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Esperante
04-03-2005, 05:12 PM
In the early 1900's Eugene Panunzio immigrated to the U.S. from Italy and became a champion boxer. Like other immigrants, he shortened his last name and 'Panoz' stuck. The family settled in Morgantown, West Virginia and in 1960 his son, Donald, invested monies from members of the World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team to start Mylan Laboratories, the first of two pharmaceutical companies that would go public.

By 1969 Donald had moved his wife and family to Athlone, Ireland to start Élan Pharmaceuticals. Élan is most noted for developing the time-release and transdermal delivery technology found in the nicotine patch and heart medications such as Cardizem.

In 1988 Donald's 26-year old son, Daniel, applied for a job with the Thompson Motor Company (TMC), a small Irish car builder. When he found the company was being liquidated he saw an opportunity and instead purchased the rights to one of its chassis designed by Frank Cozworth. Cozworth was well known for building racecar chassis for Maserati, Lotus and Lister.

The following year Panoz started the Panoz Automotive Development Company. Using Cozworth's chassis as a philosophical starting point, Daniel and two former TMC engineers began work in their new workshops; a converted 2,000 square-foot Department of Transportation salt storage shed located about 50 miles northeast of Atlanta, Georgia.

-Panoz Auto Developement....

Esperante
04-03-2005, 05:15 PM
Panoz "Batmobile" for Sebring ... and Le Mans? - 18th February
news courtesy of www.americanlemans.com

The ultra-popular Panoz GTR1 coupe, affectionately known to sports car racing fans as the "Batmobile", will return to competition for two races in the experienced and capable hands of the championship-winning French racing team Larbre Compétition.

The Larbre team will make its racing debut with the Panoz GTR1 in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, the opening race of the 2004 American Le Mans Series season. Drivers for the team will be Christophe Bouchut, Jean-Luc Blanchemain and Roland Berville, all of France. The team also plans to race the Panoz in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
"We are very pleased to be able to compete at Sebring with the Panoz GTR1," said Jack Leconte, owner of Larbre Compétition. "The history of the car is very well-known as is the popularity it has achieved with race fans in Europe and in America. With the advances that have been made with both the car and the Elan Power engine, we feel that the car has the potential to achieve very good results in an endurance race and we look forward to racing it."

The Panoz GTR1 "Batmobile" was an enormous crowd favorite and formed the basic platform of the Panoz LMP-01 that raced in the American Le Mans Series from 1999 through 2003. The GTR1 raced in 1997 and 1998 before being converted to Le Mans Prototype spec for the 1999 season. Originally run in what at the time was called the GT1 class, the Panoz has been upgraded and homologated and will compete at Sebring and Le Mans in the LMP1 class, racing against such cars as the Audi R8 and Lola-MG.

After a competition hiatus since 1998, the Panoz GTR1 was brought out of retirement by owner Don Panoz and competed in last November's inaugural Le Mans Endurance Series event at the Le Mans Bugatti circuit.

"When we raced the car at Le Mans last year, we hoped that someone would take notice and want to do some more races with the car," said Panoz, who has leased the car to Larbre and is not involved in the Sebring entry. "It's gratifying that a racing team with the credentials of Larbre saw that the old girl still has a lot of potential and wanted to race her again. The Panoz has a lot of loyal supporters and I'm sure they will be very happy to hear that the car will be racing at Sebring."

Larbre Compétition, which most recently has raced Chrysler Vipers in selected endurance races and in the FIA GT Series, has a successful history dating back to 1993 when it won the GT class in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The team won the GT class at Le Mans again in 1994 as well as taking GTS class honors in the 24 Hours of Daytona.

In recent years, Larbre Compétition won team and driver championships in the FIA GT Series three straight years beginning in 2000. Larbre won the Spa 24-hour event in 2001 and 2002 and finished third in the GTS class with a Viper at Sebring in 2002, the last time it raced in America's oldest sports car event.

Bouchut, who has raced with Larbre Compétition since 1995, is a three-time driving champion in FIA GT racing. In addition, he has two wins in the Spa 24 Hours and one class win in both the Le Mans and Daytona 24-hour races. Bouchut has also won three Porsche Carrera Cup championships and was the 1991 French Formula 3 champion.

Berville's racing resume includes Porsche Carrera Cup competition from 1995 through 2003, as well as Porsche Supercup action in 2001. In addition, he raced in the FFSA GT Championship from 1997 through 2001.

Blanchemain raced Historic cars in 2000, also competing in the Spa 24-hour event, and competed in the 2002 French Porsche Carrera Cup. His 2003 season included finishing second overall in the French GT Championship, winning three times in a Viper.

-maisonblanche.com

Esperante
04-03-2005, 05:18 PM
This car is the roadgoing version of the Panoz GTR-1 LeMans car, which I also have in my collection. The Panoz family made their money from the pharmaceuticals business, specifically from the time release capsule and transdermal patch drug delivery methods, which they pioneered. There is an interesting Irish connection to the company (for me especially as an Irishman!) in that their pharmaceutical business is Elan Pharmaceuticals which is based in Athlone in central Ireland. When Danny Panoz (son of company founder Don Panoz) became interested in the car business, he bought up the remains of TMC (Thompson Motor Company), which was Ireland's only indigenous car maker (they made a Frank Costin designed sports car which looked like a Caterham 7 with an enclosed passenger cockpit) and which had just folded at the time (the late 1980's). The whole operation was moved from Wexford in Ireland to Atlanta, Georgia, where Panoz cars is now based. The company's Irish roots are represented in the shamrock found on the Panoz badge.

To qualify their GTR-1 race car in the GT1 category at LeMans (now defunct), a roadgoing version had to be made and offered for sale. This car was the result, and it is basically the same as the race car except for a de-tuned Ford V8 (compared to the highly tuned race engine), a luxurious interior and larger rear view mirrors on the doors. The road car also lacks the large rear wing of the race car.

As the asking price was $800,000 few were expected to be sold, and I believe only 2 were made in total. This didn't bother the Panoz company, as they only had to build one roadgoing car and offer it for sale to qualify the race car. This model is of one of the cars complete with a chromatic purple paint job and yellow wheels, while the 2nd car had more conventional metallic gold paint. AUTOart also make the gold roadgoing car in 1:18th

-http://www.iol.ie/~donohoer/0Panoz_GTR_Street.htm

Esperante
04-03-2005, 05:20 PM
http://www.panozauto.com/FAQList.htm

carlover
04-03-2005, 06:40 PM
That's an awesome color, I bought the race car in GT4. It's fast. :)