Abruzzi on track @ Mosport ALMS

[99panoz]

I hate to be the barer of bad news, but I have it from a very reliable source that following Mosport, the Abruzzi program has been completely canceled. There will be no road cars, and the only way the race car sees the light of day again is if the ALMS completely breaks away from the ACO.

So what exactly happened at Mosport that caused the demise of the Abruzzi program including the road-going version? I was told about a year ago that PADC already had orders for the road car version and construction was about to begin then (last Fall). This just doesn't make sense considering the MILLIONS of dollars and 1000's of man hours invested in the Abruzzi's R&D and then to just kill it off like that??????

BTW, I was also quite surprised to see that the Don had sold off Mosport Raceway. Does anyone know if there is a "garage sale" (so to speak,) going on in Hoschton as well?

[Ackmann]

SAD NEWS. They could have done so much. Even without the Abruzzi. Panoz had alot ofd other ways top go if they made the effort. Look at SSC for example.

[2006GTLM]

Disappointing but not surprising news. I had a friend of mine who has a good relationship with one of the few remaining factory guys talk to him about setting up a tour for a small group in October. He was told that there was very little going on in the factory, and not much to see. A couple of outside projects and that's it. No Abruzzi construction. Well, at least our cars are all the more rare and exclusive. They may be hitting Don's tolerance for tossing more money at what apparently was a very expensive hobby.

[WMUCarGuy]

I hate to be the barer of bad news, but I have it from a very reliable source that following Mosport, the Abruzzi program has been completely canceled. There will be no road cars, and the only way the race car sees the light of day again is if the ALMS completely breaks away from the ACO.

[Rarity]

It was weird to see the Abruzzi not be able to make the turn coming into the pits, but then the Esperante has a fairly wide turning radius too. It was great to see it on the track, and I think it did quite well. It came in 17th out of 31 entrants and ninth among the GT cars. It did better than some pretty good car driver combo's, and IT FINISHED THE RACE. I am hoping that it will be running at the ALMS race at Road America in August. If so, my Esperante will be making the trip to see the race.

Four wheel steering would help I have a Esperante and Sprinter van can you guess which one can make a U turn... Yes and the other only makes 3 point turns

[Teezoen]

It was weird to see the Abruzzi not be able to make the turn coming into the pits, but then the Esperante has a fairly wide turning radius too. It was great to see it on the track, and I think it did quite well. It came in 17th out of 31 entrants and ninth among the GT cars. It did better than some pretty good car driver combo's, and IT FINISHED THE RACE. I am hoping that it will be running at the ALMS race at Road America in August. If so, my Esperante will be making the trip to see the race.

D: JEALOUS! That's my favorite track, but no way can I make it on my budget.

[2006GTLM]

It was weird to see the Abruzzi not be able to make the turn coming into the pits, but then the Esperante has a fairly wide turning radius too. It was great to see it on the track, and I think it did quite well. It came in 17th out of 31 entrants and ninth among the GT cars. It did better than some pretty good car driver combo's, and IT FINISHED THE RACE. I am hoping that it will be running at the ALMS race at Road America in August. If so, my Esperante will be making the trip to see the race.

[Teezoen]

The couple of times i saw it, it blew by some of the slower Porsche's. That's a good sign at least... Now if they would just get it homologated and actually race it every weekend. Then it would get some development and be faster.

[Ackmann]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcIWdqzKOII

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHskZWC0DvA

Doesn't turn very sharp. I think someone needs to spend more time behind the wheel. (reference first video)

[PanozGTLM]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcIWdqzKOII

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHskZWC0DvA