Subscribe to download
Panoz AIV Roadster 1999

The AIV Roadster, designed around the time when most American production cars were not renowned for their handling characteristics, was a breath of fresh air to many. While the car shares many components with Ford (allowing the car to be serviced at any Ford dealership), the things most important to provide a good handling car were meticulously designed to provide a fun, stable car that was just about as quick around the bends as any other sports (or even super) cars of the time.

It employs double wishbone suspension all-round, a near 50/50 weight distribution, light weight, at around 1170kg, and comes equipped with an LSD.

The engine represents a near perfect balance between power and drive-ability, while not producing the insane figures of some modern sports cars, by no means is the car a slouch either. Straight from the Ford Mustang, the engine produces 305hp, 407Nm, enough to propel the car from 0-60mph (96km/h) in just 4.6 seconds. Aerodynamic drag does significantly inhibit the cars top speed, though, to around 135mph (217km/h).