Drivers »

John Nielsen

--- 1985 Le Mans

--- 1986 Le Mans

--- 1987 Le Mans

--- 1988 Daytona

--- 1988 Le Mans

--- 1990 Le Mans

--- 1991 Le Mans

--- 1992 Le Mans

--- 1993 Le Mans

--- 1994 Le Mans

--- 1995 Le Mans

--- 1995 BPR

--- 1996 Le Mans

--- 1996 BPR

--- 1996 JGTC

--- 1997 Le Mans

--- 1997 FIA GT

--- 1998 Le Mans

--- 1998 BGTC

--- 1998 Petit Le Mans

--- 2000 Le Mans

--- 2001 Le Mans

--- 2003 Le Mans

--- 2003 Nürburgring

--- 2004 Le Mans

--- 2005 LMES

--- 2006 Le Mans

--- 2008 LMS

--- 2008 Le Mans

The Car »

Type: Panoz Esperante GTR-1 Q9 'Sparky'
Drivers: John Nielsen, Doc Bundy, Christophe Tinseau
Race: Petit Le Mans 1998
Result: Number 12 general - Number 2 in LMGT1

Comments

During 1998 Panoz were working at a car that was at least 10 years ahead of time. The Esperante was equiped with a hybrid system enabling the car to harvest electrical energy during braking and releasing it again as a power boost during acceleration. This could lead to either more power or reduced fuel consumption - or ideally both. This is well known in 2020, but it was hi-tech in 1998.

However it turned out that the added power was not enough to compensate for the added extra weight from the batteries and 'Sparky' - as the car was named - did never run at Le Mans, which had been the intention. Its only race was the Petit Le Mans in USA later in 1998.

John Nielsen can tell, that it sometimes were quite exiting to race a hybrid racecar in the early days of the technology. The car carried a livery with lightning bolts at the outside - but sometime there was also lightnings at the inside when the hybrid system did not work quite as intended.

The Model »

Manufacturer: Spark
Model ID: US069

Danskerbiler.dk © 2007