Looks like someone didn’t get the memo about the future being all-electric.

EXTREME? The word is almost an understatement.  

The 2021 Huayra R just unveiled by Pagani is the Italian supercar specialist is certainly down to be considered its most outrageous car to date.

This spiritual successor to the 2009 Zonda R is a track-only monster, running a 6.0-litre naturally-aspirated V12 engine designed in collaboration with a Mercedes-backed German race team, HWA, developing 625kW (at 8250rpm) and 750Nm (from 5500-8300rpm).

Though questions about whether it would ever be accepted for competition hang over it, it is nonetheless fully outfitted for racing. So, a roll cage, automatic fire extinguishing system, a pair of race bucket seats with six-point harnesses, a detachable racing steering wheel, race-inspired centre stack with buttons to control lights, brake balance, engine maps and more, a fully-digital motorsport instrument display and AP Racing adjustable race pedals.

If push came to shove, it could almost run as a single class; only 30 examples of a machine intended to represent “the full expression of Pagani Automobili’s technological development" are being built – so that’s a nice number of a decent field. Each is priced at $NZ4.3 million. Before taxes.

Those buying-in will have access to an 'Arte in Pista' (art on the track, in Italian) programme, comprising a range of on-track driving events from individual track days to group events with other Huayra R owners in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Imagine the sound of these cars weighing as a pack. That V12 is certainly pretty special. Weighing just 198kg, it’ll rev up to 9000rpm and features a 200-bar direct-injection system to improve thermal efficiency and aid performance. The lightweight alloy exhaust has equal-length exhaust manifold runners designed to allow it to “roar like a F1 car of the past.”

Drive is sent to the rear wheels through a six-speed sequential transmission, featuring a motorsport-derived clutch and a 'dog ring' design, the latter seeing the synchromeshes between gears typically found in road-going transmissions deleted to reduce shift times.

Under the skin, the Huayra R's monocoque chassis employs a range of composite materials designed to reduce weight and improve safety on track, including Carbo-Titanium HP62-G2 and chrome-molybdenum alloy steel.

Pagani claims a dry weight of 1050kg, along with 51 per cent and 16 per cent in flexural and torsional rigidity at the rear of the car versus a road-going Huayra.

Suspension is covered by forged aluminium alloy double wishbones front and rear, paired with reworked geometry, helical springs and electronically-controlled adaptive dampers.

It runs 19-inch forged aluminium alloy wheels designed by APP Tech, wrapped in 275mm front and 325mm rear Pirelli P Zero racing slick tyres, and achieves Brembo CCM-R carbon-ceramic brakes, clamped by six-piston calipers. The hardcore aerodynamics package is designed to produce 1000kg of downforce at 320kmh.