#panoz

A rare sighting from Chateau Elan last year.

Georgia's finest got to hang with the giants from Italy and Germany in a magical 2006 sportscar season.

Whether it was by sheer pace at the 12 Hours of Sebring or enduring attrition at a tough 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Esperante GTLM was able to shine through as a venerable contestant in the close quarters of the GT2 category.

First tested in 2004, it went to have it's first competitive season in 2005. Poor results would befall the Panoz Racing Team unfortunately, having to spend the winter improving their car.

Multimatic would come back with a vengeance. The #50 team put the car on pole for the half a day endurance, putting on a blinding performance and holding back a determined Flying Lizard 911 and a blazing Risi F430 for the class win after all was said and done.

Team LNT would bring the Panoz crew a victory later in June, overcoming a race filled with attrition for the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans class win.

At it's heart is a Ford-Elan powered naturally aspirated 5 liter V8 engine, paired with a Hewland 6-speed driving the wheels at the rear. Whilst the power was second to none, the handling was rather questionable with Richard Dean and Tommy Milner both sharing their woes with the car at the limit. The aluminum chassis also made it a rather toasty cabin to sit in. Despite all the short comings, the trusty Esperante still managed to look like a dream.

The success wouldn't last for long, as 2007 was a poor year for the aging chassis. The car took home zero wins and was clearly not up to challenge the new 997 and the oncoming of multiple F430 privateer efforts.

Even if it were just for a single year however, Braselton was able to find their own sports car prestige.