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<body> <Table Width="550" border="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" cellpadding="0"><TR><TD Width="35"><IMG SRC="//www.totalmotorsport.com/images/spacer.gif" WIDTH="35" HEIGHT="1"></td><td> <CENTER><Table border="0" width="100%"> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="5">AMERICAN LE MANS SERIES</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="left"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="2">13/02/2001</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="4">Panoz Testing</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="3">Good Progress</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="1">  </FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="left"><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="2"> David Brabham, Jan Magnussen and Klaus Graf were all testing the Panoz LMP07 at Road Atlanta last weekend. The team’s fourth driver for the shorter races should be known by the time of this weekend’s ALMS Spring Training at the same circuit.<BR> <BR> The LMP07 demonstrated very high lateral G loads in cornering from the outset, so development has concentrated on aerodynamics and cooling, reliability and the new ‘paddle’ gearshift system. The car originally ran with a conventional gearchange. The new system was initially programmed to make fairly conservative changes, but the software was adjusted to speed up the change as experience of it was acquired.<BR> <BR> The tale from Valencia that the team were replacing the gearbox was erroneous; it was simply a change in the shift mechanism.<BR> <BR> 165 laps were completed by the three drivers last weekend, pointing towards the fact that reliability issues are rapidly being overcome. There’s a sense of real optimism about this project in Atlanta. With a new engine and gearbox in an all new car, it wasn’t expected to be race ready straight away, but David Brabham has regularly suggested that by mid Summer, the LMP07 is going to be a very effective Prototype.<BR> <BR> More modifications are expected for this weekend’s test.<BR> </FONT></TD></TR> </TABLE><BR> </CENTER> <BR><CENTER><font size="1" color="#808080" face="Tahoma">Copyright ©2000-©2023 TotalMotorSport</font></CENTER> </td> </tr> </table> </body>