Panoz Esperante GTR-1

The Panoz Esperante GTR-1 (also known as Panoz GTR-1 and later the Panoz GTP) was a race car developed by Panoz Auto Development and Reynard Motorsport for grand tourer endurance racing in 1997. Although named after the Panoz Esperante roadster, the GTR-1 actually bore no mechanical relation to the production Esperante, instead sharing only minor styling points. Only one road-legal GTR-1 was built to meet homologation requirements set forth by the ruling bodies which the racing cars ran under.

The GTR-1 competed in the FIA GT Championship and 24 Hours of Le Mans in Europe as well as the IMSA GT, United States Road Racing Championship, and American Le Mans Series in North America.

Development

Begun in 1996, Reynard Motorsports' special vehicles division began work with Panoz to begin development of a grand tourer style racing car meant for the upcoming FIA GT Championship in 1997. Don Panoz, wanting to keep an American-style of design, insisted that the car be based on his Esperante sports car in some way. Due to this, the Esperante GTR-1 begame unique in comparison to its Mercedes-Benz, Lotus, Porsche, and McLaren counterparts in that, like the production Esperante, the engine was located in front of the cockpit. Although located behind the front axle to give it a balanced mid-engine layout, , having the engine in front gave the car unusual proportions, including a large nose and a cockpit placed as far back in the body. Then unusual look, including a large bulging intake in the center of the nose, earned the car the nickname "Batmobile" due to its resemblance to the car used by the comic book hero. Following the initial 1997 season, the bodywork was modified in 1998 by lengthening the front and rear bodywork for increased downforce and handling capabilities.

For an engine, Panoz attempted to keep the American theme by using a Ford V8 engine similar to the one used in his Esperante. Instead of the standard 4.6L V8, Panoz turned to Roush Racing of NASCAR fame to construct 6.0L V8s based on Ford engines. Panoz's Élan Power Products would maintain the V8 engines and continue in development.

In order to meet homologation requirements which said that racing cars had to be based on production, road legal cars, Panoz built a single GTR-1s which featured full interiors and minor modifications to make it able to be legally registered. This car has been retainted by Don Panoz. It features a slightly smaller 5.3L V8 instead of the full 6.0L V8 race engine, since rules allowed engine sizes to be modified in the racing cars.

Q9 Hybrid

For 1998, Panoz reached an agreement with English firm Zytek to develop a hybrid electric motor for the Esperante GTR-1. The idea was that the car would be able to gain better fuel mileage by using an electric motor during certain acceleration moments, thus not requiring the gasoline engine. The car would require a large set of batteries to power an electric generator that would drive the rear wheels. In order to recharge the batteries, a regenerative braking system would be connected to the brakes of the car in order to allow for the heat emitted from the brakes to be used to recharge the motor's batteries.

By using less fuel, the car would thus be able to make less pit stops in endurance races, such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and thus would be able to spend more time on the track and achieve a farther distance. The car, referred to as Q9, was constructed by Panoz, Reynard, and Zytek and developed by David Price Racing for the 1998 season. In honor of its electric power, the car received a unique purple paint job with large yellow lightning bolts.

Racing results

1997

A total of six Esperante GTR-1s were built by Panoz and Reynard, with them being split amongst three teams. Panoz would retain two for their own factory effort in the United States with two cars. French squad DAMS would use two in Europe along with British team David Price Racing who received the final two cars. The cars debuted at the 1997 12 Hours of Sebring, but failed to finish after 108 laps. Meanwhile, David Price's first Esperante GTR-1 would debut Hockenheimring for the FIA GT Championship, and managed to finish 11th overall behind the McLaren and Porsche competitors. DAMS' car debuted a round later at Silverstone Circuit, although it failed to finish.

As the three teams continued on, Panoz's factory team took the first success at Road Atlanta, winning a GT-class only event. This was followed by the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen, winning the GTS-1 class and finishing 3rd overall, a mere two laps behind the winning prototype. The factory team would follow this with wins in the GT class at Sears Point and Laguna Seca. Panoz would finish second to Porsche in the constructors championship that season.

In Europe however, the Esperante GTR-1 suffered from a lack of pace against much better funded factory efforts which were mostly lacking in North America. DAMS was unable to score any points in the championship, while David Price finished third in American soil at Sebring in one of the final rounds of the FIA GT season, earning the team 6th place in the team's championship.

For the 24 Hours of Le Mans, three GTR-1s were entered by David Price and DAMS. Unfortunately none of the cars were able to finish, mostly due to engine difficulties. DAMS car burned, destroying chassis #005 and requiring it to be replaced.

1998

For 1998, with the evolved Esperante GTR-1 bodywork, the program was expanded. The factory Panoz team would race not only in IMSA GT but also the new United States Road Racing Championship. DAMS would continue in FIA GT, while David Price would drop out in an attempt to develop the Esperante GTR-1 Q9 for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

In USSRC, the factory Panoz team were fought hard with Porsche yet again GT classes, winning class in three of the five events in the season but losing to Porsche in the manufacturer's championship by a mere three points, but winning the teams championship. In IMSA, Panoz was more dominant as they won seven of the eight races, including taking an overall win at the rain drenched Sebring Fall Festival in October. This earned them the constructors and teams championship for the season.

In Europe, DAMS also proved more powerful. Although incapable of competing with the Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR juggernaut, it was able to compete well against the Porsche 911 GT1, earning points in seven of ten rounds with best reults of third at Hockenheimring and Dijon-Prenois. This success earned DAMS 5th in the teams championship.

David Price Racing tested the GTR-1 Q9 throughout the season, making its first competition appearance at the test days for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Unfortunately the car was only able to achieve the 39th fastest time, well behind the two Panoz factory entries. It was found that the car was too overweight and slowed down by the addition of the batteries necessary to run the hybrid system. Thus plans for competing at Le Mans were abandoned. The car would make one more appearance later on in the initial Petit Le Mans, part of the IMSA schedule. The car managed to finish 12th overall. After this, the Q9 project was cancelled.

Meanwhile, with the Q9 gone, the Panoz factory team concentrated on Le Mans with their own two cars. Although one car failed to finish, the second entry managed to take a 7th place overall finish a mere 16 laps behind the overall winning Porsche.

1999

Although the Esperante GTR-1 had major success in 1998, Panoz was aware that grand touring racing cars were becoming highly exotic machines with no road car similarities, such as the Toyota GT-One. Therefore Panoz realized he would no longer be able to compete against such cars with the Esperante GTR-1, and it was decided that Panoz would move to the Le Mans prototype class. This was also helped by the fact that the FIA GT Championship decided to abandon the GT1 class, leaving the Esperante GTR-1 unable to compete in Europe.

Therefore, while development of the new LMP-1 Roadster-S was under way, Panoz pushed on with the GTR-1 in the new American Le Mans Series. Two GTR-1s would run at Sebring, both failing to finish. At the next race at Road Atlanta, the new LMP-1 debuted and so a GTR-1 was run to allow the team something to fall back on. Unfortunately it failed to finish as well. For the next round, a second LMP-1 was completed, and so the GTR-1 was retired completely.

The design of the Esperante GTR-1 would form the basis for the LMP-1 Roadster-S, using the same front engine layout and large nose. It is thus seen that the LMP-1 Roadster-S is an Esperante GTR-1 with its roof taken off, although the cars actually do not share a chassis.

Final outing

In 2003, Panoz decided to resurrect chassis #003 (formerly run by David Price Racing) to run as a closed-cockpit Le Mans prototype before the company switched to the new Esperante GT-LM GT2 car. The car was entered in the 1000km of Le Mans and run by the factory JML Team. The car unfortunately did not finish due to electronics problems.

Following this event, the car was purchased by French squad Larbre Compétition and further modified, being renamed the Panoz GTP to reflect its change in class. The modified car would debut at the 2004 12 Hours of Sebring, finishing 9th overall. The car would next appear at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where it dropped out of the race early on. A final appearance was made in the Le Mans Series event at Spa-Francorchamps, taking 14th place. The car would finally be retired for good after the 2004 season.

External links

* [http://wspr-racing.com/chassis/grc/ChassisPanoz.html Panoz Esperante GTR-1 chassis index]