Hamilton sells Zonda for Greener choice
/F1 champ has given his personalised Pagani the flick. Care to guess what he got for it?
Read MoreF1 champ has given his personalised Pagani the flick. Care to guess what he got for it?
Read MoreEXTREME? 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.
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