Pagani Zonda: The Ultimate Guide

About the Pagani Zonda

The Pagani Zonda is a delicious slice of car lust to come out of Italy and one of the most highly sought after supercars in the world. There have been no lack of Zonda variants since its debut in 1999 and just when we keep thinking production is over, Pagani shows us another one-off variant for a special client. Despite the number of variants, there have been less than 200 cars built and sold so this is a really rare supercar.

The Pagani is considered by many as a hard edged car with stupendous performance and handing out of this world. Many components of the Zonda have a minimalist beauty to them, such as leaving body panels in unfinished carbon-fiber, or leaving suspension and chassis components fully exposed, and the pieces of the instrumentation panel looks like jewels in some ornate setting. The attention to detail and craftsmanship is amazing, and you can really see that in the photos below.

It isn't just the interior and level of detail that make these cars special because the Zonda engines continue the madness. The Zonda S for examples uses a 7.0 L (427 cu in) AMG–tuned monster. It produces 540hp (400 kW) and the car can accelerate to 62 mph (100 km/h) in 3.7 secs, to 100 mph (160 km/h) in 7.5 secs and complete the quarter mile in 11.3 secs. Lateral acceleration on the skidpad is 1.18 g(11.6 m/s²), it can reach a top speed of 208 mph (335 km/h). Fast forward a few years to the release of the Zonda R and the V12 AMG power plant has 750 horsepower and the car hits 60mph in 2.7 seconds, with a maximum speed of 233mph.

To get a sense of how this company operates you need to hear the story behind the conception of the Zonda R. The Zonda F was a powerful enough car, a street-road version, which too, was a limited production run. But, one day, one of the customers who already owned several F models wondered what it would be like to have a track-version. Initial drawings were completed in 2006, and the first model was shown at the Vienna Luxus Motor Show 2009. The company stated that their goal with the Pagani Zonda R was to reach new heights by disbanding all the rules. Of course, safety would never be compromised.

While it is an independent company, Pagani has always used AMG engines. Over the years the Zonda has used increasingly advanced versions of the M120 V12 engine; the initial version displaced 6.0L, but the last Zondas used a 7.3L engine. Over the years output kept increasing and the Zonda R has 750 PS (552 kW; 740 hp) at 8500 rpm and 710 N·m (524 lb·ft) of torque. The Zonda R which is the penultimate version of the Zonda lineup has a lightweight carbon fibre high performance intake system, racing multiple disc centered clutch and Formula One-style exhaust system, hydroformed in Inconel 625 and ceramic coated for optimal heat dissipation, have been added. The engine is bolted directly to the chassis and also has direct throttle actuation via mechanical cable to ensure immediate throttle response. The Xtrac Magnesium cased dog ring gearbox combined with tha Automac Engineering AMT system performs gearshifts in 20ms, triggered by the drivers input on the paddles behind the steering wheel. A 12-way Bosch Motorsport traction control and ABS system allows the driver to fully adjust the settings while driving the Zonda R. Totally race spec and hardcore.

Zonda Model List. Every Zonda Ever Made.

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