Is This The Road Car of The Future?

Developed by the guy who's also behind one of America's quirkiest car builders (Panoz) the DeltaWing is a radically-designed car that started out as a set of mathematical theories aimed at improving efficiency. It first was rejected as a new model for IndyCar, but progressed into a living, breathing race car in American Le Mans Series. As with most societal disruptors, it's been met with equal parts praise and ridicule. Don Panoz thinks the time has come to present it as the road going, four-seater you see here. So the question now becomes: is the DeltaWing the future of sports cars?

Success on the racetrack has been modest (11 races, 0 wins), but remember, it's effectively spent time competing against the pooled development of legions of engineers working for more established marques. And while he's developed the conceptual four-seater, Panoz has no plans to develop a road-going version in-house, as the 79-year-old has said he'd like to sell the design to larger carmakers (he owns the design's patent) looking for alternate ways of reaching ever more stringent federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards.

Last December, Panoz filed a lawsuit against Nissan for alleged patent infringement after the Japanese automaker developed the ZEOD RC, an eerily similar design to the DeltaWig. (Nissan's adding to the drama of this year's Le Mans by running the ZEOD RC, despite the pending lawsuit.)

Whether or not the company can successfully sell the design, it does seem likely that we'll see a road-going car like this eventually, even if it's in small numbers.

So, what are your thoughts? Is this the future of sports cars, one which combines fuel efficiency and performance? Or is it destined to be yet another quirky piece of the motoring fabric that gets mentioned in the same breath as the infamous three-wheeled Reliant Robin? Sound off in the comments below.

Aaron Miller is the Rides editor for Supercompressor. He likes the aerodynamic theory at play in the DeltaWing, but isn't a fan of the narrow track width up front.