13 replies to this topic

[ferrarigto]

Hi, I m Searching Infos About Race Cars

How Many GR4/GR5 Built ?
Where They Race ?
Who Built THem ?
Photos ?

Thank You

[Frank de Jong]

Welcome at TNF.
group 4 cars raced in the European GT championship (with drivers like Mike Parkes, Clay Regazzoni, Herbert Müller and Mario Casoni) and some national championships (like Belgium). A few races were won.
The group 5 cars were raced probably in italy and in some rounds of the world group 5 championship, with less known drivers and little succes.
I think most cars were built by the factory - IIRC tou could buy a group 4 or group 5 car there (Pantera GT4 or GT5 I think). But Sala & Malverti built cars too, if I'm correct.
Panteras were raced as late as 1995 by british team ADA.

Results can be found at WSPR-Racing

[HEROS]

You can find information (in french) about De Tomaso Pantera G.4
on the following link.

[Mike Lawrence]

Do not speak of the Pantera. I had a GT5S on road test for a week in 1985, it was all Stetson and no cattle.

I lurched through London on a Friday afternoon. It is surprising the number of drivers who think that a blast on the horn from a Ford Sierrar will cure spark plugs which have oiled-up. You never never knew how many cylinders would be firing. You cpould go into a corner on five cyclinders and come out on wight with rubber on the road to prove it.

I aw a Mum in front of a toy shop who wanted to draw the attention of he six-year old son to something. He was not interested, he was tugging at her skirts so she would see the Panera.

One thing you did need was a passenger, to keep watch for the police. I drove down the Kingston By-pass with a fuzzmobile on my tail. I did not know this until the occupants decided thay should catch criminals and peeled off. The reason I could not see the fuzz was the carbonfibre wing, which cracked when I drove the car above 130 mph on the Bruntingthorpe Straight.

It was an amazing pose. Girls said so in messages on the wing. They realised that such a car could only be bought by some aging poseur so they did not leave their phone numbers.

I took a lady friend in it and we did a round trip of around 200 miles. I dropped her off at her house, she had a date. and I went home to Mum. I had the best totty-puller for miles around, but I had just given it a long haul.

Know what I did? I watched a crap TV show called 'Family Favourites' and I was in bed before ten, utterly exhausted. My left arn (we speak of a clunky ZF gearbox) was better developed than my right arm.

So far as I can make out, everything that de Tomaso made was a bag of ****. He could not even copy a Cooper yet there has never been a chassis more simple to copy.

I have also driven the one example of the de Tomaso Vallelunga and can report that it was crap as well.

De Tomaso made nothing but junk, but his wife was an heiress to the Ford empire so why should he worry?

[Pedro 917]

This yellow Pantera driven by Damgaard (Denmark) won the FIA-GTC pre-76 race at Spa a couple of weeks ago. There were 2 other Panteras but they didn't finish the race.....:

[Olivier Favre]

According to Janos Wimpffen's book "Time and two seats", Panteras were entered in 40 races counting for the World Championship of Makes, from 1972 (first race : Monza) to 1983 (last race : Mugello)
The best overall result was a 3rd place at Vallelunga in 1977 (Micangeli-Pietromarchi).
Add 2 victories in the GT class : Monza and Spa in 1972
Most Panteras in the same race : 4 at Le Mans 1972

[biercemountain]

There were a few Panteras that raced in IMSA here in the states during the seventies. I saw one at a Road Atlanta race back then that was, how shall one say, not particularly competitive.

[Nanni Dietrich]

A De Tomaso Pantera GTS entered by Jolly Club won the Giro d'Italia 1973 driven by Mario Casoni-Raffaele Minganti.
At the time the Giro d'Italia was one of the most important non-championship races in Europe, similar to the Tour de France Automobile.

[D-Type]

If memory serves me right in the seventies there was a British club racing deriesfor 'Production Sports Cars'. The owners of (expensive) Panteras were miffed to be beaten by (relatively cheap) Lotus Sevens and had them banned. This gave Chapman his opportunity - he advertised the Seven with the slogan 'Lotus Seven - too fast to race'.
Can someone who knows confirm the story?

[Dave Ware]

That might have been Hugh Klienpeter who campaigned one in IMSA. Like you said, not a lot of success.

[Tuxy]

Gorgeous.

[Ted Walker]

Chris Meek (Mallory Park owner) ran a Panterra in that production sports car series;.

[Milan Fistonic]

According to the report in Motoring News, Herbert Muller's win in the Coupes Benelux, fourth round of the European Grand Touring Trophy, at Nivelles on July 2, 1972, was the first ever outright win for the De Tomaso Pantera. Jean-Marie Jacquemin finished second in a similar car.

[Frank S]

Is this one of them?

1972 Pantera
William Cotter of Washington state
at Naval Air Station North Island
Coronado California
09 October 2004