Horacio Pagani Comes to Manchster

If you gave me the chance to sit down for a chat with anyone from the automotive industry, there are many names that spring to mind, but for me, one man’s story, and more than anything, his passion, is unrivalled. That man is Horacio Pagani, and one day in April, I got the once-in-a-lifetime chance to sit down and speak with him about his fascinating history leading up to the brand-new Utopia we were sitting beside.

Horacio was in the UK for the launch of Pagani’s new dealership in Manchester, and later that day there would be an evening soiree in the showroom with Italian canapes and wine to enjoy whilst drooling over the Utopia (the first one I’d seen) and Huayra Roadster.

I greeted the man himself and his son Christopher with a Bongiorno, the fullest extent of my Italian speaking unless we’re talking food, and sat down for our chat. Horacio and Christopher are so approachable, and just as I imagined, Horacio was soon talking with that passion I mentioned about his incredible creations.

About Horacio Pagani

MP: First off, it’s fairly common knowledge that Horacio spent his early years in the automotive industry at Lamborghini after moving from Argentina to Italy, and lent his talent to the 25th Anniversary Countach. I wonder if that time is what inspired him to eventually create his own brand and car, or did it start earlier?

HP: The desire to make my own car didn’t start at Lamborghini, it started when I was a child, around 14 or 15 years old back in Argentina. I have been very lucky in my life and became set on that dream very early on, so I had a lot of time to think about how to actually do it, and I remember telling my mother that I was going to go and be a designer in Modena one day! So, the idea was there from an early age, but it took a long time before the Zonda became a reality.

MP: What you might not know about Horacio’s time at Lamborghini, is that he was an incredibly early believer in composite materials which are now so extensively used in Pagani models, at a time when they were almost unheard of in road cars. His visionary use of these materials can be seen in the Countach Evoluzione and the carbon-tubbed L30 concept, where his design influence is clear, so I had to ask about this era and how he came to be so invested in carbon fibre, at a time when the industry was perfectly happy making cars out of steel, the way they always had.

HP: We’re talking about the mid-‘80s, and at that time this technology was mainly used in Formula 1 and aerospace, and only companies who could afford those materials could use them. Sports cars are not spaceships or F1 cars, and the automotive industry wasn’t ready for the materials and the processes that were used to create components with them. 

The biggest challenge was to find a way to make that technology usable and affordable in road cars, but another thing to overcome was mentality. Companies like Lamborghini and Ferrari were used to making cars in a certain way and they didn’t believe in this technology, so there was resistance from the major players in the industry.

I believe that the most pioneering vehicle I had the chance to work on during my Lamborghini years was the Countach Evoluzione which made me acknowledge the high potential of composite materials, particularly carbon fibre. In 1985, I was put in charge of the new Composite Material Department where I took part in the design of the Countach Evoluzione, the first road car to be entirely made of composites. This project was one of the most innovative vehicles of its time and helped pave the path towards the future of the sports car, with a focus on efficiency, safety and lightness.

The project of the Countach Evoluzione was an R&D opportunity with Lamborghini, but it was never intended to go to production, and the project ended with a crash test. When that project was over, I focused on working on materials, carbon fibre, resins, the paint processes, and everything that needed to be done to go from raw materials to a finished component. 

By the end of the ‘80s, Lamborghini was fairly convinced to go with composite materials, and you can see this in some of the components that were used in the Diablo. The L30 was going to be the next car for the 30th Anniversary of Lamborghini, a car completely done in composite materials, and if we look at that car today, it is still interesting. 

Unfortunately, the Gulf War brought about a lot of cost savings and shifted the focus of the company, so Chrysler had to stop the project, but I believe that car could have changed the industry at the time, and it took nearly another 20 years after that for Lamborghini to release a car with full carbon fibre construction — the Aventador.

MP: You were also heavily involved in the Countach’s last hurrah, the 25th Anniversary. Tell us about that project.

HP: Two years following the Countach Evoluzione, in 1987, Lamborghini celebrated its 25th anniversary, and to commemorate the occasion, decided to launch a special edition of the Countach, which they asked me to work on the design for. Overall, the car availed of all the benefits described by recent studies of composite materials and became a largely aesthetic modification of the well-known Quattrovalvole. The 25th Anniversary was greeted with great enthusiasm from customers, who bought 670 of them, as opposed to the 170 that had been planned, and I believe it was a key project for Lamborghini and my career. 

Zonda

MP: Horacio’s obsession with mastering materials clearly had a huge impact on founding his own company to make his own car, resulting in the very first Zonda in 1999. I wonder what inspired that car.

HP: Today, we are fortunate to be able to engage in conversations with our customers to intercept their desires, so the inspiration for designing each car is primarily derived from the preferences and expectations of our customers. However, with the Zonda being the first customer model, I had to imagine and envision what the Pagani client would buy. Additionally, during the design phase of the Zonda, my team and I drew inspiration from a variety of sources, including Group C Le Mans prototypes, the Vespa scooter, shapes of a female body from my wife Cristina, fighter jets, and Riva boats.

Modena Design was born in the 1990s in a complicated global economic context because of the Gulf War crisis, and it was also in a difficult local economic context in Modena with the bankruptcy of iconic sportscar manufacturers like Bugatti and De Tomaso, however, I kept believing in my vision and trusted that the technologies applied to the Zonda would be groundbreaking. The market recovered, more or less, in 1998, when we were close to unveiling the car, so in the end it worked out well for us.

In addition, I believe it would never have been possible without my family and friends supporting me from the start. My wife Cristina followed me from Argentina to Modena when we decided to migrate to Italy with a tent, two bicycles, and a suitcase full of dreams. My wife has even supported me in my daily work duties, for example she used to translate English engineering documents to me in Italian or has worked as a buyer for the company. Also, one of the people I hold dearest in my heart is Maurizio Ferrari whom I met during my Lamborghini years and who followed me to Modena Design eventually becoming employee number one. Today, 30 years later, Maurizio is the major expert in composite materials at Pagani.

MP: How did the AMG engine partnership come about?

HP: Initially, I decided to name the first Pagani model “Fangio F1” in homage to Juan Manuel Fangio. After showing Fangio the final drawings of the car, I asked if I could name the car after him, which he agreed to but with two conditions: the car to feature a 12-cylinder engine and it had to be manufactured by Mercedes-Benz AMG. 

When Fangio introduced me to Daimler AG, I met the chief engineer Dieter Zetsche, future chairman of the board and CEO of the Daimler group, and showed him the prototype of the Fangio F1. When Dieter saw the vehicle, he complimented me and exclaimed, “It looks like a timeless car!”, to which I replied, ”Thank God, because I don’t have any money and I’ll need a lot of time to make it!”. A few months after our meeting, Dieter agreed to supply a 12-cylinder Mercedes-Benz AMG M120 engine. 

Unfortunately, Juan Manuel Fangio passed away a few years before the premiere of the car, and out of respect for the Fangio family, I decided to change the name to Zonda, which is a local wind from the Argentinan Andes. 

The collaboration between Pagani and Mercedes-Benz AMG is rooted in 30 years of technical collaboration. Nowadays, all the Pagani vehicles feature the “Pagani V12”, a bespoke engine produced exclusively for Pagani Automobili.

MP: 25 years later, the Zonda is an undeniable legend and a stunning achievement as Pagani’s first-ever car. The Huayra was an incredible successor and now we have the Utopia which I will ask about later, but for now, I wonder if there is still a lot of demand for Zondas despite production having ended with three special HP Barchettas in 2017.

HP: There is still so much hype about the Zonda today. We get a lot of people knocking on the door saying I want a Zonda, requests to build or modify Zondas. There are 140 Zondas in the world, and clients are always asking for upgrades, updates or to take cars back to their original specifications.

I was amazed to see a Zonda F coming into the Atelier this week for a rebuild project, where the client is going to spend almost €3.5 million to make it the way he wants it. That’s six times the original price of the car when it was brand new, and the values of the cars today are anything up to 20 times their original MSRP.

After 25 years of Pagani which we celebrated last year, I think the key to the success of the Zonda is that it is a timeless car, but this is not just with the Zonda. We strongly believe in building cars which have the ability to stand the test of time and think this is also true of the Huayra and now the Utopia”. 

MP: Before we move on, there have been so many iterations and special editions of the Zonda over the years. Do you have a favourite?

HP: The strong work ethic instilled by my father means I approach all tasks with equal dedication and respect, and it is important not to become emotionally attached to the cars I work on so I can objectively assess and address any flaws to meet our customers’ high expectations.

That said, the Zonda with chassis number 2, named ‘La Nonna’ (the grandmother), is a prototype vehicle that has played a crucial role in the development of all Zonda versions produced since 1998, and after having tested that car for over 550,000km, I believe it has become my favourite because it allowed me to develop new technologies over the years.

Huayra

MP: After the success of the Zonda, what inspired the Huayra?

HP: The story began with the intention of creating a car that combined exceptional performance with an innovative design and extreme attention to detail, based upon the eternal element, air, in particular the wind, the elegance of its movement combined with the impetuous force it can unleash. The project took eight years of development and testing before its official debut, named after the Huayra-tata, the God of Wind in the Quechua culture of populations living in the Andes of South America.

The Huayra did not replace the Zonda but it is to be considered as the second model of Pagani Automobili. There are no components shared between Zonda and Huayra since they are different cars. It is crucial to us that when a new design joins the lineup, it doesn't replace the older ones. Instead, it adds to the diversity.

Our philosophy takes its cue from the concept of Leonardo Da Vinci, who more than 500 years ago argued that art and science can walk together hand in hand. That is why we try at every phase of the project to unite both disciplines, meaning that the engineer (the scientist) must work together with the designer (the artist). 

Consequently, every Pagani vehicle is used as a ‘laboratory’ car to keep improving and evolving new technologies or materials for future Pagani hypercars. For example, the Huayra is equipped with a monocoque made of the innovative Carbo-titanium HP62 G2 which is carbon fibre woven into a titanium fabric used to obtain a material even stronger than carbon alone. The material was already used two years earlier on the Zonda R, a track-only car, before making its way into the Huayra, a model type approved for road use.

MP: Why the move to turbocharging and single-clutch paddle-shift gearbox for the Huayra?

HP: The choice to use a twin-turbo engine was mainly made to enter the North American market in 2011 with the Huayra Coupe. In order to comply with the North American emission standards, we decided to innovate together with Mercedes-AMG to produce a new turbocharged V12, and it was key from the start of the development to avoid turbo lag. The M158 V12’s output of 730hp and 1000Nm is instantly available from 2,600-4,200rpm, with no form of lag whilst the driver is pushing the throttle. 

We are constantly striving to keep a lightweight car. That’s really what makes it challenging for us, and it is our number one priority, hence the choice of a single-clutch paddle-shift gearbox. The single-clutch is 35% lighter than a dual-clutch transmission unit and this results in an overall lighter car that is easier and more balanced to drive.

MP: What makes the Huayra BC models different?

HP: Inspired by the Pagani Zonda R and Zonda Cinque, true track powerhouses, the Huayra BC is an ultra-light car and the most advanced Huayra Coupe on the road. Its name is an homage to Benny Caiola, an Italian-American entrepreneur and the first buyer of a Pagani car. Thanks to Carbo-titanium for the body and multiple accessories, the model has a weight of 1,218kg and a 764hp V12 engine, for a power-to-weight ratio of 627hp per tonne. 

Despite being a car approved for road use, it represents a strong temptation for those who want to drive on the track, capable of lateral acceleration of 1.8 G and performance values not far from those of a Le Mans racing car. The Mercedes-AMG M158 Biturbo engine is upgraded, the aforementioned bodywork lightened, the gearbox features unprecedented electro-hydraulic drive system and carbon-fiber synchronizers, and a clutch control program that allows an increase in precision against a 10% gain in torque.

In 2017, a client's fervent desire birthed the Huayra Roadster BC, a street-legal hypercar blending driving thrills and cutting-edge tech. The Roadster BC weighs just 1,250kg and features a completely new bespoke engine developed by Mercedes-AMG (marking the launch of the ad-hoc ‘Pagani V12’) with 800hp and 1,050NM torque available from 2,000rpm. The ‘Pagani V12’ features two new turbos, a revolutionary hydroformed manifold, twin throttle bodies and four water-air intercoolers, and complies with the latest international emissions standards without having to resort to a hybrid system.

The test program conducted for the Roadster BC has been the most demanding in the company’s history to date, with more than 350,000 kilometres of real-world testing, of which over 45,000km happened on some of the world's most demanding racetracks to deliver to our clients a reliable, safe, and exciting car. During the tests, Andrea Palma, Development Test Driver, immediately realised the car was setting interesting lap times. Although weather conditions at Spa Francorchamps were not the best, the Roadster BC’s handling and lateral grip exceeded all expectations and will shape Pagani’s legacy by setting the lap record for globally homologated road cars with a time of 2:23.081 minutes.

The Huayra BC Coupe is limited to 20 units and the Huayra Roadster BC is limited to 40 units.

Utopia

MP: Now the Utopia, Pagani’s latest masterpiece. After the Zonda, Horacio was clear that the Huayra wasn’t a direct replacement, more a different character altogether to serve a different purpose, so many owners have both in their garages. With that in mind, I wonder if the same is true of Utopia, what the ethos of the car is, and how it is different to previous Paganis.

HP: As with the Huayra, it is important to keep the uniqueness of every model in the family with no components shared, and that is a risk because you have to do everything from scratch, and that isn’t what is normally done in this industry as you normally save things back for the future models because it is more cost-effective.

For us, it is so important that cars are different because a new car doesn’t age the other one, it is not a replacement. When it comes to Utopia, it is a car that communicates with you a lot and puts the driver in the centre of the experience. It is a very lightweight car yet it has so much technology. For us, technology means we can homologate the car globally without any kind of hybrid system or any kind of exemption, and it is totally compliant for safety and emissions even in a place like California which is very tough.

We have to give credit to AMG and the huge work they do to create an engine which is still V12, twin-turbo and no hybrid which meets these regulations. Why no hybrid? Because hybrid is heavy. With a heavier car, it requires more electronics which will be more invasive in your driving, and the more help you require from systems like traction and stability control, the more it filters your driving pleasure. It’s like, at some point, you give the steering wheel to the computers rather than driving yourself!

Simplicity is what really makes the car special for us though, and along with not using hybrid, bringing back the manual gearbox was a request from our clients, so it is a matter of listening to what the owners want and giving them that.

MP: To me, the ethos of the Utopia is perfect for our times. Sure, it’s hugely powerful and fast, but the focus, more than anything, is on driving pleasure and not overcomplicating things. Having had a very long look around the beautiful car on display, I can confirm that, just like every Pagani before it, Utopia is a work of art and a truly special machine, so I want to finish off by asking how Pagani continues to make such emotive and special cars in an era where so many are losing their soul.

HP: For us, it is constantly striving to keep a lightweight car. That’s really what makes it challenging for us, but it is our number one priority. We do a lot of research and development on materials and new technologies. 

To give you an example, Utopia features six airbags, Huayra had four, and Zonda had zero at the time. So, we have to constantly work to keep the car light and include the safety standards of today, because we care about weight, but we also care about safety and things are very strict nowadays. We don’t say we’re a small manufacturer and we can ask for exemptions, we face the challenge.

If we consider the project of the car as a whole, the engine and gearbox are the only two components we don’t engineer. We design the exterior because we care about beauty, and the rest of the car is fully designed, engineered and built in-house, and this is how you keep control of the quality of the final product. 

One of the most commonly injured body parts of a driver in a hypercar accident is the knees, so we did some studies and we are the first company in the world of the hypercar to include airbags for the knees. Those airbags weigh 4kg, so we say we have to remove these 4kg from somewhere, we are not just adding them.

We did that by designing and engineering our own air conditioning system. The air conditioning of the car is something you can just go and buy from suppliers in the automotive industry, but we design our own air conditioning and have it built with our standards because that saves the weight we need.

Arte In Pista

MP: If you’ve seen or more importantly heard videos of Pagani’s R models wailing around Monza, you’ll want to know more about the programme just as I do, so I ask how it works and what makes the cars special.

HP: Pagani is a family. For 17 years we have brought together clients from all over the world to drive around the beautiful countryside and enjoy these beautiful cars, but more importantly, to spend time together. 

We ended our client gathering in 2019 at the Monza racetrack, and we had some doubts as to who might put their multi-million-dollar road car on a racetrack risking damaging concours-ready vehicles, but to our surprise, the clients spent the best part of the day driving their cars without worrying. Now, that gave us an idea to create something that would be even more suitable for that very purpose of driving at the track with an event platform called Arte in Pista. 

In 2008, when we were working on the Huayra, I felt an overwhelming desire for freedom and that’s how the Zonda R came about, a track car free from constraints and regulations. From the experience of the Zonda R, came the idea of the Huayra R, the most extreme Pagnani hypercar made exclusively for the track with a naturally-aspirated V12 generating 850hp and 750NM torque with a redline of 9,000rpm and a weight of just 1,050kg.

The Huayra R draws inspiration from the clean lines and timeless appeal of the Le Mans and World Sports-Prototype Championship cars of the 1960s and 1970s and will also serve as a laboratory car for the technology of future Pagani models.

In 2021, for the launch of the Huayra R, we announced the beginning of the new Arte In Pista program, a rich calendar of personalised events allowing owners of the new model alongside those of the Zonda R and Zonda Revolución, to take them to their highest levels of performance. 

The essence of Arte in Pista consists of non-competitive track events at the most prestigious FIA circuits in the world, featuring both track sessions and leisurely moments. The Arte in Pista events feature an ‘arrive and drive’ format with the technical assistance of the Pagani team, including the technical director for data analysis, track engineers and mechanics, and a motorsports physiotherapist and nutritionist, and the highlight is the support of professional drivers, who contribute to improving the client’s driving skills.

Pagani of Manchester

MP: Finally, we’re sitting in the lounge area of the wonderful new Pagani of Manchester showroom accompanied by a beautiful Utopia and Huayra Roadster, so I ask how this came to be and what this official presence in the UK means for Pagani.

HP: First and foremost we chose client service excellence over location. The team at Pagani of Manchester and Sytner Group convinced us with their professional customer-focused attitude and attention to detail. Their sales and aftersales facilities are amongst the best you will find anywhere in the world so clients can expect an impeccable ownership experience.

The UK market is one of the most important markets in the world for Pagani, yet in absolute terms, there is a very finite number of vehicles delivered per year, with cars spread all over the country, so the location in Manchester is centrally positioned for pick-up and return service for our clients.

"It’s coming up to almost one year now since we announced the partnership between Sytner and Pagani and we’re delighted to celebrate the opening of our brand new showroom with Horacio. As the only official dealer for sales and aftersales in the United Kingdom, together with my team, headed up by Brand Manager Saiqa Akram, we are focused on providing the best service for our customers."

— Jon Crossley, Managing director for Pagani of Manchester: