Panoz Q9: in 1998, the first hybrid Le Mans racer
Posted on 21-10-2014 at 22:00 by MauritsH – 23 Comments”
So you thought that Audi’s ground-breaking was in progress at Le Mans with their hybrid R18? Think again.
The American brand Panoz builds are generally very exclusive and individually designed roadsters. In addition, the brand for a while, participated in the 24 hours of Le Mans with different GT and LMP cars. Boss of the whole has is Don Panoz, an entrepreneur with Italian roots that fortune made with, among other nicotine patches.
He came up with the idea of a hybrid racer of one of their Esperante GTR-1, as a result, the Q9. Under the hood of this wild racer (nickname: Sparky) was a 6-liter V8 from Roush-Ford supplemented by an electric motor with batteries of Zytek. Panoz’ explanation about this particular layout was simple: a lower consumption, so longer drive and less pit stops.
The Ford motor was good for 600 horsepower and the electric motor 300 volt did have a scoop of 150 hp on top. Incidentally, the whole elektrogebeuren at the time was still in its infancy and was half the cockpit filled with batteries. The whole weighed in at a modest 1100 kg, and the power was only unleashed to the rear wheels.
The battery pack loaded himself with a KERS-system, which during braking the released energy in the batteries was stored. All in all the electric mumbo jumbo about 160 kg.
Unfortunately it was Sparky, no pots to break during the famous race at Le Mans. In their enthusiasm forgot the team during the qualification of a large part of the battery pack (which is after all but a round or 2 had to run) to remove, making the car much too heavy for a fast time down tried to put.
With a time of 3:53 min missed the advanced racer and the kwalificatielimiet unfortunately, with 10 seconds. That’s probably the reason that so little is known about this particular gift car which is now his days of wear in a museum. Incidentally, holds Sparky later great results in endurance racing.
How is it particularly brave that Panoz at the time, with little work dared to with the Q9 to attempt at Le Mans. Hybrid racers are now in various branches of motorsport become commonplace, but Sparky deserves it once again to get the attention to be brought.
Check the video below for an impression of the lovely brutal sound of the (non-hybrid) Esperante GTR-1.
Photos via: Flickr.com, Flickr.com