Panoz GTR1 - history Video

This car was developed by Danny Panoz, son of Don Panoz, a wealthy businessman from Atlanta, Georgia, USA, who made his fortune in the pharmaceuticals business by developing the time release capsule and the transdermal patch. He founded the Panoz Automotive Development Company in 1988. The GTR-1 was developed top compete in the GT1 LeMans/Sports racing category, against the likes of the Porsche 911 GT1, McLaren F1 GTR and the Toyota GT1. It first competed at LeMans in 1997.

The car modeled here raced in the 1998 LeMans race, and was not classified as a finisher. However it's sister car (No.45) finished in 7th place overall, a respectable result in what is a gruelling race.

The real car is made entirely from carbon fibre composites to combine excellent strength with low weight. It has a front mounted, highly modified Ford V-8 driving the rear wheels. A
number of road going versions have been built (these are also available from AUTOart in gold and purple) to satisfy GT1 regulations

In my opinion, I do think the GTR-1 is one of the ugliest cars in my collection! However, it is very well made by AUTOart, with good engine and interior detail, and good quality paint. The only poor aspect is the decals, which are very fragile. The large Motorola decal on the nose came adrift while I was handling the model, but luckily did not tear, and I was able to re-set it into position with some decal softening solution.

Both the front and rear bodywork sections are removable, which shows great underbody detail. The only problem is that the rear bodywork retaining screws are very awkwardly located and are difficult to undo, which puts you off taking the body work off at all. Overall a nice model of an unusual looking car.