2002 Panoz LMP 07 (LMP900 Class) Prototype in Action: Mugen 4.0L V8 Sound, Accelerations & Fly Bys!

The Panoz LMP07 may not have been the best prototype project but it's certainly one of the most eye-catching car to see in action on track. It was built and developed by Élan Motorsport Technologies in late 2000 for competing in the American Le Mans Series under the LMP900 regulations.

The car was meant to be a successor to the Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S which had competed since 1999 and was designed by Reynard Motorsport. Although retaining the unusual front-engine format, the LMP07 was quickly found to be lacking the capabilities of its predecessor, forcing Panoz to abandon it and return to the LMP-1 Roadster-S which was further developed into the LMP 01 Evo, before being retired at the end of 2003.

For the development of the LMP07, Élan Motorsport turned to Zytek for construction of a custom V8 for the LMP07, replacing the Ford-derived V8 used in the LMP-1 Roadster-S. The aim behind the new car was to attempt to get the its center of gravity as low as possible in order to improve its handling capabilities.

As said before, following the performance troubles of the LMP07 in 2001, Panoz decided that the cars need to be reworked in order to remain competitive as well as durable. The decision to bring back the LMP-1 Roadster-S was made, completing the season with the older cars while work continued on the LMP07s. By the end of the year, it was decided that it would be easier to upgrade the existing LMP-1s instead of attempting to fix the LMP07s. The three chassis built were therefore sold off to privateer teams for their own use.

MBD Sportscar would purchase two chassis for the 2002 season. Technical responsibilities were given to Multimatic who made many changes to the 07s including swapping the Zytec unit with a Mugen MF408S V8 engine. Debuting at Sebring, the two cars would continue their difficulties, including one car catching fire. For the rest of the season although the cars were more reliable, the LMP07-Mugens would only be able to finish better than the factory upgraded LMP01 Evos on one occasion. The one you see in this video is chassis 03 which was also entered by MBD for the 2002 24 Hours of Le Mans but once again it failed to finish the race. The LMP07s would be retired from competition with no other teams wishing to purchase the cars.

Nodays, thanks to championships like Endurance Racing Legends which aims to bring together GTs and prototypes from the 1990s and 2000s, these interesting cars are coming out of their forced hibernations. In this video you can see chassis 03 being driven at Mugello Circuit and Circuit Paul Ricard during this year's Mugello Classic and Dix Mille Tours historic racing weekends by Peter Auto!

0:00 Close Ups
1:23 Circuit Paul Ricard
3:19 Mugello Circuit

#Panoz #PanozLMP07 #MugenV8
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Camcorder: Canon Legria HF G30 & GX10 + Canon DM-100 Microphone
Event: Mugello Classic & Dix Mille Tours 2022
Where: Mugello Circuit, Italy / Circuit Paul Ricard, France

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