Panoz is an American manufacturer of sports automobiles founded in 1989 as Panoz Auto Development by Dan Panoz, son of

Don Panoz Donald Panoz ( or ; February 13, 1935 – September 11, 2018) was an American entrepreneur who founded various pharmaceutical companies. Early life Panoz was an Italian-American. His father, Eugene Panunzio, immigrated to the United States f ...

. Panoz products have included the Panoz Roadster and AIV Roadster, the Panoz Esperante, and the Panoz Avezzano.

Panoz and racing

Since 1997, Panoz cars have competed in racing series around the world. Team Panoz Racing race the Panoz Avezzano in the Pirelli GTS class, and in 2018 won the Manufacturer's Championship. In addition to Le Mans series wins, an Esperante GTLM won the GT2 class at the

2006 24 Hours of Le Mans The 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 74th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place over 17–18 June 2006. The winners of the race were Frank Biela, Marco Werner, and Emanuele Pirro, driving the Audi R10 TDI. For the first time in the history of th ...

and in the same year, won the

2006 12 Hours of Sebring The 2006 12 Hours of Sebring was the 54th running of this event, and took place on March 18, 2006. The race was sponsored by Mobil 1 and was the opening race of the 2006 American Le Mans Series season run by IMSA. This race marked the first ti ...

and was on the podium at the endurance season finale, 2006 Petit Le Mans. For the 2007 American Le Mans season, Panoz contracted longtime

BMW Motorsport BMW M Motorsport (formerly BMW Motorsport) is the division of BMW responsible for motorsport-related activities, including works-run competition programmes in touring car racing, sports car racing, motorcycle racing and Formula E. The current orga ...

partner Prototype Technology Group to campaign the GTLM in the ALMS and Le Mans. Panoz has also provided IndyCar with the G-Force GF05 and GF09; and the

Champ Car World Series Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., or Champ Car, a sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing Teams ...

with their final race car, the

Panoz DP01 The Panoz DP01 is an open-wheel car that was produced by Élan Motorsport Technologies at Braselton, Georgia, United States. It was developed for use in the 2007 Champ Car World Series season, replacing the aging de facto-spec Lola chassis. The ...

which was the final chassis used under ChampCar until the unification of the American open wheel series in road racing.

Road cars

* Panoz (AIV) Roadster *

Panoz Esperante The Esperante is a sports car made by Panoz, an American car manufacturer. First generation There have been several Esperante models: the base model GT, the GTLM, the GTS, the JRD (an aftermarket upgrade brand similar to Roush Mustangs), the ...

*Panoz Esperante GT *Panoz Esperante GTLM *Panoz Esperante JRD (tuned By JRD) *

Panoz Abruzzi The Panoz Abruzzi was a grand tourer intended for manufacture by Panoz Auto Development for the European market. Production was to be limited to 81 units and it was expected to be delivered between 2011 and 2013, with a retail price of around £33 ...

Panoz Avezzano The Panoz Avezzano is an American front-engine, rear-drive, V8-powered sports car manufactured in Georgia by Panoz, LLC. Intended for sale both as a road car and as a homologated racing vehicle, the racing-configured Avezzano GT4 was first enter ...

Race cars

G-Force GF09 The G-Force GF09 is a racing car developed and produced by American manufacturer Élan Motorsport Technologies for Panoz, with original work having been performed by G-Force Technologies prior to its purchase by Panoz, for use in the IndyCar Seri ...

Panoz DP09 The Panoz DP09 (commonly known as the Superleague DP09) was the sole spec open-wheel race car used in the Superleague Formula series. It was produced by Élan Motorsport Technologies at Braselton, Georgia, in the United States. The DP09 was bas ...

Panoz Esperante GTR-1 The Panoz Esperante GTR-1 (also known as Panoz GTR-1 and later the Panoz GTP) was a race car developed by Panoz Auto Development and Reynard Motorsport for grand tourer endurance racing in 1997. Although named after the Panoz Esperante roadst ...

Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S The Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S (sometimes referred to as simply the Panoz LMP-1) was a Le Mans Prototype built for Panoz in 1999. The car was a successor to the Esperante GTR-1 which had competed in the Grand Tourer categories internationally. Foll ...

Panoz LMP07 The Panoz LMP07 was a Le Mans prototype built in late 2000 for Panoz for competition in the American Le Mans Series. The car was designed as a successor to the Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S which had competed since 1999. Although retaining the unusual ...

*Panoz LMP01 Evo * Panoz Esperante GTS *Panoz Esperante GTLM (race version) *

* Panoz Avezzano GT4

Panoz Motor Sports Group

Panoz Motor Sports Group was sold to

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

in 2012. The assets of the sale included the

American Le Mans Series The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The American Le Mans' hea ...

Road Atlanta Road Atlanta (known for sponsorship reasons as Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta) is a road course located just north of Braselton, Georgia, United States. The facility is utilized for a wide variety of events, including professional and amateur spo ...

Sebring International Raceway Sebring International Raceway is a road course auto racing facility in the southeastern United States, located near Sebring, Florida. Sebring Raceway is one of the oldest continuously operating race tracks in the U.S., its first race being run i ...

and Panoz Racing Schools.

Mosport International Raceway Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (formerly Mosport Park and Mosport International Raceway) is a multi- track motorsport venue located north of Bowmanville, in Ontario, Canada, east of Toronto. The facility features a , 10-turn road course; a ad ...

was sold separately to a Canadian consortium led by

Ron Fellows Ronald Charles Fellows CM (born September 28, 1959) is a Canadian auto racing driver. Fellows holds the record for most wins by a foreign-born driver in NASCAR's top three series (Sprint Cup, Nationwide, and trucks) with six – four in Nationw ...

and Carlo Fidani. Panoz, LLC., is an automotive manufacturer that builds and designs street cars and race cars. Élan Motorsports is a company that builds and designs race cars too. Both these two companies are still owned by the Panoz family.

American Le Mans Series

The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was created by Don Panoz in 1999. Panoz also owned the

International Motor Sports Association The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive direc ...

, the organization that sanctions the ALMS. It held its inaugural event, the

1998 Petit Le Mans The 1998 Petit Le Mans was the seventh race for the 1998 IMSA GT Championship season, then known as the Professional SportsCar Racing series. It also served as a prelude to the first American Le Mans Series race held at Sebring in 1999. Don Panoz' ...

as part of the

Professional Sportscar Racing The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive direc ...

series. The ALMS has a partnership with the

Automobile Club de l'Ouest The Automobile Club de l'Ouest (English: Automobile Club of the West), sometimes abbreviated to ACO, is the largest automotive group in France. It was founded in 1906 by car building and racing enthusiasts, and is most famous for being the organ ...

, the organizers of the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

, to allow teams to compete to the same regulations. In 2012, the ALMS was sold to

and then in 2014, the series merged with the

Rolex Sports Car Series The Rolex Sports Car Series was the premier series run by the Grand American Road Racing Association. It was a North American-based sports car series founded in 2000 under the name Grand American Road Racing Championship to replace the failed ...

to form United SportsCar Racing.

Circuits

The Panoz group previously owned

in Braselton, Georgia, as well as previously operated

Sebring, Florida Sebring ( ) is a city in the south-central Florida and is the county seat of Highlands County, Florida, United States, nicknamed "The City on the Circle", in reference to Circle Drive, the center of the Sebring Downtown Historic District. As of t ...

. They also previously owned

Bowmanville, Ontario Bowmanville is a town of approximately 40,000 people located in the Municipality of Clarington, Ontario, Clarington, Regional Municipality of Durham, Durham Region, Ontario, Canada. It is approximately east of Toronto, and east of Oshawa along ...

, Canada but was sold in 2011. The tracks hosted the American Le Mans Series, now the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, in addition to other top-level auto and motorcycle racing series.

Élan Motorsport Technologies

Élan Motorsports is a company that designs and builds race cars from top-level professional racing cars, through to amateur race cars. The company is owned by the Panoz family. Élan acquired other manufacturers, including famous

Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. Formula For ...

builders

Van Diemen Van Diemen International, Ltd. was a British race car manufacturer based in Snetterton, Norfolk, United Kingdom. The company had a reputation for high-volume production runs of its cars, the most well-known of which is its series of Formula For ...

and

Indy Racing League The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of ...

constructor

G-Force Technologies G-Force Technologies (formerly Chip Ganassi Racing Ltd.) was an American racing car manufacturer originally formed by Americans Chip Ganassi and Ken Anderson in 1991. Ganassi would leave the company early on and the company was renamed G Force ...

. Élan-built cars have raced in the Indy Racing League, Champ Car World Series,

Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

, and other championships.

Panoz Racing School and series

The Panoz Racing School was a driver training school previously operated at Road Atlanta and Sebring International Raceway. Students learned racing techniques in purpose-built Panoz GT-RA cars. Following completion of the course, students were eligible for an

SCCA The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting road racing, rallying, and autocross in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs many programs for both amateur and professional r ...

regional racing license. The school also included programs where customers could receive instruction in their own road cars. The Panoz Racing Series was a one-make series made up of the Panoz School cars, as well as the more powerful Panoz GTS models. The series was designed for amateurs to learn racing in a low-cost environment.

References

External links

Panoz, LLCPanoz Racing SchoolPanoz at the 24 hours of Le Mans
{{Automotive industry in the United States * Sports car manufacturers Car manufacturers of the United States American racecar constructors Manufacturing companies based in Georgia (U.S. state) Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1989 Car brands