnussen took pole and won the event at Portland by .365 seconds over the hard charging factory Audi of Capello and Kristensen and the Champion Audi driven by Johnny Herbert and ??? (I forget). Also, the Champion Audi Hebert and the team raced has over 6900km on it and does not use the 2001 generation direct cylinder fuel injection as does the factory engine.

[Liz]

They are not bringing the Batmobiles to Mosport. We get the LMP-900 Roadster S.

As long as it is winning, why not keep it on the road? After all, before Portland the last win Panoz had was - in the Roadster S.

[H16]

The LMP 07 looked good on paper but it was just too fragile and simply not fast enough. I personally prefer the roar of the 6.0 liter V8 over the sound of the new 4.0 liter engine.

[Liz]

At Mosport I asked all four Panoz pilots which car they liked, the new one or the old one. All said "The old one, it goes faster!" I told them I liked the sound of the old one better and Magnussen said all the fans said they did. I told him it was good to lie in your tent at Le Mans and hear the Panoz going by, and they all grinned and said, "We are still out there doing our job!" After a solid second place finish in the rain yesterday, Panoz has officially retired the 07 car to the museum, where it will be a showcar only.

Something bizarre on the Panoz front: although the American Le Mans is "For the Fans" by Don Panoz' edict, the only cars that were not available to be seen by the public (without F1 type pit passes) were: THE PANOZ CARS. More than one of us remarked that this seemed stupid, and in fact more than one of us remarked on this to the pilots. Surely we can't all be Audi spies!