Don Panoz, chairman of DeltaWing Technology Group and founder of Panoz Motor Sport Group and the American Le Mans Series (ALMS), will receive the La Bella Macchina Award at Concorso Italiano next month. The ceremony honors Panoz for his contributions to the automotive and motorsports industries and will be held Aug. 15, 2015 at Black Horse Golf Corse in Monterey, Calif.
The La Bella Macchina award is presented to an individual in appreciation of their contributions to the continuing passion of automobiles. According to Tom McDowell, president of Concorso, Panoz is the embodiment of an automotive enthusiast and is recognized for furthering the passion and creating artistic and technological leaps forward in the motorsports and automotive industries. Upon receiving the award, Panoz will be inducted into the Concorso Italiano Hall of Fame.
“Being of Italian heritage and seeing the list of past recipients, it means a great deal to receive this award,” said Panoz. “My father taught me to work hard and never give up, and this has been my driving force. It’s what has energized me to do things like start a motorsports program, establish an international racing series, and race the highly efficient DeltaWing.”
The DeltaWing Roadster, like the Claro/Tracfone DeltaWing Racing Cars DWC13 Coupe competing in the IMSA-sanctioned 2015 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, proved in 2012 as the inaugural Garage 56 entrant at the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans that it could compete with technology and not just brute horsepower.
Both cars operate on the principle of greatly reduced overall mass. They are about half of the weight, have half the drag, need roughly half the horsepower, and consume half of the fuel of other race cars in its class, yet they deliver the same performance. Panoz is bringing these technologies to street-legal vehicles.
In related news, the Concorso organizers announced that Panoz will be the featured marque at an all-new event this fall. Panoz will display examples of its past and present motorsports activities, including international endurance race winning GTLM and Le Mans Prototype race cars, at Desert Concorso, to be held Nov. 15, 2015 in Palm Springs, Calif. It also plans to bring the original DeltaWing Roadster and the 430-horsepower 25th Anniversary Edition Esperante Spyder.
The Esperante Spyder and its higher-horsepower Spyder GT sibling commemorate the Panoz motorsports heritage and Panoz sports cars of the past 25 years. The company is building no more than 25 examples, intentionally limiting production to ensure they remain exclusive.
The Esperante Spyder and Esperante Spyder GT are available for order. Prices are $179,120 and $204,750, respectively.
