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Panoz Esperante
The Esperante is a sports car made by Panoz Auto Development Company.
There are several models of the Esperante: the base model, the GT, the GTLM, the GTS, and the JRD (an aftermarket upgrade brand similar to Roush Mustangs). Additionally, Panoz is more than willing to work with the buyer to make special modifications to any of the stock models. Each model has slightly different stats. The Specs below are for the base model. The GTLM, for example, uses a supercharger to boost power from 305 hp to 420 hp, raising performance from 0-62 in 5 seconds to 4 seconds. The GTS on the other hand is built as a driver's class spec car, to SCCA standards, with harness, roll cage, side bars, etc. Additionally, it is ~600 lb lighter than the base Esperante, has a steel 5.8 liter V8 racing engine that produces 385 bhp, and is made of easily replaceable panels to facilitate small impact race repair. It does 0-60 in 4.2 seconds, and can achieve 0.98 g of lateral grip.
Racing
An Esperante managed to win the GT2 class at the 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans, which is usually dominated by Porsche 911 GT3. The best of the 911s led until the final hour but ran into trouble, finishing one lap behind the Panoz, with a Ferrari F430 ten laps down. Other competitors in that class were two Spyker C8s which showed promising performance, but did not finish, like the second Panoz which managed only 34 laps. Anyway, this success is a remarkable one for the road-going version of Panoz.
Technical
Body and chassis
- Layout: Front/mid-engine, rear wheel drive, luxury sport convertible
- Body: Hand assembled lightweight SPF aluminum.
- Chassis: Modular extruded aluminium, bolted and bonded to steel subframes
Engine/Drivetrain
- Engine: Hand assembled DOHC, 32-valve, 90-degree, aluminum V8
- Displacement: 4,601 cm³
- Power: 320 hp (239 kW) @ 6,000 rpm
- Torque: 315 ft·lbf (427 N·m) @ 4,750 rpm
- Compression Ratio: 9.8:1
- Bore by stroke: 3.55 by 3.54 in (90.2 by 90.0 mm)
- Fuel injection: Sequential electronic
- Ignition: Distributorless, coil-on-plug
- Transmission: Tremec T45 5-speed manual
- Gear Ratios: 1st: 3.37:1 2nd: 1.99:1 3rd: 1.33:1 4th: 1.00:1 5th: 0.67:1
- Rev: 3.22:1 Final: 3.27:1
- Differential: Limited-slip type, 8.8 inch (224 mm) ring gear, aluminum case
Suspension
- Front: Fully independent short-long arm (SLA) double wishbone configuration with gas charged Penske coil-over shock absorbers and anti-roll bar
- Rear: Fully independent, double wishbone with horizontally opposed, pushrod-and-rocker activated Penske gas charged coil-over shock absorbers and anti-roll bar.
- Wheels: Aluminum BBS, 17 by 9 inches (430 by 230 mm)
- Tires: BF Goodrich P255/45ZR17
Brakes
- Type: Four-wheel power assisted disc
- ABS: Electronic three channel, four sensor
- Front: Dual-piston caliper with high-pressure steel braided brake lines and 13 inch (330 mm) vented steel rotor
- Rear: Single-piston caliper with 11.7 inch (297 mm) vented steel rotor
Steering
- Type Power assisted rack and pinion
- Turns lock-to-lock: 2.5
- Ratio: 15:1
Dimensions and capacities
- Seating Capacity: 2
- Wheelbase: 106.0 in (2.713 mm)
- Track: front 60.9 in (1.55 m), rear 63.2 in (1.58 m)
- Overall Length: 176.3 in (4.478 m)
- Overall Width: 73.2 in (1.859 mm)
- Overall Height: 53.4 in (1,355.9 m)
- Ride Height: 5.0 in (127 mm)
- Curb Weight: 3200 lb (1,450 kg)
- Fuel Capacity: 15.7 U.S. gal (59.4 L)
