Panoz may not be a very familiar name to many, but fans of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and old racing video games will jump at the sound of the name.
Panoz are the makers of some of the most extreme racing cars the world has seen. They’ve made their fair share of road legal cars as well. However, of late, the company has never been in the news for any of their road cars. That’s all set to change because now, the Georgia-based company intend to produce 100% road legal race cars for street use, by order. This means that if you have pockets deep enough to buy and take care of what is essentially a race car for the road; Panoz will make you one exactly to suit your taste.
Contrary to cars which promise race track performance on the road like Porsche’s 911 GT3 RS, Lamborghini’s Gallardo Super Trofeo Stradale or Ferrari’s 458 Speciale, the Panoz cars will be essentially race cars modified only enough to make them road legal; conforming to local laws and regulations. Unlike a Pagani Zonda R, the Panoz cars will actually meet sound limits around the world and you wouldn’t need to purchase your own race track to simply use your car right.
John Leverett, VP of Sales at Panoz stated, “We will be producing all these cars, on a one-off customer basis, for the street. If you want a Panoz GTR-1 for the street, we will produce one for you. If you want a Panoz roadster, we’ll make one for you. Each car will have an all-new carbon/aluminum chassis, new powertrain, all new custom interior – but we won’t do full run production. Customers will get to choose enough on the car to make it uniquely theirs. To have a car with the Panoz racing heritage, with all the bodywork and substance that regulations will allow on the street, will be a very distinctive experience.”
Panoz have created many examples of fantastic sports cars over time, and it’s very heartening to realise that the likes of the Roadster, Esperante and Abruzzi may just roar down the roads in the future once more.
