Jalopnik: Panoz

Barrett-Jackson: Panoz Esperante Flying Car Takes Off for Only $45,000

Ray Wert — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 17:15:00 EST

Jalopnik still loves flying cars — it may still be part of our masthead, we can't remember — but here's a perfect example. It's the $100,000 Panoz Esperante converted by Jesse James of Monster Garage into an airborne vehicle whose first flight matched the success of the Wright Brothers. Seriously — they took it to Kitty Hawk where it actually flew in a straight line and then hit the ground just as hard as the Wright plane did. Here's the full description of the "Flying Car" from Barrett-Jackson, which just sold for a steal of a price at $45,000 (just under $55,000 with the auction fees):

Ever since "Monster Garage" premiered on Discovery Channel in June 2002, Jesse James led teams to build vehicles that make beer, do wheelies, shake trees, even transport gorillas. But all the while, Jesse was turning his thoughts and his dreams to the sky. Everyone said he couldn't do it, and the lawyers begged him not to do it, but Jesse James and his 9 man team managed to take a $100,000 Panoz Esperante sports car and create an airborne vehicle whose first flight matched the success of the Wright Brothers'. After the team tore out the Panoz's plush interior to make room for a roll cage, installed a used propeller engine in the trunk, mounted 36' handmade wings to the car's exact center and secured a rear tail with a 15" fuselage, the flying car was taken to Kitty Hawk, NC, home of the Wright Brothers' first flight. Under the power of the original Panoz engine, Jesse taxied the flying car onto the runway, started the propeller engine and, after hitting 80mph, guided the automobile off the ground for 280 feet, landing safely without even a scratch to the Red Baron paint job. THE DESIGNERS: Jesse James, custom-bike builder/designer, West Coast Choppers, Long Beach, CA, Fireball Tim, artist and car designer, Malibu, CA, Dan Panoz, founder and owner, Panoz Auto Development Company, Braselton, GA, Ed Sweeney, aircraft mechanic, Black Forest, CO, and Neal Willford, engineer, new product development, Cessna Aviation, Andover, KS. THE BUILDERS: Jesse James, custom-bike builder/designer, West Coast Choppers, Long Beach, CA, Jason Barnes, vehicle engineer, Panoz Auto Development Company, Flowery Branch, GA, Niclas Jancic, Panoz Auto expert, GA, Mark Palmer, aircraft-design engineer, Peru, KS, Ronnie Powers, airplane builder and owner, Atlanta Air Salvage, Griffith, GA, Johan Ragnarsson, custom-car builder, Beuford, GA, Chris Rusch, fabricator, Two Rivers, WI, Andre Stowe, welder and metal-shop owner, San Diego, CA, Ed Sweeney, aircraft mechanic, Black Forest, CO, JD Terry, avionics/electrical engineer, Cessna Aviation, Wichita, KS, and Neal Willford, aircraft engineer, Cessna Aviation, Andover, KS. VEHICLE SPECS: Height: 80"; Width: 38'; Length With Parts Extended: 26'; Ground Clearance: 2.5". **SOLD ON A BILL OF SALE ONLY. SPECIAL CONDITIONS APPLY**

Two R10s Enter, One R10 Wins; Corvette, Lola, Panoz Round Out Sebring Class Victories

Davey G. Johnson — Sun, 19 Mar 2006 00:24:46 EST

Two of the most hotly-anticipated prototype racers of the last um, uh, real long time made their full-series ALMS debuts at Sebring with mixed results. The pole-qualifying #2 Audi R10 of Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish and Rinaldo Capello took the race, while the #1 car, driven by Marco Werner, Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro dropped out due to overheating. Meanwhile in LMP2, the hyper-fast Porsche RS Spyder that looked so promising in qualifying lost out to Clint Field, his father Jon Field and Liz Halliday in a Lola.

The #4 Corvette driven by Olivier Beretta, Oliver Gavin and Jan Magnussen took down the Pedro Lamy, Jason Bright and Stephane Sarrazin #009 DBR9 in GT1, while in GT2, the David Brabham, Scott Maxwell and Sebastien Bourdais Panoz Esperante held off a gaggle of Porsches to take the win.

Audi Makes History as Diesel-Powered R10 TDI Wins Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring [ALMS]

Related:
Audi R10 Propaganda Broadside [Internal]

Forbes Ranks America's Fastest Cars

Davey G. Johnson — Mon, 05 Dec 2005 14:29:33 EST

Dan Lienert breaks down the answer to the question burning in the collective mind of 12 year-old boys across the nation: What are the darn-tootin'est high-speed rides built in the US of A today? Some of the cars that made the list are motoring icons to even the most casual auto enthusiast the Ford GT, Dodge Viper and Corvette Z06, for example. Topping the roster, however, is the banzai-nuts SSC Ultimate Aero, with a Veyron-fingering estimated top speed of 273 MPH. Eep. Other high-speed obscura? The extra-ugly-with-a-side-of-hideous Mullen M-11 V-8 and the GTP-car-with-chromosomal non-disjuncture Evans 387 and 487. Click through for the list.

1. SSC Ultimate Aero

2. Saleen S7 Twin Turbo

3. Evans 387 & 487

4. Ford GT

5. Chevrolet Corvette Z06

6. Dodge Viper SRT-10

7. Mullen M-11 V-8

8. Panoz Esperante GTLM

9. Chrysler 300C SRT8; Dodge Charger SRT8, Magnum SRT8

10. Cadillac CTS-V

The Fastest American Cars [Forbes]

Lola 'Surprised' by Champ Car Panoz Choice

Davey G. Johnson — Fri, 14 Oct 2005 11:00:54 EDT

Lola, whose chassis have dominated the Champ Car field as of late, is a bit perturbed that the series has inked a deal with Panoz to supply cars for the series. The British race car manufacturer has been building Champ Cars since the 1970, but it's not their only meal ticket, as they're the sole supplier to the new A1GP, their LMP2 competes in prototype sports car racing and they're working on a new LMP1 chassis, among other things.

Still, the Panoz deal's gotta smart some. Says Lola chair Martin Birrane, "I am surprised at their decision not to choose Lola as their partner for the 2007 series." He then went on to add, in a choice bit of press-release-ese, "Lola continue to be a world leader in many industries which is a result of sound business principles providing technical innovation and excellence." Gee, thanks for the reminder, Marty.

Lola surprised by Champ Car choice. [crash.net]