the Pagani Zonda thread

https://midwestscc.com/topics/the-Pagani-Zonda-thread

Midwest Sports Car Club > Cars, Motorcycles, and Boats

#1 Feb 22, 2008, 7:50 pm Hide

DC33

mark my words
just like with the NSX and Diablo
If I set a goal Ill accomplish it one way or another
so Im making it public for added preasure
one day, as long as I dont find something better, this will be mine!


please feal free to contribute

heres what I want, Zonda S 7.3
#2 Feb 22, 2008, 7:53 pm Hide

DC33

and a Zonda F in all Carbon Fiber just cause it is BAD ASS!!!!
#3 Feb 23, 2008, 3:14 am Hide

Raza76

DC33 wrote
and a Zonda F in all Carbon Fiber just cause it is BAD ASS!!!!

Go for it. When one truly sets their mind to a task, nothing can stop them.


Take me for example; I got up this morning and committed myself to having a cup of coffee. Now I'm drinking it. I see no reason you can't get yourself a Zonda.
#4 Feb 23, 2008, 6:32 am Hide

beeman

http://youtube.com/watch?v=UsRkDHelgm0
#5 Feb 23, 2008, 8:01 am Hide

fourringpilot

The Zonda as "the new king of supercars"? The Murcie is "better than any current f-car"?
Some bold statements. I not sure how anyone can make those claims albiet I tried to keep with a Murcie on a hwy and it is FAST. Faster than the Z06. Here is the vid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ersB-FdX34
#6 Feb 23, 2008, 2:45 pm Hide

andrew

fourringpilot wrote
The Zonda as "the new king of supercars"? The Murcie is "better than any current f-car"?
Some bold statements. I not sure how anyone can make those claims albiet I tried to keep with a Murcie on a hwy and it is FAST. Faster than the Z06. Here is the vid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ersB-FdX34
Awesome video Upload that one on here when I fix the videos.

The beginning of this video is one of the best things i have ever seen, I can't stop watching it:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=VB9hVXuHzKk
The Zonda just sounds incredible.
#7 Feb 23, 2008, 7:05 pm Hide

coco-bun

my current wallpaper on my laptop


i would love to see one in person.
#8 Feb 24, 2008, 6:15 pm Hide

DC33

from some mag:

The battered Ford Escort in front slowed and demanded that we overtook, signalling and waving us to pass. Always the ones to oblige we gunned the 650bhp engine, dropping it down a cog for no good reason whatsoever apart from the wailing caterwaul of a V12 engine.

And as we catapulted alongside the beaten old Ford, the camera phones were waiting and the driver slowly, unwittingly, steered towards a crash with our €540,000 motor. Then there were two amateur photographers invading the shoot, it was just another day when you’re driving a bright orange Pagani Zonda F Roadster.

This is number four of just 25 Zonda F's and they make Ferraris or Lamborghini's look common as cow dung by comparison. So even though the basic design of the Zonda is nine years old, and we’re due a new model this year, possibly even at the impending Geneva show, this car is still capable of stopping traffic so long after Horacio Pagani first shocked the establishment with the new benchmark in the hypercar world.

It looks best from the back, which is the first glimpse almost every other driver will get as it streaks past. That Gatling Gun exhaust is the signature tune of the Zonda family and the F’s single-plane rear wing, carbon diffuser, intricate wire meshwork and pearlescent paint could all form the basis of a thesis. It’s one of those cars that you’ll never get tired of, because you’re centre stage every time you go out the garage.

That’s the thing with these cars, you could spend days poring over the details, the way the carbon-fibre weave matches perfectly, the glovebox comes with the kind of clasp that could adorn a woman’s purse and the machined switchgear sits so elegantly on the centre console plate that catches the light just so. Then there’s the other worldly instrument panel with dials like Rolex bezels.

The eye wanders past the fact that the handbrake is a bog-standard number covered with a dramatic metal collar, or that months of abuse meant the roof clasp struggled to engage, to the immaculately engineered brackets that hold the seat and the proud mirrors atop those wafer thin front wings. This car is so beautiful that you want to buy in to the idea of perfection, it captivates the imagination like nothing else – not even the comparatively clinical Enzo.

If anything the roadster surpasses the coupe’s fine groundwork as this car loses the bubble canopy that came just a little too far towards the front of the car. From the side the Roadster looks even lower slung, more chiselled and more menacing. It’s pure theatre, from every angle.

Over-the-top thinking like this that made us fall in love with cars in the first place. The Zonda F Roadster is dreams made real, the kind of thing kids used to sketch on the back of books and the modern day answer to the Lamborghini Countach that used to sit on all our walls. In terms of pure supercar design, it doesn’t get better than this.

And it comes in at full Clubsport spec, which means it gets the 650bhp version of AMG’s 7.3-litre V12, which should make for a bullying thug of an engine that doesn’t like towns and lives for the long and winding road. But incredibly, this is a liveable supercar, one you could drive every day, if you could leave it by the side of the road and not worry about such a work of beauty.

The F Roadster comes with anti-stall technology to keep the revs coursing through the engine and despite a heavy feel that wonderfully ornate clutch pedal never sends the car bunny hopping down the road. With a higher gear it will handle town’s ruts and potholes with just a shudder bouncing through the carbon-fibre chassis that is reputedly stiffer than Sauber’s old World Sportscars.

It’s a magically simply car to drive, but then I cruised past a mirrored shop window in the centre of Rochester, where Group 20 is based, and was suddenly, classically reminded of the spectacular machine underfoot as the locals struggled to comprehend what was passing before their eyes.

As the road opened out I tickled the throttle, the huge engine took a deep lug of fuel and took off down the road like a stabbed rat. Unlike the equivalent Ferrari that needs revs to truly sing, the Zonda can pull from nothing like a tidal wave building from beneath. With the hood down on a rare gorgeous February day in England, that guttural tugboat of an engine that lies directly behind the seats spins lazily until called upon to simply suck in the world in front.

When that happens the V12 hardens to a screaming metallic symphony and the Zonda F Roadster becomes just about the best car on the planet. Without even a carbon roof to get in the way that big AMG now sings through a hydroformed exhaust – and that’s F1 technology at its best.

Just imagine for a moment soaring down an A-Road in a car that serves up 60mph in 3.6s, which sounds a touch conservative from the bright orange, quilted hotseat. And despite the inevitable aerodynamic problems of a chopped roof, the Roadster hits 214mph when presented with a runway, Autobahn or possibly the Nordschleife.

That’s just 2mph less than the Coupe, and let’s be honest we were never going to get near it in England anyway. We’d have finished up on YouTube with a car this bright, and then in prison.

It comes with a low-pitched fighter plane soundtrack rather than the whining Italian racecars we have come to expect, and has perhaps more character. With modified versions of AMG’s immense driver protection, too, Pagani has produced one of the easiest cars you can imagine until you hit the race track.

He switched to a lighter weave for F, his tribute to co-designer and close friend Juan Manuel Fangio, but with the open-top and closed cars developed side-by-side there’s just no significant losses attached the soft-top version. It would take a track and a tyre budget to explore the subtleties.

At road speeds, within sane limits, the Roadster just won’t budge and hangs on to the bends with the consummate ease of a thoroughbred at work. And the monstrous braking system, ceramic of course, is beyond capable of handling anything the casual road user can throw their way. Things apparently get trickier right on its limits, but nearby Brands Hatch wasn’t an option with a borrowed car.

I just had to drink in the looks of the local youths, the thumbs-up signs came thick and fast and a few hot ladies gave us the eye. And that’s what Zonda F Roadster ownership is all about, standing out from the crowd and producing a one-man, mobile stage show. Even if we’ll never own one, we should just be glad cars like this are there. And this is one of the last Zonda's we’ll see.

With the new car coming there will be no more Zonda's and it was a nightmare getting hold of this one – as Pagani’s delivery schedule simply didn’t allow for it. So we have to give a big thanks to Group20, a supercar club based in the UK, stepped in and supplied the car. If you visit England regularly on business and fancy something fancier than a Renault Clio from Europcar – this is the club for you.

At Group 20, 60 days driving costing just £15,000 for the year, and there’s no points system, the Zonda costs the same as the Range Rover or the Porsche. And the best part is it’s readily available. So if you can afford the £10,000 excess that goes with the understandably intense insurance policy, spend a lot of time in Britain and fancy turning up to business meetings in something special, get in touch and they’ll make your dreams come true.
#9 Mar 1, 2008, 4:59 am Hide

bgwilly31

Ive got that same goal.

The only beef i have with those cars is the AMG motor.

Mercedes reliability is pretty bad. Especially the AMG models.
#10 Mar 5, 2008, 6:31 am Hide

LotusUSA

bgwilly31 wrote
Ive got that same goal.

The only beef i have with those cars is the AMG motor.

Mercedes reliability is pretty bad. Especially the AMG models.

Are you saying it should be a toyota?
#11 Mar 12, 2008, 12:15 pm Hide

Raza76

Seeing as Dan's back on the forum, maybe he'd like to talk about what happened to the Zonda 7.3 when it raced the poor little Super Hamster on GT4-2player last night?
#12 Mar 12, 2008, 12:20 pm Hide

LotusUSA

I would assume the super hamster claimed its victory.
#13 Mar 15, 2008, 5:08 am Hide

bgwilly31

super hamster FTW.

Thats just brutal.

That poor zonda needs a better driver
#14 Mar 15, 2008, 5:25 am Hide

LotusUSA

bgwilly31 wrote
super hamster FTW.

Thats just brutal.

That poor zonda needs a better driver


The Super Hamster can be really sneaky. He can be on your blindspot turn every turn and would make his attack when you're starting to think that you've left him.
#15 Mar 16, 2008, 7:44 am Hide

DC33

bgwilly31 wrote
super hamster FTW.

Thats just brutal.

That poor zonda needs a better driver


pshh

in the game that thing wont turn at all for shit
whoever programed that car in fucked it up baaaaaaaaaad
#16 Mar 17, 2008, 5:41 am Hide

LotusUSA

DC33 wrote
pshh

in the game that thing wont turn at all for shit
whoever programed that car in fucked it up baaaaaaaaaad


I agree. I've used the pagani in gt4 and the car's handling sucked. I don't think the game gve the car any justice.
#17 Mar 17, 2008, 5:42 am Hide

DC33

LotusUSA wrote
I agree. I've used the pagani in gt4 and the car's handling sucked. I don't think the game gve the car any justice.


it does do one hell of a burnout though
all the way through second
#18 Apr 5, 2008, 3:37 pm Hide

DC33

I dont know why I bother to contribute useful info, but here goes:

http://www.fast-autos.net/forum/showthread.php?t=4237

this link has more long term test article at the bottom

http://www.evo.co.uk/carreviews/evolongtermtests/204390/paga...
#19 Apr 5, 2008, 4:41 pm Hide

Pi_Guy

If you are truly hardcore and do not care about your kidneys...the T1.

Just short of getting an open wheel formula car.
#20 Apr 5, 2008, 4:52 pm Hide

DC33

Pi_Guy wrote
If you are truly hardcore and do not care about your kidneys...the T1.

Just short of getting an open wheel formula car.


no where near close to being streetable, let alone street legal

http://www.classicdriver.com/uk/find/4100_results.asp?bs...



and someday when I get it
Webby wont be getting a ride

#21 Apr 7, 2008, 6:39 am Hide

Don-06C6

Get it Dan!! Jesus H Christ I LOVE THE TAIL PIPES!!! You could melt someone that walked behind you.
#22 Apr 7, 2008, 7:30 am Hide

DC33

Don-06C6 wrote
Get it Dan!! Jesus H Christ I LOVE THE TAIL PIPES!!! You could melt someone that walked behind you.


in time
Im po for now
#23 Apr 7, 2008, 8:40 am Hide

CamaroSSBill

Sweet car! I like the orange one!

It sounds like a jet in that one vid!
#24 Apr 7, 2008, 8:46 am Hide

Don-06C6

DC33 wrote
in time
Im po for now
You'll end up with one. You have the brains, the work ethic, and the tenacity Dan.
#25 Apr 7, 2008, 12:10 pm Hide

DC33

Don-06C6 wrote
You'll end up with one. You have the brains, the work ethic, and the tenacity Dan.

brains??