While Pagani is testing our nerves with its shadowy teaser videos, Youtube user 'Marchettino' caught the Italian supercar on test in its homeland. The first clean-sheet design Pagani in years, which is currently known by its C9 codename, is pegged for a debut at the Geneva Salon in March. The gullwing-door supercar will be powered by a new 6.0-liter bi-turbocharged V12 sourced from Mercedes-Benz's AMG division, tuned to deliver somewhere around 700 horsepower and over 1,000 Nm or 738 lb-ft of peak torque. Video follows after the jump.
We didn’t have to wait long for the second teaser of the Pagani C9 to be released and, fortunately, this time it’s more about the car than some presumably good Italian coffee. The clip shows some of the interior’s highlights. Amidst the symphony of exposed metal parts and high quality leather, we could make out a Ferrari 458 Italia-style steering wheel, with all sorts of switches (including index controls), and the engine key featured in the first teaser. Video and screenshots available after the jump.
One would expect an action-filled teaser for a supercar like the upcoming Pagani C9, which will replace the aging Zonda, but the Italian maker approached the task in a more laid-back manner, choosing to show us a man enjoying some coffee and the written news. And then, at the end of the clip, he picks up something that resembles a scale model of the new supercar incorporating what appears to be the engine key. Now, is this the best way to start your day or what? Video after the jump.
With modern day racing video games blurring the lines between virtuality and reality, it's no wonder some readers mistook last Friday's Need For Speed Hot Pursuit Trailer featuring a Police-livered Lamborghini Murcielago and a Pagani Zonda for a very well executed CGI when in fact it was a real-life film (see it here). If you still have doubts, then follow the jump to watch the video and get behind the scenes of the live-action shoot out.
Live action game trailers are nothing new. It's an easy way for developers to tease their upcoming titles without having to reveal any actual graphics or gameplay. Recent examples of this include Resident Evil 5 and Halo 3: ODST.
So there's a new trailer out for Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, the latest in the NFSseries and the third Hot Pursuit title. However, this trailer comes with something special: a spectacular live action realisation of the chase from the E3 reveal trailer.
In the original trailer, we see an epic chase whereby a Koenigsegg CCX, Pagani Zonda Cinque and McLaren MP4-12C are pursued by two Ford Shelby GT500s, a Bugatti Veyron, a Lamborghini Murciélago and a Bell 206 helicopter. This is all realized (presumably) with the in-game engine and is pretty sweet in itself.
However, it's nothing compared to this real-life chase between an orange Zonda Cinque, police issue Murciélago and Bell 206 through the Italian Alps from the game's marketing team. It's the sort of thing that has to be seen to be believed. Watch the video, and let us know what you think in the comments.
Let's face it: buying a supercar is hard. They're expensive, they're hard to insure and if you crash one you're bound to see it posted on Carscoop. So what do you do if you crave the supercar looks but can't stomach the supercar hang-ups? You buy an Italian knockoff, that's what.
This here is the Lavazza GTX-R and yes, it does look a lot like a Ferrari Enzo (with a pinch of Pagani) if you squint...and are drunk...and are wearing sunglasses...at night. Ahem.
If you read the Italian version of the site, power comes from a BMW-sourced 5.4-liter V12 producing 489HP that can accelerate the GTX-R from 0 to 100 km/h (0 to 62 mph) in just 4.3 seconds. However, the English-language page makes word of the same V12 with 620HP but a 0-100km/h sprint time of 4.6 seconds. Go figure...
Anyway, the GTX-R also comes with a carbon / Kevlar body, tubular steel frame and a 6-speed electro-pneumatic transmission.
Okay, so not quite Enzo beating performance. Still it can be yours for...nope, they're not saying. Oh, and the electro-pneumatic transmission? I'm reliably informed that it's used on busses. Ah well, c'est la vie.
Ever wonder what it's like to be an automotive journalist? Well, for a select few, there are times when it can be (very) rewarding. See, not many journalists will have the chance to get their hands on a Pagani Zonda R. On the other hand, few are as qualified as Fifth Gear co-host Tiff Needell to justify such a pricey loan and this video stands as a testimony to that.
So, after delighting your eyes with the awesome commercial and remembering why you adore the Zonda R, take a look at Needell running the Italian supercar through its paces.
And just in case your memory fails you, we'll remind you that the supernatural howl comes from a 6.0-liter AMG V12 engine, sourced from the Mercedes Benz CLK-GTR, capable of 750 hp (559 kW) and 523 lb-ft (709 Nm) of torque.
Weighing in at just 2,358 pounds (1,070 kg), this track-ready beast catapults to 62 mph (100 km/h) in just 2.7 seconds and into our hearts with the speed of light.
This here conceptual proposal for a mid-engined supercar is the AMV-R (an acronym for Automotive Visual Racing) and it's the brainchild of Alexei Mikhailov, a third year design student at the Humber College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning in Toronto, Canada. The renderings were not accompanied by any details on the car, but we could easily see the AMV-R wearing the Pagani logo. More photos after the jump.
Fans of Pagani's Zonda (that is, everyone) may want to turn away. In what could only be called a crime against nature, this Pagani Zonda S is said to have hit spun out and gotten intimate with a pole. That's what you call an "Oh sh!t" moment.
The result: one of the largest insurance claims filed for a privately-owned car in the UK (at £300,000 / ~$445,000), according to insurer Aviva.
Also, it's been said that the person behind the wheel was taking it for a test drive and that the owner was riding shotgun...
The driver ended up filing the claim, and...IT WAS SIR JACKIE STEWART! That is, unless Sir Jackie's spokesman is telling the truth, in which case, that's egg on my face. Here's what he said: "Sir Jackie wasn't in the country. He's never driven the car and doesn't know the owner."
Regardless, the Zonda's been sent to Modena for repairs. Fair enough; I wouldn't want to get rid of my baby, either, write-off or not.
I wonder how having a former F1 World Champion affects resale value? Mr. Schumacher, would you be interested in totaling a '99 Chrysler in the near future?
Not that a boutique automaker like Pagani depends in any way on commercials to sell a dozen or so pieces of its Zonda exotics, but it doesn't hurt to release a short promotional film, especially if it's so well executed as this one. Follow the jump and enjoy three-splendid-minutes with the Pagani Zonda R.
Pagani's Zonda has had more than a few iterations; it's like the Mustang of the über-supercar set. The latest is called the Tricolore, and it's most likely the last special edition Zonda ever as its replacement, the all-new C9 is on its way.
Built for a Spanish importer and debuting in Geneva next week, the Zonda Tricolore is based on the uniquely-bodied Cinque, carbon fiber body and all (we're assuming the power train is a carryover).
However, unlike the mass-produced 10-unit Cinque - of which five coupes and five roadsters were built - the Tricolore is limited to one example said to be priced at €1.3 million or about US$1.75 million at today's exchange rates.
Items that make the Tricolore stand out (other than the fact that's it's a freakin' Pagani Zonda) are the Italian flag-inspired stripe job, triangular R-derived brake cooling inlets out back, and the too-cool-for-school shark fin behind the cockpit.
That fin, no doubt, is to draw a more obvious connection to the inspiration of the Tricolore: Italy's Frecce Tricolori, the Italian air force's aerobatic division (think the US Navy's Blue Angels).
Personal recommendation? If you like it, find a way to cash in on that insurance policy and hop on the next flight to Switzerland.
