Panoz Abruzzi "Spirit of LeMans" Released

Panoz is a small racing and automotive development company in a world where they are few and far between. As such, new model introductions by them are particularly a big deal.

Models at small companies have to be kept around longer in order to recoup development costs. The current car  by Panoz is the Esperante, and it is getting replaced by the Abruzzi "Spirit of LeMans". It was teased not too long ago.

The car was unveiled by Don Panoz, founder of Panoz, ahead of this weekend's 24 Hours of Le Mans race at the Circuit de la Sarthe in France. Panoz says that only 81 copies will be built, one for each year of the Le Mans endurance race starting from 1923 to 2013, the year Abruzzi production ends. Each car will have particular year of LeMans assigned, with the chassis number containing date of the race and initials of the winning drivers. Interesting, Panoz really likes LeMans.

If looks are any indication, they might have trouble selling all 81 of them. We can admit to expecting something totally different from the teaser shot. What we got was a cartoonish, cheap-looking Matchbox car - to put it nicely. What went wrong? The Esperante looks way better than this.

At least, as far as performance goes it won't be lacking - having 600 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque. Each car gets delivery at the Circuit de la Sarthe, professional instruction on the Bugatti Circuit at Le Mans, a parade lap around the 8.3-mile race circuit, a special reception at the clubhouse of the Golf Des 24 Heures in Arnage and to cap it all off, tickets the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Wow, with all that you know this thing is going to be expensive. No word on pricing yet though. Who is going to buy it? For now, we just have these computer-generated images of the car to look at it. Let us know what you think of the car in the comments below.