So I drove a Panoz Esperante GTLM
04-09-2007, 08:15 AM
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So I drove a Panoz Esperante GTLM
Yup, not shitting you at all. I drove one. 2006 with 14,033 miles when I started and 14,072 when I stopped. Never even been titled, was a dealer demo car that is now going to a local (and new) Panoz dealership in my town to be sold. Sticker price will be $92,000 on the lot, although they retail for over $120,000 brand new. So the story.....As I'm sitting in the driveway to leave to come back to the burg I see this beautiful silver hardtop Panoz pull into the subdivision and go up the hill. I talk to my mom about it and decide that I'm going to drive around the neighborhood and go look at it. I pull in the guys driveway and he's working on his other car and I get out of mine. We talk about the car for a few minutes and he comments on the vettes and supras as such always parked at our house. After ten or so minutes of car talk I ask him if he would take me for a lap around the neighborhood and he says sure. He walks into the house and gets his keys and comes out and says "I'll let you drive it if you promise not to scare me." My eyes lit up like it was christmas. Jumped into the drivers seat and off we went.
As some of you know, and some of you probably don't, the Esperante is powered by a mustang engine. This one was powered by the 4.6L V8 with a supercharger and a 12lb pulley. So I drove it around for a while and he let me flog on it in some straight stretches and such. That car gets to 115mph extremely fast and feels steady as can be doing it. A little overview of it:
Engine: Felt great. supercharger whine was extremely loud down low and surprisingly got a little quieter in the higher rpm's and the exhaust note became much throater.
Suspension: Car felt like it was on rails. 255s all the way around on 18" wheels. Even juggling the wheel left to right at 60mph didn't upset the chassis. The ride was somewhat rough but that's to be expected.
Interior: Seats really hold you in place. Interior is rather sparse though besides small radio controls and the gauges. The gauges were my only complaint, they were the stock SVT mustang gauges and they were mounted in the middle. Now this is supposed to give the driver an unobstructed view of the road, which is does nicely, but you have to look completely away from the road to see when you need to shift. The car would benefit greatly from some form of a heads up display. Another neat feature is that the car has a rollcage integrated into the inside and hidden behind the a-pillar trim and various other trim throughout the car. The only place you could see the cage is where it connects to the chassis behind the seats.
Drivetrain: Transmission felt pretty good, shifts were short and there was no mistaking whether you were in gear or not. Clutch was pretty heavy but really easy to engage smoothly with just a little practice. No rattles or roughness from the rest of the drivetrain even under wheelspin at 30mph (that happens when you floor it in 2nd).
Soundsystem: Supercharger sounds great 8)
I can't really think of anything else to say on it, but it was definantely the most awesome car I have ever driven. I may be doing some work for his dealership this summer so maybe I'll get into a few more fun cars like this, who knows. Just thought I'd share my awesome day with you guys.
Looked just like this but with different wheels:
As some of you know, and some of you probably don't, the Esperante is powered by a mustang engine. This one was powered by the 4.6L V8 with a supercharger and a 12lb pulley. So I drove it around for a while and he let me flog on it in some straight stretches and such. That car gets to 115mph extremely fast and feels steady as can be doing it. A little overview of it:
Engine: Felt great. supercharger whine was extremely loud down low and surprisingly got a little quieter in the higher rpm's and the exhaust note became much throater.
Suspension: Car felt like it was on rails. 255s all the way around on 18" wheels. Even juggling the wheel left to right at 60mph didn't upset the chassis. The ride was somewhat rough but that's to be expected.
Interior: Seats really hold you in place. Interior is rather sparse though besides small radio controls and the gauges. The gauges were my only complaint, they were the stock SVT mustang gauges and they were mounted in the middle. Now this is supposed to give the driver an unobstructed view of the road, which is does nicely, but you have to look completely away from the road to see when you need to shift. The car would benefit greatly from some form of a heads up display. Another neat feature is that the car has a rollcage integrated into the inside and hidden behind the a-pillar trim and various other trim throughout the car. The only place you could see the cage is where it connects to the chassis behind the seats.
Drivetrain: Transmission felt pretty good, shifts were short and there was no mistaking whether you were in gear or not. Clutch was pretty heavy but really easy to engage smoothly with just a little practice. No rattles or roughness from the rest of the drivetrain even under wheelspin at 30mph (that happens when you floor it in 2nd).
Soundsystem: Supercharger sounds great 8)
I can't really think of anything else to say on it, but it was definantely the most awesome car I have ever driven. I may be doing some work for his dealership this summer so maybe I'll get into a few more fun cars like this, who knows. Just thought I'd share my awesome day with you guys.
Looked just like this but with different wheels:
04-09-2007, 08:40 AM
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Re: So I drove a Panoz Esperante GTLM
It is pretty nice and it was awesome to drive, but honestly if I had 90k to spend on a car it wouldn't be on that one.
04-09-2007, 01:20 PM
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Re: So I drove a Panoz Esperante GTLM
my brother-in-law works for panoz at road atlanta......he is the head fabricator for the race shop and final roll cage assembly lines for the race cars......but on another note don panoz is an asshole...he wont let anybody take free runs on the track anymore.....but the skidpad is always open and fun.......go to gainesville,ga and stay at the chateu elan near the track......you can go for the factory tour also...if interested pm me my bro-in-law can probably get a walk through for you.....