Traveling at the Speed of Lightness

The small, custom-build shops of the auto industry actually provide two products -- unique, specialized vehicles to the discriminating enthusiast, and a test station for design technologies. Vehicles are designed based on sound, tried industry standards, and then the shops push the envelope just a bit further. Exemplary in this is Panoz Auto Development Company, Hoschton, GA. The company was started by Daniel Panoz in 1989 after purchasing the manufacturing rights to a sports car chassis designed by structural engineer Frank Costin. Costin's credentials include cars built for Lotus, Maserati and Lister. Along with involvement on the racing circuits, the Panoz factory has been producing the Roadster, whose styling cues invoke classics like the Lotus 7 and Carroll Shelby's Cobra.

The Panoz Roadster is an aluminum-intensive vehicle -- more than 70% of the construction is made of aerospace-grade material. The chassis is made of two stacked pairs of aluminum box rails, with wall thicknesses of 0.25 in. A special heat treatment allows the rails to be bent in slightly, just forward of the firewall, to define the tapered nose. A stressed center tube of aluminum makes up the backbone. These components are assembled to the steel rear suspension subframe and the A-pillar bulkhead patented compression-fit joints, mechanical fasteners, and a methacrylate adhesive from ITW Plexus, Danvers, MA. Aluminum body panels, formed in a process that circumvents traditional stamping, are attached to the 415 lb. frame with the same Plexus A0420 adhesive. The hood, deck and door liners are also bonded with A0420. Overall, the entire vehicle has a curb weight of just under 2600 lbs. which, coupled with the 305 horsepower, aluminum-block Ford V8's 300 lb.-ft. of torque, permits the car to reach 60 mph from a standing start in 4.6 seconds.

Panoz's decision to use Plexus adhesives was heavily influenced by Ford's own success with the product. Ford has bonded more than 5 million thermoplastic bumpers over the past decade using the adhesives. Other parts of the Roadster, like the power train and the HVAC system, are off-the-shelf, road-proven components. As Daniel Panoz says, "There are proven pieces already available...with a little ingenuity they can be used to make something completely different."

-RM

For more information:

Circle 480 - Panoz Auto

Development Company

Circle 481 - ITW Plexus