Panoz and its parent company, Green4U Technologies, unveiled a new all-electric race car concept with an eye on a future Le Mans entry.
The folk favorite race team claims the new Green4U Panoz Racing GT-EV will deliver similar levels of performance and range to conventionally powered or hybrid race cars, thanks to two motors capable of up to 600 hp combined and an 180 mph top end. Easy-to-swap battery packs should last 90-110 miles in race conditions, which will then be exchanged in about the same amount of time it takes to refuel a conventional prototype.
The twin motor setup will power all four wheels and feature regenerative braking technology from each wheel.
Don Panoz was present at Le Mans in order to unveil his new concept that is currently under development at the company HQ located near Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia.
“We’re debuting it here at Le Mans because of this iconic race’s history where the brightest and most ambitious and tenacious competitors always push the motorsports and automotive boundaries,” Panoz said in a statement. “We pushed the boundaries when we brought Sparky (the 1998 Panoz Q9 GTR-1 Hybrid) and the DeltaWing to Le Mans, and we’ll do the same with the all-electric GT-EV.”
The GT-EV uses carbon-fiber chassis design featuring a unique offset cockpit and a suit of active aerodynamics which allow it to reduce drag on straightaways in order to increase range and performance.
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The team is eyeing a Garage 56 entry at Le Mans, which the ACO uses to allow one experimental car to race each year in the twice-around-the-clock endurance classic.
“Our goal is to run our car in a race, perhaps even applying for a future Garage 56 slot, and apply what we learn to our Green4U EV vehicle designs,” said Green4U Technologies, Inc. CEO and co-founder Jack Perkowski. “The development of an all-electric race car that can compete with the best internal combustion engine race cars places Green4U at the forefront of electric vehicle technology.”
Along with the race car, Green4U also showed off renderings of a potential street-legal sports car based on the GT-EV. Penned by Peter Stevens, the same guy who styled the Panoz Esperante GTR-1, the road car imagines fighter-jet style cabin where the passenger sits immediately behind the driver in the offset greenhouse.