Pagani Launches Zonda R

Pagani showed a scale model of its Zonda R at the Geneva show last year. The car has now come to life and is reportedly the fastest Pagani ever. The Zonda R is born from owner Horatio Pagani’s dreams. “The car’s long been a crazy dream of mine, but I never expected to find so many people who were just as crazy,” he told Autocar. There will only be sixteen cars produced, and only five remain up for grabs. Pagani is right to call this car crazy. The Zonda R sports a 6.0-liter Mercedes-Benz V-12 engine and is the product of further development on the 6.0-liter V-12 found in the Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR race car from the late 1990s. The engine produces a monstrous 739 hp and 524 lb-ft of torque. The cars basic body structure is built from a woven mix of carbon fiber and titanium and is the first car in the world to use the material. The special weave is four times the cost of ordinary carbon fiber, but can easily be absorbed into the cars €1.4 million ($1.8 million) price tag. Using the exotic material helps the Zonda R achieve a curb weight of just 2300 lbs. With 739 hp and only 2300 lbs to propel, the Zonda R is good for 0-to-60 mph in under 3.0 seconds and will reach 233 mph before running out of steam. To help transmit the power to the ground, Pagani employs a 6-speed sequential transmission with an Automac Engineering AMT system. The Pagani Zonda R uses 15-inch ventilated Brembo carbon ceramic brakes at the front and rear to provide fade-free stopping at the track. While the Zonda R may be a completely unique vehicle, it does have one similarity to other Zondas: it won’t be coming to the States. If you’re interested in purchasing one of the five remaining Zonda R’, you may want to brush up on NHTSA’s “Show and Display” loophole... Source: Pagani via Auto Car