2
NEWS
Panoz writes Ghosn a note
Deltawing debacle hits the papers with open letter to Nissan bossIn the latest step in his campaign against Nissan and several of its employees over the rights to the 'deltawing' vehicle design, the US motorsport heavyweight Don Panoz has placed full page ads in US media asking for a face-to-face meeting with the company's global boss Carlos Ghosn.
"We certainly don't believe that you intended for your company to go as far as using the design ideas of others without proper compensation or recognition. Yet, that is exactly what has happened," read an open letter from Panoz placed in The Tennessean, the local paper that serves Nissan's US headquarters, and trade paper Automotive News.
The saga dates back to 2009 when the staggered track v-shape layout was originally developed by race car designer Ben Bowlby while he was working for Indycar team owner Rick Ganassi.
When the design failed to get up as the new Indycar control chassis, Ganassi licensed Panoz to develop the experimental Deltawing sports car that raced at Le Mans in 2012 with a Nissan engine and sponsorship. Bowlby was the designer for that project.
Nissan then withdrew from that deal and signed Bowlby full-time. The first iteration of the petrol-electric Zeod RC (pictured) broke cover mid-2013 with the announced intention of going to Le Mans in 2014 as the experimental Garage 56 entry.
Despite clear visual similarities, Nissan and Bowlby insisted Deltawing and Zeod were very different cars.
"This car is an absolutely clean-sheet design," Bowlby told motoring.com.au last October. "Every single element of this car is actually a new conception."
At the 2013 Tokyo show last November, Nissan unveiled a deltawing-style road car dubbed the Bladeglider (also pictured), which it says is a strong chance for production.
Meanwhile, Panoz had continued on racing the Deltawing with a Mazda engine in 2013 and done a deal with Ganassi to allow him to develop a road car based on the technology.
In late November, Panoz and Ganassi filed suit in Georgia Superior Court against Nissan, Bowlby and Nissan's global motorsport marketing boss Darren Cox. They wanted damages and Nissan stopped from building a car based on the staggered track concept.
Panoz has since released images of a rather ungainly looking staggered track road car concept of his own. He has also sought mediation with Nissan, which has steadfastly refused to acknowledge any of his claims.
"We believe that his claims have no merit," a spokesman told Automotive News. "We will continue to fight his claims in court, but we choose not to address through the media his smears against us. The issues will be resolved in due course."
The trigger for this mess, the Zeod RC, made it to the 2014 Le Mans, but after running at 300km/h on Mulsanne and completing an electric lap of the course in practice, it stopped after just five laps of the race when the gearbox failed. Cox said it was a success anyway.
Considering all that's gone on, we wonder if Carlos Ghosn agrees with him?
Share this article
Written byBruce Newton
See all articlesOur team of independent expert car reviewers and journalistsMeet the team
Stay up to dateBecome a carsales member and get the latest news, reviews and advice straight to your inbox.
Subscribe todayRelated articles
Disclaimer
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
Contact
Advertise with us
Local marketplaces
International marketplaces
Scan to download the carsales app
Want more info? Here’s our app landing page
App Store and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Inc. Google Play and the Google Play logo
are trademarks of Google LLC.