Panoz LMP-1
The Panoz LMP-1 , also known as the Panoz LMP-1 Roadster S , was the successor to the Panoz Esperante GTR-1 . In contrast to the Esperante, a closed racing vehicle, the LMP-1 was an open front-engine roadster. As with the Esperante, the engine was installed in front of the driver, an unusual design for the 1990s.
The LMP-1 was developed because new sports car regulations came into force in 1999, which dissolved the large GT class in its previous form. Therefore, the Esperante could no longer be used. The conversion of the Esperante to the new LMP-1 class was discarded and a completely new car was built instead. Reynard Motorsport was commissioned to build the car . Reynard took as many components as possible from the Esperante into the LMP-1. In order to accommodate the 6-liter V8 engine, the cockpit had to be moved far back. Despite the wind, the drivers repeatedly complained about the enormous heat development in the cockpit. During the entire history of racing, this fact could never be completely eliminated.
The LMP-1 debuted in the 1999 American Le Mans Series . The works team celebrated a double victory at the third race of the season in Mosport . Jan Magnussen and Johnny O'Connell sat in the winning car . Two weeks before that, both works cars were also at the start of the Le Mans 24-hour race . The LMP-1 with the starting number 12, driven by David Brabham , Éric Bernard and Butch Leitzinger , achieved seventh place in the overall standings. The second works car from Magnussen, O'Connell and Max Angelelli crossed the finish line in eleventh place. With victories in Portland (Brabham / Bernard) and Road Atlanta (Brabham / Bernard / Andy Wallace ), Panoz secured the manufacturers' championship in the series at the end of the year.
Panoz began selling LMP-1s to private teams in mid-1999, so that in 2000 four LMP-1s took part in the race at Le Mans. The best placed the factory LMP-1 by O'Connell, Hiroki Katō and Pierre-Henri Raphanel in fifth place overall. The Magnussen / Brabham-LMP-1 surprisingly won the 1000 km race on the Nürburgring .
When Panoz developed the LMP07 in 2001 , the two works cars were also sold to private teams. But the LMP07s turned out to be faulty designs and Panoz built two new roadsters that came to the race tracks as the LMP-01 Evo . But the front engine concept had reached its limits and the last major success was the fifth place overall for the team Olivier Beretta , Gunnar Jeannette and Max Papis in Le Mans 2003.
