The New Pagani Huayra R: An 850-HP Track Killer

March 18, 2021 – Following in the track-only footsteps of the Zonda R, the new V12 Pagani Huayra R is here to prove the Italian automakers dedication to form and function. Horacio Pagani, founder of Pagani Automobili S.p.A., states that “The new engine had to have the charm, romance, sound and simplicity of the F1 engines of the 1980s, while incorporating state-of-the-art technology available today.”

The Pagani Huayra R was put together piece by piece with the latest technology derived from the world of racing. The heart of the Huayra R is a 12-cylinder, 6-liter, naturally-aspirated racing engine, designed to not only put out peak performance, but also be incredibly light to be one of the most efficient track-ready V12’s ever created. The new powertrain delivers a whopping 850-hp at 8,250 rpm and 553 lb-ft of torque, with a redline at 9,000 rpm, creating that sound Horacio Pagani was going for from the F1 engines of the 1980s. 

Paired to the screaming V12 is a brand new six-speed sequential gearbox. The gearbox itself is a non synchronized dog ring that guarantees 95% friction efficiency, which helps to achieve maximum shift precision and reduce shift times, all while only weighing in at a total of just 176 lbs. Mounted to the engine and the monocoque, the gearbox also contributes to the rigidity of the chassis and is designed to integrate structurally with the entire suspension unit. 

Going back to the monocoque, the Pagani Huayra R’s is the result of specifically dedicated development that gives the driver total involvement and driving experience that you’d expect from an authentic racing car experience. The monocoque was designed using the latest composite technology, including carbo-titanium HP62-G2, a combination of beta titanium alloy and carbon composite, along with Carbo-Triax HP62. Combined with the new structural principles and materials that were specially designed for the all-new Pagani Huayra R, the supercar tips the scales at a dry weight of just over 2,300 lbs. 

Moving on into the aerodynamics of the Pagania Huayra R, every detail of its exterior plays a role in generating maximum aerodynamic load. The goal from the beginning was the generate roughly 2204 lbs of downforce at 199 mph (1000 kg at 320 km/h), which the teams at Pagani and HWA quickly achieved. This wasn’t enough though, and the engineers wanted to push the envelope even further with the combination of form and function. They started to realize that every little detail they were changing on the exterior of the car was improving aerodynamic efficiency. 

Continuing the racing feel that the Pagani Huayra R was going for is the interior of the car. The interior of the R was designed for all around involvement and maximum adrenaline. All controls, including traction control, ABS, radio communication and other important functions can all be found on the quick release steering wheel. All other important controls are available on the center console, while a high-res, fully customizable motorsport dashboard display feeds the driver the necessary information to monitor the status of the car. 

Converted to USD, the Pagani Huayra R will cost about $3.1 million, but that’s only if you’re able to get your hands on 1 of 30 build slots. If you do however get on the waitlist and secure a slot, be ready to experience some of the most thrilling Pagani organized track days, part of the Pagani ownership experience. 

Decorating the Bachelor Pad

The New Zonda Really Ties the Room Together

In this line of work, you get to see many rare automotive sights. We realize an average person might never even see a Pagani, let alone at a local car meet with four of them, or a national Concours show with an assortment of 14 Zondas and Huayras at a Pagani display! A sighting of a race-only Zonda Revolución never gets old and considering there are only five of them ever produced, the way in which one Miami race car driver decorated his condo, was nothing short of spectacular.

First off, let’s get one thing sorted; this is a carbon fiber replica of a Pagani Zonda Revolución. Sure the owner has the money to go real, but this is a 1:1 scale model using the original carbon fiber plug from Pagani direct. The owner is Pablo Perez Companc, the billionaire son of the wealthiest man in Argentina and a client who happens to know Horacio Pagani personally.

Companc is a dedicated customer of Pagani with his own Zonda Revolución, which he named Black Minion. Most of his nearly 800K Instagram followers believed the art car was real and were quick to critique the wall sculpture with all the ferocity the internet can muster. Many media outlets were guilty of spinning incorrect articles about how Companc essentially wasted “$1.5-million dollars” on V12-powered wall art that should be driven instead.

What Companc and his general contractor Finish My Condo did to his Miami abode was far from the fake news reports. First, there are only five Zonda Revolucións in the world and each one cost nearly $3-million, so not only is it double the estimates but no sane person is going to buy two of five and destroy a rare race car! Others believed it was his functioning race car, Black Minion. Again he had to clarify on Instagram: “…structurally will never be able to receive an engine or the entire mechanical part. I would never condemn Black Minion to being locked in a living room. Race cars are for driving.”

With that cleared up, let’s get down to the mechanics of how they did this feat that only Miami could pull off. The Pagani tooling still existed to pull a custom carbon fiber Zonda shell that had no interior, no engine mounts, and the chassis was designed solely to support its full weight of only a few hundred pounds. Before the condo interior was done, the floor to ceiling windows were removed in order to accept the shell and mounting column. After the Zonda was hoisted by crane on a wooden skid and the assembly of the aluminum mounting column started with a plate at the top. From there, the vertical plate for the column was bolted to the underside of the shell and hung by straps before bolting to the ceiling. The bottom was secured with a footing, then finished off with a polished aluminum plate to be surrounded for finishing materials, like flooring and drywall ceiling to wrap it up.

The end result is one of the most unique room dividers ever seen in Miami if not the entire country. In Miami, sometimes an $8-million 4,200 square foot condo just doesn’t create enough of a reaction and you have to flex on everyone like this. Talked about the world over, the Black Minion tribute is just that, a tribute to one of the best cars ever made. With a snarling V12 pumping out 789 horsepower and shredding 0-60 mph in only 2.6 seconds on the way to a 217 mph terminal velocity, the Revolución is the real deal. The Revolución is also beautiful to look at, which is why Companc has one to admire on his wall. Then again the Revolución isn’t road legal anyway and can’t be enjoyed all the time, so another member of his fleet, Wild Minion, is for that. Wild Minion is a Pagani Huayra BC but we’ll get into that insanity another time.

Goodwood FOS 2018

In the world of automotive events, The Goodwood Festival of Speed (FOS) is right up there on the bucket list with the Indy 500, Le Mans, Pebble Beach, the Daytona 500 and a few others. This year, the FOS celebrated its 25^th Silver Anniversary and The Dawg Box was there for the party.

For those of you who don’t know, the FOS takes place every summer on the grounds of The Duke of Richmond’s ancestral home 100 miles south-west of London, England. It’s basically a hill climb up the Duke’s 1.16-mile drive. The long-standing record for the dash is 41.6 seconds set by Nick Heidfeld in 1999 in a McLaren MP4/13 Formula One car. His average speed up the twisty, cambered driveway with some nasty sharp flint walls was 100.385 mph. Nick’s record remains unbroken as they no longer allow F1 cars timed runs for safety reasons but this year two electric cars came awfully close to breaking Nick’s record. It’s bound to fall soon.

By invitation only, the hill climb sees an eclectic field of racecars; everything from Duncan Pittaway’s fire belching, 28.5-liter, 4-cylinder 1911 Fiat The Beast of Turin to Ernie Nagamatsu’s historic Old Yeller Buick-powered road-racing special to Rod Millen’s Pikes Peak-winning Toyota Celica to electric and even autonomous cars with no drivers. Call me old-fashioned, but driverless cars to me seems a lot like slot car racing. While skill is involved, I just wonder if when you remove the human element you remove the point. It would be like climbing Mount Everest using virtual reality—who cares.

Ironically, This year’s fastest time was set by Frenchman Romain Dumas driving a Volkswagen ID R electric racecar in which Dumas recently won the Pikes Peak hill climb in Colorado. Dumas scorched up the hill in just 43.86 seconds. Second fastest was Peter Dumbreck driving the NIO EP9 electric supercar. Dumbreck made the dash in a staggering 44.32 seconds.

It’s a sign of the times that the fields of Goodwood are now littered with supercars. Everywhere you looked there were lines of Lambos, Ferraris, Aston Martins, McLarens, Koenigseggs, Paganis, Porsche and all the other exclusive brands. Time was they were a rarity on British roads but no longer. McLaren was, in fact, our host and we shall be reporting on our tour of the McLaren Technology Center soon.

One of the most appealing aspects of the FOS is the up-close-and-personal access to the cars and the drivers, particularly if you are a Formula One fan. You can get within a few inches of the cars, check them out, hear them run, and meet and greet the mechanics and the drivers. I don’t know of anywhere else you can do that in such a casual atmosphere. There were displays from all the teams including Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull, Mercedes, Lotus, and Alfa. There was even a display of driverless electric racecars from Robocar.