Hey look, Panoz is back! Sort of.
The company is offering up the Esperante GTR-1 in all its incredible Bush v. Gore-era glory, and you can own one for the low, low price of $890,000. I’m buying two!
And longtime reader McMike is here with the best summary I’ve read from anyone about how it sounds:
You’re not kidding. I saw two ALMS races featuring the Panoz.
The whole field would fly by, lap after lap. Turbocharged car woosh after turbocharged car, high-revving flatplane V8 or some other NA engine, then followed by another turbocharged car, followed by PANOZBLARRBABAFLAKRAKRAKRAKLABREAKREKREKREKAAKAKAAAAA.
The noise that one car was scary. You knew when it fucking went by.
Even Mrs McMike (Who was reading under a tree with earplugs) pulled her earplugs out during a full course yellow, and we talked about how loud the race was, and she asked “Is one of those cars broken?”
I won’t add music to this one. Just listen to the engine instead.
Contact the author at patrick@jalopnik.com.
DISCUSSION
Thanks Patrick, Here are some of the images I took at those 1999 and 2002 events