DeltaWing, We Hardly Knew Ye
Innovative design won’t have a swan song after all.
So long, DeltaWing: Ben Bowlby's remarkable design, eventually executed by Don Panoz, was to make its swan song at the IMSA Rolex 24 at Daytona next year, but Panoz has cancelled that effort, saying that he prefers to send his time, and money, developing the new Panoz Avezzano sports car for both the road and for GT4 competition. So the Petit Le Mans last October was the last we'll see of the car in competition.
Panoz had hoped to sell DeltaWings to racing customers, but it never happened. The GT4 class, raced by the IMSA Continental Tire Challenge series and the Pirelli World Challenge, would open up a larger market for him, competing against the Porsche Cayman GT4 and the upcoming Multimatic Ford Mustang GT4.
Though it never won a race, it was fast enough at the 2016 Rolex 24 to win, but something always happened that prevented a top finish. As a curiosity, the DetaWing was... curious. But now it is a bit a motorsports trivia.
