Just curious, while watching the Mercedes CLK's dominate the race... what is the Panoz car based on ? I know the CLK's "look" like a Mercedes ( at least in lights and front end ), same for the Porsches. Also, do so called super exotics like the McLaren generally not do well versus these other cars ? Is it their factory support ?<p>David N<br>98 2.8QMS

David, the Atlanta based Panoz team produces a car for sale to the general public that serves as a "base" for their entry. The Panoz Roadster has been on sale for a couple of years thru select Ford dealerships (has a Ford 5 litre modular engine w/ Roush & SVO tweaks). It has a hint of the same look and at least shares the taillights! The Panoz GT1 car is a custom built Reynard chassis with pretty much a Winston Cup engine from Roush Racing. Given the competition of a full factory team from Mercedes/AMG and Porsche, it's a marvel to behold in its performance. We call it the BatMobile!<p>The McLaren does compete in the GT Championship series. With the title already belonging to Mercedes, I assume they chose not to make the costly trip to the U.S.<p>The Nissan and Toyota GT cars were pretty much specifically built for Le Mans. The new '99 rules for FIA GT will hope to lure these manufacturers in for the season.<p>Hope this helps. Thanks.<p>PT<br>98 2.8qms

Well, the race version of the Panoz, the GTR, is "based" on the Panoz Esperante. However, the GTR has a Raynard (I think) chassis. When they take the front body work off, you see an F1 style chassis.<p>The McLaren F1 dominated Le Mans in the first two years ('95 and '96, I think). But, since then, no fact0ry support, other than the "long-tail" version. Basically, this was one of the last true GT race cars, i.e. the race version came after the production car.<p>Marcin R.<br>---<br>'98.5 A4 1.8Tqms

Actually, the Panoz GTR is based on the Panoz Esperante. But, they do also sell a really cool roadster.<p>Marcin R.<br>---<br>'98.5 A4 1.8Tqms

<ul><li><a href="http://www.panozauto.com">Panoz site</a></li></ul>

Thanks for the info ! Once again, A4.org is where it's at for the knwledgeable help. <p>David N.<br>98 2.8QMS

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