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GRAND-AM
EXCLUSIVE! ALMS: Panoz Returning With New DeltaWing Engines, Chassis
ALMS founder and DeltaWing principal Don Panoz tells Marshall Pruett the car will return to Sebring with a new engine, team and big plans for 2013.
The Nissan badging will be gone when the DeltaWing races at Sebring next month. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)
Fans of the radical DeltaWing prototype that raced aligned to the P2 category at Le Mans and Petit Le Mans will see Ben Bowlby’s creation return for a limited campaign in 2013, according to ALMS founder and DeltaWing Racing Cars principal Don Panoz.
And when it breaks cover, the DeltaWing will sound different, thanks to a new purpose-built racing engine from Panoz’s Elan Power Products.
“We’ve been working on a new engine for the DeltaWing that will be coming out for Sebring,” Panoz told SPEED.com. “It’s built from a billet block so we can make any changes that are necessary to it, which you can’t do if you cast the block.”
Panoz’s team chose a powerplant it has worked with for a number of years as the basis for the DeltaWing’s new engine.
Based off of the 2.0-liter Mazda MZR engine found in the Van Diemen Elan USF2000 chassis, the new mill is slightly smaller at 1.9 liters, and adds both direct fuel-injection and a twin turbo system to double the 4-cylinder, twin-cam’s output.
Rated at 170hp in the USF2000 car, the DeltaWing unit, which replaces the 1.6-liter RML-designed Nissan engine that propelled the car in 2012, is currently achieving 345hp on the dyno, with 350 lf-ft. of torque at 6500rpms. That's an increase of almost 50hp over the Nissan, further improving the car's power-to-weight ratio.
“We’re about 15 pounds lighter than the Nissan engine right now and two inches shorter than the stock Mazda,” Panoz continued. “This engine is being developed for P1 and P2; we’re doing a batch of 40 engines at the moment. We liked what we saw with the bottom end of the one Mazda engine, and the top end of another Mazda engine, so we’re putting them together with the new billet block.”
One of the most interesting developments with the DeltaWing involves its classification for 2013, and an upcoming change to its appearance.
After being relegated to the slower pace of P2-style cars at Le Mans and PLM, and running unclassified, the DeltaWing will earns points in the P1 category starting at Sebring. It will also be the last time the factory car is run in its current open-top specification.
“We’re building three new chassis right now,” said Panoz. “You’ll see the open car at Sebring, and then we’ll switch to the closed-top car after that.”
The current plans involve racing the DeltaWing coupe at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca’s May 11th ALMS date, with its east coast debut coming on the streets of Baltimore on August 31st. Participation beyond the three aforementioned ALMS races has not been confirmed.
The new direction for the DeltaWing does not appear to include most of the partners involved in bringing the dart-like creation to reality. I spoke with Dan Gurney, whose All American Racers firm built the first competition-spec DeltaWing, on Tuesday, and he said AAR has no affiliation with the car’s latest activities.
Duncan Dayton, owner of the Highcroft Racing, also confirmed his championship-winning team is not part of the 2013 program. Ben Bowlby acknowledged he and his staff are also unaffiliated with Panoz.
And when it breaks cover, the DeltaWing will sound different, thanks to a new purpose-built racing engine from Panoz’s Elan Power Products.
“We’ve been working on a new engine for the DeltaWing that will be coming out for Sebring,” Panoz told SPEED.com. “It’s built from a billet block so we can make any changes that are necessary to it, which you can’t do if you cast the block.”
Panoz’s team chose a powerplant it has worked with for a number of years as the basis for the DeltaWing’s new engine.
Based off of the 2.0-liter Mazda MZR engine found in the Van Diemen Elan USF2000 chassis, the new mill is slightly smaller at 1.9 liters, and adds both direct fuel-injection and a twin turbo system to double the 4-cylinder, twin-cam’s output.
Rated at 170hp in the USF2000 car, the DeltaWing unit, which replaces the 1.6-liter RML-designed Nissan engine that propelled the car in 2012, is currently achieving 345hp on the dyno, with 350 lf-ft. of torque at 6500rpms. That's an increase of almost 50hp over the Nissan, further improving the car's power-to-weight ratio.
“We’re about 15 pounds lighter than the Nissan engine right now and two inches shorter than the stock Mazda,” Panoz continued. “This engine is being developed for P1 and P2; we’re doing a batch of 40 engines at the moment. We liked what we saw with the bottom end of the one Mazda engine, and the top end of another Mazda engine, so we’re putting them together with the new billet block.”
One of the most interesting developments with the DeltaWing involves its classification for 2013, and an upcoming change to its appearance.
After being relegated to the slower pace of P2-style cars at Le Mans and PLM, and running unclassified, the DeltaWing will earns points in the P1 category starting at Sebring. It will also be the last time the factory car is run in its current open-top specification.
“We’re building three new chassis right now,” said Panoz. “You’ll see the open car at Sebring, and then we’ll switch to the closed-top car after that.”
The current plans involve racing the DeltaWing coupe at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca’s May 11th ALMS date, with its east coast debut coming on the streets of Baltimore on August 31st. Participation beyond the three aforementioned ALMS races has not been confirmed.
The new direction for the DeltaWing does not appear to include most of the partners involved in bringing the dart-like creation to reality. I spoke with Dan Gurney, whose All American Racers firm built the first competition-spec DeltaWing, on Tuesday, and he said AAR has no affiliation with the car’s latest activities.
Duncan Dayton, owner of the Highcroft Racing, also confirmed his championship-winning team is not part of the 2013 program. Ben Bowlby acknowledged he and his staff are also unaffiliated with Panoz.
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