When DeltaWing claimed that they were going to create a street-legal and sellable version of the controversial DeltaWing race car, a few eyebrows raised but it was fairly difficult to believe. Don Panoz has been embroiled in lawsuits with Nissan over the race vehicle, namely over the poaching of the design, the existence of the Nissan ZEOD racer, and while racing has been his strong suit, street cars aren’t so much…Panoz’s AIV Roadster and the Esperante’s designs date to the 1990s. But Don Panoz has a vision, and it involves the funky race car and a street-legal certification. Hmm.
At first glance, we can’t help but picture a 4th gen Pontiac Trans Am or the Pontiac Banshee IV concept car that found it’s nose stuck in a bench vise. While this is the first concept body shell, we hope it isn’t the last. We can appreciate the wraparound side/rear glass area, and the view forward must be incredible with that windshield. There are no rearward shots available yet, so we don’t know how that will turn out.
Oddly enough, once the bodywork comes off, the DeltaWing GT becomes much more appealing. Panoz claims that pretty much any engine can be wedged into the chassis (rear-mounted, we assume). We don’t know what powertrain they are planning to use, but they are already claiming the car, with it’s drag coefficient hanging around the 0.26 mark, is capable of 74 mpg. In a $60,000 car with a projected curb weight of about 2,000 pounds, the looks wouldn’t be the only thing causing people to do a double-take. Early mules are expected to start running around shortly, and if the body isn’t exactly like the one pictured, it will be fairly close. If Panoz actually meets the goals, it would not only be a feather in the company’s cap, but it would be like a cake sent to Nissan with a gigantic middle finger drawn in on the icing. The question remains, however: can they actually pull it off?
(Courtesy: Motorsport.com. Photos: DeltaWing)
Wow. Not impressed. I had really high hopes for this car, but a 0.26 cd is unremarkable at best. Combined with the total frontal area, this thing is a brick through the air compared to what it really could be. I just play an aerodynamicist on the weekends, but there are several areas that simply don’t make sense.