All new Panoz Abruzzi and a first glimpse of the sophisticated Morgan EvaGT ...

[Wouter Melissen]

During last week's 24 Hours of Le Mans, American entrepreneur Don Panoz unveiled his latest creation. Dubbed the Abruzzi 'Spirt of Le Mans', the car combines influences of Grand Tourers of old with high tech materials. The Panoz' styling, for example, is inspired by the classic tear drop shapes of French cars of the late 1930s. Like cars of that era, the 600+ bhp Abruzzi is intended to be a road car that could be driven to a track and then raced with limited modifications. What further sets the car apart from its contemporaries is the use of the latest composite materials. Known as the REAMS (Recyclable Energy Absorbing Matrix System) the revolutionary material is lighter than conventional carbon fibre, dent-resistant and most importantly recyclable. Production of the ambitious machine is limited to just 81 examples, which reflects the number of Le Mans races held between 1923 and 2013 and is also a reference to the start number 81 used by the 2006 GT2 class winning Panoz Esperante. The owners will only be able to take delivery of their Panoz Abruzzi at the Le Mans track.
At the upcoming Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, Morgan will take further steps into the 21st century with the all new EvaGT. It uses the familiar lightweight aluminium chassis design pioneered on the Aero 8 and BMW's latest direct-injection, twin-turbo straight six engine. With its four-seater, fixed head layout, the EvaGT is aimed at a new market for Morgan; the young families. Unfortunately only a single sketch has been released but we will surely keep you up to date as more information is revealed.

Enjoy the links:

2010 Morgan EvaGT - Images, Specifications and Information (http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/4521/Morgan-EvaGT.html)

2011 Panoz Abruzzi 'Spirit of Le Mans' - Images, Specifications and Information (http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/4520/Panoz-Abruzzi--Spirit-of-Le-Mans-.html)

[ZZMX-5]

This car might have had a chance if they'd not gone so crazy on the body and so ridiculously conservative on the wheel/tire size in proportion to the body. The styling of the body demands something like 24's, where we get something that looks like 18's.

You can't have a car that screams "concept sketch" riding on wheels so small in comparison. It completely throws off the proportions and makes this thing look like a kit car. Wheels and tires can make or break a design. In this case the wheels are killing it. It's too thick, too demonstrative, and then the wheels are a complete afterthought. I know Panoz would rather see "reality" in terms of wheels/tires on their prototypes, I've heard Danny Panoz say that in person-they want to see the real thing, not just a crazy sketch that isn't indicative of what the final car will look like. They could have taken elements of this design and made them more production-ready and not so disparate. There's a level of finesse completely missing from this car. It could have looked 90% as wild without the crazy conflict between rolling stock and body.

Oh well, not like I expected a Panoz to look perfect...but the LMP1 was far better looking and better proportioned.

[RacingManiac]

The car looks like its riding too high....the 18s might not look so bad if it actually sits on them as oppose to what looks to be sitting on stilts.....