American V-8, Front Engine Panoz Spanks Audi @ Mid-Ohio

[Bill Pemberton Woodhouse]

Thanks for the update, as it is helpful for those of us that can't watch the event today. Dr. Panoz and son Danny are great guys, and we have had the pleasure of running at their school ( Panoz Racing School ) three times. Dr. Panoz personally toured a group of Viper owners through his semi-secret LMP shop, and it is amazing to see the unique,sterile conditions these cars are built under. I am sure alot of us are grateful for the support the Panozs' have brought back to SportsCar racing and it was sure fantastic to hear that the Panoz LMP has again conquered the mighty Audi Team. Great job guys !!

 

[Jack B]

Some insights to a spectators view of the Mid-Ohio race. There were approximately 25 C5's in the Transam race where Archer was the only Viper. The Archer #36 Viper is a V8. Transam rules limit the engines to V8's. For the first ten laps he was one of the three fastest cars. I had to leave and didn't see the end.

In the main race the Audi's ran away with the race in the beginning lapping most of the other cars. They appeared to be in a different class.I believe the #1 car set a course single lap record. Something happened in the last ten laps and they both appeared noticeably slower and eventually lost. If someone knows what happened I would be interested.

In the first race I believe that the two Vipers #44 and #45 ran in the GT class. The # 45 was a bit slower than the two factory corvettes. The #44 Viper had some mechanical problems, however, during the middle of the race the car ran well and was faster than the both the corvettes and the saleen.

 

[Ed Robertson]

Le Mans Results
P900 1 #50 Panoz 116 laps 1:16.041 best lap
2 # 1 Audi 116 laps 1:14.784 best lap & fastest lap
3 #16 Dyson 116 laps 1:16.960 best lap
GTS 1 # 3 Corvett3 109 laps 1:22.674 best lap
2 # 4 Corvette 109 laps 1:23.251 best lap
3 #26 Saleen 108 laps 1:20.967 best lap
4 #45 Viper 106 laps 1:25.390 best lap
5 #44 Viper 52 laps 1:27.905 best lap
Above per hpp://professionalsportscar.com/races/01midohio/provrace.htm

On Friday AM David Donohue put the #45 car into the tire wall and damaged the rear. Then during qualificationd Shane Lewis put the #45 car into the tire wall and did major damage to the front. After working all night the crew had the car patched up enough to run. The #44 car had problems during the entire race.

Everyone should give Tom Weickardt and his group their thanks for their efforts to carry on the Viper war agenst the Corvette.
He is doing this with very little factory help.

Trans-Am results can be found at http://professionalsportscar.com/timing/taLT.cfm