New Panoz Racer needs help

Hello guys,
My name is Tom Whitfield and I have raced an MGB in SVRA for several years. I am buying one of the Penske Panoz cars and I have a lot of questions.
First, is about tires and wheels. What offset is best to use with 18x10 and 18x11 wheels. I am planning on using slicks, legal with group 10 SVRA.
I am looking at some Victor wheels and TSW wheels from Wheel Warehouse. These look heavy, but should be OK while I learn the car.
Anything else you guys can help me with, I would be glad to hear about.

I got tired of spending $10,000 for 180 HP MG engines, and watching them hand grenade after 3 or 4 races so 500 HP for less money sounds like it might be kinda fun. And finding MG parts is getting harder and more expensive by the day.

Send me an email, I would like to talk further about this.

Thanks,
Tom Whitfield
ns brit @ att. net

I got tired of spending $10,000 for 180 HP MG engines, and watching them hand grenade after 3 or 4 races...Hi Tom, and welcome to the board. I think your decision is a good one, 10K for a few hours of racing would be difficult for any of us to justify. I think you're going to like your panoz, I know I sure like mine. Good luck and have fun!

Tom, meet Tom. Tom, please tell Tom what size your wheels are.

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=1046061

Tom, meet Tom. Tom, please tell Tom what size your wheels are.

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=1046061

What he said!

Tom

wheels from a 94-04 mustang work well... I buy 4 rear wheels and the offset and center bore is correct.. although I have had to remove the center cap lip with a 2-3/4" hole saw on a few!

Thanks for the replies for help.
I am on my way home with the car right now. Can't wait to get in my shop to go through it. This car looks like it is going to be great fun.

I have purchased 4 rims 18x10.5 with a 27 offset. TSW Nurburgring wheels, with Hoosier slicks.
I hope these will work, I will be trying them soon, we are going to Kershaw South Carolina to test.

If anyone has any other recommendations please let me know soon so I will have time to change over.

Thanks again, I will keep everyone informed with my progress.

Tom Whitfield

Thanks for the replies for help.
I am on my way home with the car right now. Can't wait to get in my shop to go through it. This car looks like it is going to be great fun.

I have purchased 4 rims 18x10.5 with a 27 offset. TSW Nurburgring wheels, with Hoosier slicks.
I hope these will work, I will be trying them soon, we are going to Kershaw South Carolina to test.

If anyone has any other recommendations please let me know soon so I will have time to change over.

Thanks again, I will keep everyone informed with my progress.

Tom Whitfield

Tom, I am unsure which Penske version you have purchased but assume it is an LS powered car? Again unsure if these are the same spec in suspension as the other GTRA/Penske cars.

You would want to check what rate springs are in the cars, particualrly since you will run on slicks. Standard many of the cars have 350 fronts and 250 rears. What a lot of us have done is to purchase a pair of 550lb springs and fit these to the front. The old 350lb fronts are then fitted to the rear. I run this combo in my enduro focussed car and it works very well.

The brake pads are another area that for running slicks you may want to upgrade. Many cars come with PFC97 compund pads. These are a low'ish coefficient of friction pad that last well for school/promo work. I now use a Carbotech XP12/XP10 combo and this works very well. To get the best out of the grip you will have upgrading pads will really help.

I would also look at getting the shocks serviced, unless they have been done within the last 20 - 30 operating hours. Again fresh shocks will make gauging setup that much easier and will really help the handling of the car.

Other than the above, only testing the car will tell what else you may need to do.

Welcome to the Panoz fold and enjoy the car, they are a joy to drive and own.

Kel.

Tom, why don't you register for the NASA event the first of December at Road Atlanta. It will be a good time to check your car out.

I doubt I will have it race ready by then, I am going through the whole car before I sit my butt in it and race it. I was aiming for a couple of test days at Kershaw SC and racing it at the Mitty in April. I better get back into the shop and get working. The Nasa event might be a better test day.

Tom Whitfield
Pictures coming soon

Tom,

Congrats on the new car and welcome to the Forum. Did you buy the Penske car from Wire Wheel with the LS motor?

David

Yes I did. I purchased the "cut away" car from Wirewheel.com.
I enjoyed meeting Hayes and James there last week. Both are first class in my book.
The workmanship and attention to detail on the car is second to none.
The pictures on the web site do not do it justice.
I got the car before they could completely finish the whole job, so I have a little work to do on it before it will be track ready.
I have to wire in the PI dash system, any tips on that?
I can hardly wait to get it on the track, it is going to be a BIG change from my MGB racer!
More details as I progress
Thanks for all the interest, looks like I am among some kindred spirits here.
Tom

I have had the chance to see one of the Penske cars up close, I totally agree -- they did a fantastic job on those cars....made me very jealous...

welcome to the club.
Devin

Hi Tom, glad you made it home OK. It was a pleasure to meet you and your wife..Hope you got the oranges OK!!!!

This forum is a fantastic resource for all things Panoz. GTRA, GTWC, GTS and GTP.

The Panoz GTS cars that were built for the Racing Experience Inc guys (Penske) have a GTP #. GT "Penske"

Good luck and drive carefully!
Best wishes,
James

Hi Tom, glad you made it home OK. It was a pleasure to meet you and your wife..Hope you got the oranges OK!!!!

This forum is a fantastic resource for all things Panoz. GTRA, GTWC, GTS and GTP.

The Panoz GTS cars that were built for the Racing Experience Inc guys (Penske) have a GTP #. GT "Penske"

Good luck and drive carefully!
Best wishes,
James

James,
Do you know how many GTP cars there were? Years? Chassis number range?

Thanks,
Mike

Wire Wheel has been a great spot for used race cars. Eastman and I both got our Panoz from Hayes. It's fun to check thier website from time to time and dream.

Hi Mike, as far as I know there are 10 GTP cars plus a "cutaway" car that Tom now has.

5-6 built in 2004 and 5-6 built in 2006. #'s 1-10.

Hope this helps..

Best wishes,
James

Thanks, James, yes it does. From what you posted I assume Tom's car should be designated as #11, but does not have a serial number plate?

OK GTP owners, post up so I can add you to our list/registry.

Anyone with contact info on these cars, send it! Come to think of it, for any of the cars that have not been previously posted on this site :headshake

Mike

Hello guys,
My name is Tom Whitfield and I have raced an MGB in SVRA for several years. I am buying one of the Penske Panoz cars and I have a lot of questions.
First, is about tires and wheels. What offset is best to use with 18x10 and 18x11 wheels. I am planning on using slicks, legal with group 10 SVRA.
I am looking at some Victor wheels and TSW wheels from Wheel Warehouse. These look heavy, but should be OK while I learn the car.
Anything else you guys can help me with, I would be glad to hear about.

I got tired of spending $10,000 for 180 HP MG engines, and watching them hand grenade after 3 or 4 races so 500 HP for less money sounds like it might be kinda fun. And finding MG parts is getting harder and more expensive by the day.

Send me an email, I would like to talk further about this.

Thanks,
Tom Whitfield
ns brit @ att. net


Hello Tom,

I am David Lee and I bought the other Penske car that Hayes had for sale recently. I took a strong interest in the cut away car but didn't think I could finish it properly. You purchased a great car. I have done two DE's with mine over the last couple weeks and am still getting used to the car but so far I love mine. I can't speak to the race setup info as I am totally new to this car but I look forward to reading how you set it up and hope to learn from your experience how better to use my car.

David Lee
[email protected]

Welcome to the LS-x Panoz owners club, we need to start our own forum! lol

we need to start our own forum! lol

What, and deprive us Ford guys of the fun of ribbing you when those Chevvies pop!! Come on, wheres the fun in that Eric..........??:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

I'm in on the LS1 Panoz forum group, we gotta stick together.

By the way, my car has a tag on the engine that says LS-12.
I am thinking that my car might be the number of my Penske car.
David, look at the left side of your your throttle body and see if it has a silver tag with a number stamped in red. I will try to post a picture in the morning of it.
It would be interesting to know what yours says.

I am going through my car from top to bottom, since it was never driven before, lots of small things need to be looked at before it is race ready.
That said, I can hardly wait to try it out.

Thanks for all the interest, I can't wait to meet you guys at the track next season.
Tom Whitfield

Tom and David,
I have a document that lists many of the lessons learned in set up, maintenance, improvements and running down parts on the GTRA and GTWC cars, much of it applies to the GTS and your GTP cars. For a copy and a registry for most of the poster children on this site, send me an email and I'll attach them by return: [email protected]

Same goes for any other forum participants who'd like updated copies.

Mike

Welcome David,

I like your new P car better than your old P car. Congtrats on your purchase.

David

I own the #2 Penske Panoz. I bought it from WireWheel last July and traced it at four different tracks before winter and had a blast. Did a few upgrades this winter like an Accusump. Going racing Aprin 2nd at Gingerman in Michigan. Looking forward to a fun Panoz summer.

Kenny

I own the #2 Penske Panoz. I bought it from WireWheel last July and traced it at four different tracks before winter and had a blast. Did a few upgrades this winter like an Accusump. Going racing Aprin 2nd at Gingerman in Michigan. Looking forward to a fun Panoz summer.

Kenny

Welcome. These cars are great fun and there is a lot of development and red neck engineering and hard core fun on this board so you will have plenty of helpful advice.

td