page_title: Élan Motorsport Technologies
section_title: Sports cars
hierarchical_section_title: Élan Motorsport Technologies / Sports cars
caption_attribution_description: English: Panoz LMP-1 Roadster S at the 2005 Walter Mitty Classic
context_page_description: Élan Motorsport Technologies is an American enterprise that serves as an umbrella company containing the race car engineering, development and manufacturing companies owned by American racing and automotive company conglomerate Panoz Motor Sports Group. Élan engineers, designs and builds Panoz-branded race cars and components, since its founding it has also acquired several manufacturers, including famous Formula Ford builders Van Diemen and IndyCar Series constructor G-Force. Élan-built cars have successfully competed in the American Le Mans Series, Le Mans Series, IMSA Prototype Lites and various other championships, racing series and types of professional racing throughout the world. It designs, develops and manufactures full line race cars, i.e. chassis, bodies, components and engines for professional racing competition for a variety of segments and classes.
context_section_description: Panoz' first foray into racing cars came with the Panoz Esperante GTR-1 in 1997.  The car was built for the GT1 category of highly modified supercars, bearing little resemblance to normal production cars.  The GTR-1 was unique for its front-engine design, whereas all of its competitors were rear-engined designs.
  In 1999, changes in regulations led to the development of an open-top spyder for the LMP900 class, the Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S. Like the GTR-1, the LMP-1 was a front-engine car.  Its unique design, along with its 6.0L Ford-derived V8, made it a fan favorite.  In 2001, Panoz designed a successor to the LMP-1, the LMP07.  Although the Andy Thorby-designed car had high expectations, it turned out to be a failure.  The car used a Zytek V8, tuned by Élan Power Products (the first use of the Élan name in Panoz' motorsports ventures).  The car was replaced mid-season by the LMP-1, which carried on until the end of the 2003 season.
  In 2003, Élan debuted the a new race car based on the production Panoz Esperante, called the Esperante GTLM.  The GTLM was designed for the "LM"GT2 class for slightly modified production sports cars.  The 2003 car was raced by Hyper Sport Competition, and was used mainly as a development year.  A revised version first raced in 2004.  The car is powered by an EPP 5.0L V8.  In 2006, the GTLM won both the GT2 class at the 12 Hours of Sebring (in the hands of Multimatic Motorsports) and the 24 Hours of Le Mans (run by Team LNT).
  In addition to the Esperante GTLM, Élan builds the Esperante GTS, a simplified version of the car with a pushrod V8, tube frame and fiberglass construction, and eligibility for one-make and SCCA racing.  This car is used in the Panoz Racing Series, and a less powerful version is utilized by the Panoz Racing School.
  Élan also builds the Élan Van Diemen DP02, DP04 and DP06 for the three classes of IMSA Prototype Lites (formerly IMSA Lites) series.  The cars are small, center-seat prototypes.  A version of the DP04 is also eligible for SCCA Sports Racer categories. All three were adapted from open wheel designs. The DP02 was originally designed for the abandoned Formula X series before being modified for Star Mazda. The DP04 was adapted from Formula 1000 open wheeler.
caption: Panoz LMP-1 Roadster S
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