Motorsports Style - The Panoz Esperante GTR-1

Before their LMP Roadster, Panoz had this beauty as its racing weapon. This lovely car boasted an unusual front-engine layout. It was the work of Braselton, Georgia-based Panoz Motorsports and Reynard. It was unusual since most other prototypes were mid-engined, rear-wheel drive. The GTR-1 was a truly unique prototype race car as there were few, if any, front-engined prototypes. This was a car powered by a lovely-sounding Roush V8. The model I know best is the Visteon-liveried silver Panoz GTR-1. Now it's time I talk about how I think this car looks as a whole.

--- Motorsports Style: The Panoz Esperante GTR-1 ---

This is the car I'll be describing style-wise:


^ from: gt-racing.co.uk

After taking a look at this car, how can you NOT fall in love with it? This is a car with a fierce fastback appearance for a GT1-spec car. The cues are there of the road-going Panoz Esperante. The GTR-1 is primarily a super-evolved version of the road-going Esperante. Think of this car more like taking Pikachu and having him evolve into Raichu. Only thing is that this car isn't a cutesy car made cuter. It's more an elegant road car evolved into a Hell-spawned beast. The light encasings feature two big headlights and and a signal/hazard light on each side of the car. Three big vents are shown up front with the center one being the smallest. The front features some small winglets, as well as a long and wide front air opening. The opening is divided with a centerpiece that bears the Professional Sports Car Racing logo. From the sides, the car's aggressive character gives way to elegance. Graciously large fenders acentuate the sides of the car, giving it some extra muscle. The actual canopy of this car is styled beautifully and aerodynamically. There is no windshield at the back of this race car. As a result, looking at this car from a chase view up top makes this car look a little flat at the rear. The car kind of looks more aerodynamic than it really is. The rear wing is massive and flamboyant. But, it is in no way any boy racer (I hate using this term). A wide strip of lights at the back are also styled nicely along with the brake lights and hazard lights.

Overall, I don't think we'll ever see a car this dynamic and aggressive ever again. We are a society that loves different. This car was CERTAINLY different for what it was a pretty competitive race car in its day. There will certainly be prototype race cars, but what about winning prototype race cars? This car never won Le Mans, but it has been successful in a variety of races this car has competed in.

There was a hybrid-electric version of the Panoz Esperante GTR-1 called the Panoz Q9. This car is basically the same as the GTR-1 in design, but was powered by lots of batteries. It was given a purple primary color and little yellow bolts. Here is a picture of that car:


^ imageshack.us, by way of forocoches.com




Thank you for reading my blog entry talking about how I think this car looks! As a bonus for you rFactor gamers, you can download this mod for rFactor, featuring four different Panoz models. Get this mod if you haven't already: Panoz Esperante 1.0, for rFactor.