. The
Panoz DP01 was developed to be safer, and less aero-dependent while racing closely with other cars than previously existing Champ Cars. At a weight of 1460 pounds, the DP-01 was 105 pounds lighter than the outgoing Lola and approximately 9 inches shorter. It featured a 950-
horsepower Cosworth XFE 2.65-liter turbocharged V8. The DP01 could go from 0-60 mph in 2.2 seconds, 0-100 mph in 4.2 seconds, and had an approximate top speed of 240 mph. The Panoz had numerous changes from the previous Lola car, including more
downforce from the underbody. Approximately 60% of the car's of downforce at came from the bottom of the car. This was done by directing the air in a way so as to create additional downforce on the car, thereby effectively sucking it to the racetrack. This put less dependency on the front and rear wings in the event of a failure at high speed. Another major change from the previous car was the raised nose, which was moved farther above the front wing and directing more air to the
underbody aerodynamics. The raised nose also created a safer environment for the driver in the event of a head-on collision with a wall or another car. The driver sat more upright than in the Lola chassis, to reduce the chances of back injuries, and to better accommodate the use of the
HANS device. Champ Car intended to lower the purchasing cost of the chassis and spare parts to ease the financial pressure on the teams, who had to purchase a brand new car and were not able to reuse their existing chassis. Whereas the outgoing Lola chassis cost approximately US $450k, the DP-01 cost US $295k. Spare parts were also priced at about 30 percent cheaper, with a gearbox costing US $45k rather than US $110k and the price of a complete nose assembly was set at US $16k rather than US $33k. An oval version was also in development, but did not progress beyond the wind tunnel model. ==Unveiling==