Some people are never satisfied. Simply ask Horacio Pagani, who was convinced that the £1.5m, 669bhp Zonda Cinque Roadster would be the last highway-going Zonda the Pagani factory would ever produce. But he hadn’t counted on the diploma of pestering he would obtain from wealthy Pagani clientele for a street-going model of the much more excessive, however track-use solely, 739bhp Zonda R.
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For the ten customers who have
bought a Zonda R so far, gaining access to a circuit every time they
fancy going for a spin is obviously not a problem, but for the rest of
the world’s supercar-buying population, you could argue that the Zonda R
is a tad compromised. That’s why Horacio eventually started to consider
building a Zonda R for the road and, together with a small group of
equally fanatical engineers, has spent the last year developing the car
you see here, the mighty Zonda 760RS – or ‘La Bestia’ (The Beast) as
it’s affectionately known at Pagani.
I first got wind of this
car completely by accident while visiting the Pagani factory in Modena
last year. I was walking through the workshop when I spotted the
well-used Zonda development car hiding in the corner. But something
looked different. At first I couldn’t work out what it was, then it
dawned on me: the back of the gearbox casing was protruding out of the
rear valance further than normal, just like it does on a Ferrari 288
GTO. But why was there a new type of gearbox hanging out the back of
this development hack? I’d understood that all Zonda development had
ceased when the focus switched to bringing its successor, the Huayra,
towards production reality…
After plenty of arm-twisting over
the coming months, I finally got an answer. Apparently it all came about
after AMG found a way of increasing the output of the 7.3-litre V12
engine it makes for the Zonda from the Cinque’s 669bhp to 750bhp (760
PS). Unbeknown to the outside world, Horacio had previously decided that
if Pagani was ever to build a Zonda R for the road then the 7.3 V12 had
to at least equal the 739bhp tally of the 6-litre V12 race engine
fitted to the R (unfortunately that engine could never be made to work
in a road car because of emissions, noise and durability issues). With
the news from AMG that 750bhp was possible, the road-going Zonda R
project was given the green light and attention turned next to finding a
way to speed up the gearchange of the six-speed single-clutch
automated-manual gearbox (first used in the Cinque) to match that of the
race-derived ’box found in the R. That’s where this new seven-speed
paddle-shift ’box comes in. With new internals and so-called
‘super-synchros’, which include an internal brake to slow the gears down
quicker before engaging on downshifts, it promised quicker changes
(said to be just 60ms), faster acceleration and an even higher top
speed.
Pagani started testing this exciting new drivetrain in
its development car last year. Now, 12 months later, it is putting the
final touches to the very first customer car to use it. Time for another
visit to the factory.
‘La Bestia’ certainly lives up to its
nickname. Clothed in glossy bare carbonfibre and finished off with matt
black wheels, it looks properly menacing when I see it for the first
time inside Pagani’s new factory buildings. The finish of the
carbonfibre bodywork on this customer car is simply exquisite, with only
silver brake calipers and an inch-wide slash of silver paint on each
side (running from the front valance, along the bottom of the doors and
ending just behind the rear wheels) adding some contrast to the
overriding blackness.
It’s hard to know where to begin when it
comes to listing the details that define this ultimate Zonda, but let’s
begin with the new rear spoiler, which is a monster and perches on top
of two adjustable pylons that position it even higher than the one
fitted to the Cinque. It’s wider too, and sitting just in front of it is
a new dorsal fin, there to smooth out the airflow over the rear wing at
very high speeds. It makes the car look even more like some sort of Le
Mans refugee, as does the elongated air intake snaking its way from the
top of the windscreen back towards the mighty V12 engine, just visible
below the rear clamshell.
Move to the nose of the car and you’ll
find two new winglets on the sides that deflect air away from the
turbulence caused by the front wheels. At 10 inches wide, the front
wheels themselves are an inch wider than those found on the Cinque,
while the rears are half an inch wider at 13 inches across. The wider
front wheels have necessitated new arch extensions and these are screwed
in place, just like those on a Porsche 993 GT2. The only details I’m
not entirely convinced by are the strange LED
running lights sitting
just below the front light clusters. They give the unmistakable look of
a smiley face, which I’m sure wasn’t the intention.
Sitting
beside the 760RS in the workshop is the travel-stained development
Zonda, sporting a bare carbon nose section and an orange wrap over the
rest of its bodywork, plus the same rear wing and snorkel as the
customer car. Most importantly, its engine has been uprated to 760
specification. It will be this car that will give me my first taste of
what a 750bhp Zonda drives like, because today’s plan is for me to drive
it behind Pagani’s test driver, Davide Testi, as he takes the customer
760RS out on a shakedown drive before it’s prepped for shipping to its
new owner in South America in two days’ time. Even better, I’m going to
have a drive in the proper 760 too, because its very generous new owner
has agreed to allow evo a drive in his new toy, which when you consider
he hasn’t even seen it yet, let alone driven it, is very decent of him.
There’s
nothing like the blare of two 7.3-litre V12s snorting into life to get
you energised about the day ahead. The vibe of 24 cylinders champing at
the bit is rattling around the garage and sounds magnificent. Inside the
development car I flick the right-hand paddle to select first gear,
then edge forwards and follow Davide out into the bright sunlight.
The
combination of two-metre-wide bodywork, a rear wing that wouldn’t look
out of place at RAF Brize Norton and the most extreme rear diffuser I’ve
ever seen outside the confines of a race circuit must make these Zondas
look almost surreal in the dreary morning traffic around Bologna. How
often do you get to see a brace of extreme Paganis flying in formation
through the morning rush hour on your way to work?
As we head
for the hills, the howl emanating from the sooty-black exhaust of the
760RS up front pierces the cabin of my car every time Davide floors the
throttle. I try to follow suit whenever the road is clear enough, but
with 750bhp under my right foot to play with, each squirt only lasts a
few seconds before we catch another knot of traffic.
The punch
from the revised engine feels properly strong, but trying to determine
where the extra horsepower over and above the Cinque’s 669bhp really
kicks in is tricky as the seven-speed gearbox has very different ratios
to the six-speeder I’m more used to. The good news is I’ve got another
500rpm to play with because the engine revisions have raised the rev
limit to 7500rpm. This makes a significant difference to the way you
drive, because each time you change gear you’re higher up the rev-range,
so acceleration is that bit stronger than it was before. I can’t wait
for my go in the customer car, though. I’ve been told that it’s a
remarkable 200kg lighter than the development car thanks to Pagani’s new
construction techniques for the carbon body panels and also its
titanium suspension components (first used on the Cinque) and trick
carbo-titanium passenger cell.
Right on cue, Davide pulls into a
lay-by in front of me. It’s time to swap cars. The 760RS’s door is
noticeably lighter as I swing it open. The black Alcantara-covered
bucket seat beckons me to climb over the chunky sill, its carbo-titanium
weave glinting in the sunshine. Once I’m cocooned in the new seat
(adjustable fore and aft but not for rake unless you’ve brought a
spanner with you) I’m surrounded by blackness. The only bright aluminium
is the steering wheel’s spokes; the rest of the dash furniture is
finished in cool black anodised aluminium, which makes a real difference
to this Zonda’s interior, making it appear less Versace and more Prada
to my eyes.
Twisting the key one notch energises the electrical
systems; next you can either twist the key a bit more or press the
scarlet button by the gear selector to bring the engine to life. I go
for the latter (it adds to the theatre). This car is still running the
default software for the gearbox, so the changes feel a bit ponderous
compared with the altogether more lively ones in the development car,
but what I can sense straight away is this car’s lack of mass. With a
dry weight of just 1210kg, the 760RS boasts a power-to-(dry)-weight
ratio of 630bhp per ton. To put that figure into perspective, the new
BMW M5 would have to have over 1100bhp hiding under its bonnet to match
it.
Even though this is the most extreme road-going Zonda in
existence, those same qualities that make the ‘lesser’ Zondas such easy
supercars to drive are all still present. The ride remains exemplary,
for example, completely defying what you would expect for something
that’s so low it appears to be glued to the tarmac. And while the engine
is rabidly more powerful in this latest incarnation, there’s still a
truckload of torque on offer at any revs (with a peak of 575lb ft at
4500rpm), so no matter what gear you’re in, acceleration is never less
than ferocious.
Yet it’s the howl that accompanies each serious
prod of the accelerator that’s truly shocking. Mix the heavy V12 snarl
of a Ferrari Enzo with the wail of a wrung-out superbike and you’d be
only halfway to the full-blooded battle-cry this crazed Zonda creates.
As we storm up a twisting, deserted road that leads to the little town
of Zocca, high in the hills behind Maranello, the quad exhausts behind
me crackle away on each downshift, sending a shockwave through the
valley below. It’s almost like sniper fire, such is the ferocity, and
with the sound reverberating off the hills, it makes me wish this drive
will never end.
This latest engine upgrade adds another layer
of greatness to what was already a pretty special engine. It’s not quite
the giant leap over the Cinque’s 669bhp version that I was expecting,
but there is a new sense of never-ending power on tap, and with the
seven-speed gearbox stacking the ratios that little bit closer together,
you never find yourself ‘between gears’ in the 760RS. Having said that,
you rarely use sixth and seventh because they’re taller now and the
gearbox won’t even allow you to select seventh unless you’re doing at
least 60mph.
There’s so much to enjoy in this latest version of
the seemingly perennial Zonda that it’s hard to take it all in. But
Zondas have always been like this. It’s Pagani’s obsession with the
details that makes its cars so unique, and its engineers just can’t help
themselves, adding another tweak or two if they believe it’ll add to
the experience.
Is the 760 the very last Zonda? Horacio Pagani
is reluctant to say either way. What we do know is that there seem to be
more and more wealthy enthusiasts who want a very special Zonda for
themselves. So the 760RS is branded with ‘1 of 1’, but there will be
more Zondas with the 750bhp engine. The next will be called the 760LH
and is being built for an F1 world champion (I’ll let you work out who
that might be). Interestingly, he’s ordered his car with a manual
gearbox (as has the buyer of 760 no. 3) because, and I quote, ‘My
company car has a paddle-change gearbox, so when I drive for fun, I want
a manual’.
I like his thinking, but I’m still a big fan of the
automated manual in this car because it adds another dimension to the
Zonda experience. But, whichever gearbox you choose, it’s that mad
engine that dominates. Yes, the £1.5m price tag attached to a Zonda 760
is a crazy amount of money, but then the driving experience it buys is
also unique. While many of today’s supercars get increasingly high-tech,
the Zonda remains relatively old-school, and that, in my book, is what
makes it so special.
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