Panoz Motor Sport

This was going to be the 8th consecutive appearance of a Panoz in the Le Mans 24
Hours: this time it was a completely new car. Before Don Panoz shut down his compe-
tition department he developed a GTP in which, udner the bodywork of the Esperante
GTR, he installed the engine and gearbox of the 2003 Roadster. This required a major
rebuild and the car debuted in the Le Mans 1000 kms. It then raced in the Sebring 2004
event looked after by the firm's technical squad and was entrusted to two of the drivers
who would race it in the 24 Hours.
In Sarthe it would be looked after by Larbre Competition and was capable of a place in the top
10. In the hot seat were Patrick Burdais back for the 7th time backed up by Roland Berville who
made his Sarthe debut in 2003 and Jean-Luc Blanchemain.
The car looked little like the Batmobiles that raced at Le Mans in 1997-1998 and yet it had
nothing in common with them as its wheelbase had been lengthened by 33mm and the over-
hangs reduced accordingly.

At the practice in Junel it took the Panoz two
hours to fire up due to a starter problem. The
faulty was on its way to the circuit but was
somewhere between Roissy and Le Mans in the
baggage of the Panoz mechanics en route from
atlanta. Once repaires had been carried out
Patrick Bourdais gave the American coupe a
preliminary gallop getting round in 4m 06,515s.
THe next day he showed the car's potential
with a lap in 3m 57,815s while his co-driver
Blancemain and Berville, who had also driven
the car at Sebring were unable to break the
4-minute barrier. The Panoz ended up 25th on
the grid just behind the Bouchut's F550
Maranello entered under Labre Competition.

Jean-Luc Blancemain brought the Panoz up to 15th place after 3 hours' racing. Patrick Bourdais
beginning his second stint went off in the Ford chicane due to gear selection problems. This
incident had little bearing on the car's classification and the Panoz was a pale copy of the
previous year's roadsters.

Patrick Bourdais' race ended between the
Arnage and Porsche corners just after he set
his quickest lap. The Panoz ground to a halt
21h30 with a broken clutch. Exit the only LM P1
in the race and ti was probably the swansong
of the Panoz prototypes, which have aimed at
outright victory since 1997. The make would be
back in 2005 in GT2.

The sound of the Panoz's engine was marvel-
lous and will surely be missed by the real race
fans instead of those diesel engines Audi has
come up with in Le Mans 2006!
There is no way I'm going to Le Mans again if
everybody will race with diesel engines!