Motoring in Spain - Pagiani Zonda
Pagiani Zonda
Pagani Zonda
The ultimate Christmas gift
With a price tag of €700,000 and just 25 built around the world, the Pagani Zonda F – star of the annual Málaga Motor Show last month – is the ideal present for the one who already has everything.
Horacio Pagani’s family would never have had much doubt about his future career. At the age of 12 his passion for cars, speed and design was obvious when he carved amazing models of supercars from wood and clay. He made his debut in the world of racing cars when he was 20, designing an F-3 that competed in Argentina in the colours of the official Renault team, and he then moved on to an fast-track apprenticeship in industrial auto design – combining a blend of "creativity and a maniacal search for perfection".
But his dream was to build his own supercar – and in 1988 that started to become a reality when the draft drawings of the "C8 project" were shown to his "childhood hero", Juan Manuel Fangio.
He was "much more than a great champion", says Pagani. "His accuracy, uprightness and human and technical sensibility have been an example and inspiration for me... The name of the car should have been Fangio F1. He followed the project with strong enthusiasm. The F1 had to be innovative, safe and powered by a Mercedes engine. He then passed away and as a sign of respect I did not dare call the car Fangio 1 and I decided to name it Zonda, "el viento de las Andes" (the wind of the Andes")… The result is the Zanda F, a car that I wish to dedicate to Juan Manuel Fangio, the man who has made everything different."
TECHNICAL DATA
MODEL
Zonda F
ENGINE
V12, 7.3 litre
POWER
760 bhp
TRANSMISSION
6-speed
PERFORMANCE
0-100kph: 3.6 seconds
Top speed: 345 kph
