Panoz Esperante: the Georgia-built sports car

The Panoz Esperante is a two-seat sports car built by Panoz, the Georgia manufacturer founded by Don Panoz. First shown at the 2000 New York Motor Show, it followed the company’s first model, the minimal Roadster, and was designed to be easy to manufacture: its chassis was made of five extruded-aluminium modules, bonded and bolted together with no welding at all.

Panoz Esperante at a glance

The English Wikipedia article on the Esperante is the only source used; the article is short on the later cars and says nothing about production totals.

History of the Panoz Esperante

A car designed for easy manufacture

Panoz wanted the Esperante to be simple to build. The chassis was split into five modules of extruded aluminium, joined by bonding and bolting rather than welding, and the company drew on the aviation craftsmen working in and around Atlanta for design and production. The body was hand assembled in lightweight aluminium, and the engines came from Ford’s Modular V8 family: 4,601 cc, 32 valves, double overhead camshafts and 305 hp at 5,800 rpm. The result was a roadster of 1,450 kg with a 106-inch wheelbase, double wishbone suspension at both ends and four-wheel ventilated disc brakes.

One name, several versions

The original base model was later given the GT name, and around it grew a family: the supercharged GTLM coupé, whose blower lifted output from 305 to 420 hp and cut the 0–62 mph time from five seconds to four; the GTS, a racing car built to SCCA standards; the JRD, an aftermarket upgrade package in the manner of Roush Mustangs; and the Brabham. Performance of the standard car was quoted at 5.1 seconds to 62 mph and a 13.7-second quarter mile, with 0.92 g of lateral grip; the GT version was a little quicker on both counts.

Racing: the Esperante GT-LM

A competition version, the Esperante GT-LM, was developed for the GT2 category of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. 2006 was its best year. The #50 Multimatic Motorsports car won GT2 at the 55th Sebring 12 Hours against BMW, Porsche, Ferrari and Spyker, and in June the #81 car of the English Team LNT outlasted the remaining LMGT2 runners in the final hour at Le Mans. Team LNT also campaigned Esperantes in the British GT Championship and the Le Mans Endurance Series, and returned to Le Mans in 2007 with two cars, while Team PTG ran a pair of GT-LMs in the American Le Mans Series.

The second generation

Introduced in 2014, the second-generation cars were the 430 hp Spyder and the 560 hp Spyder GT, built for only about a year. Alongside the Ford Modular V8 they used more powerful General Motors LS engines, available with supercharging.

Design and features

• Bonded aluminium chassis: five extruded modules bolted and glued together, with no welding anywhere in the structure.
• Aviation influence: Panoz used the aircraft craftsmen of the Atlanta area for design and manufacture.
• Ford power: a 4.6-litre Modular V8 with 305 hp and a choice of five-speed manual or four-speed automatic.
• Road and track versions: from the standard roadster to the supercharged GTLM and the SCCA-spec GTS.

Panoz Esperante versions

• Esperante (2000): the original base model, 305 hp, later renamed GT.
• Esperante GT: the same car under its later name, quoted at 4.9 seconds to 62 mph.
• Esperante GTLM: coupé with a supercharger, 420 hp and a four-second sprint.
• Esperante GTS: SCCA-standard racing car, some 272 kg lighter than the road car.
• JRD and Brabham: aftermarket upgrade package and a further tuned version.
• 2015 Spyder and Spyder GT: second-generation cars of 430 and 560 hp.

The Esperante followed the Panoz Roadster and shares its name, though nothing else, with the racing Esperante GTR-1 and its Q9 hybrid. More cars are in the Panoz collection.

Video: 2015 Panoz Esperante Spyder GT Prototype – Jay Leno’s Garage

Video on YouTube.

Sources

• Panoz Esperante, English Wikipedia: history, specifications, racing