2014 Vanishing Point: Pagani Zonda LM, bespoke endurance racing at its finest

With the introduction in June last year of the already featured Zonda Revoluciòn, something more needed to be done on the road going side of the Zonda world. The Zonda itself takes its roots back to the good old Group C days, an era of monstrous prototypes that could spank Formula 1 cars, with the added bonus of being raced at the world famous 24 Hours of Le Mans. The only racing effort of a Pagani car, and a completely unofficial one, saw a Zonda race car, called the Zonda GR, enter at Sebring and Le Mans in 2003, with very little success, and giving it a try again at the 2004 Le Mans test days, only to retire from the actual event because of a crash during a test at the Vallelunga race track prior to the race. To this day, the Zonda GR is still raced in Eastern Europe with somewhat decent results, finished in a green and black livery. Little is left from the original 2003/2004 version.

Here it is at Sebring 2003, Le Mans 2003, Le Mans Test days 2004 and at Hockenheim about 10 days ago.

So while Pagani was always adamant there were no racing intentions for the Zonda, race cars always offered inspiration. One might say the Zonda 760 RS was quite enough of a road going race car, as one Lewis Hamilton might say referring to his own Zonda LH, but apparently there is at least one customer that wanted something more. Take the Zonda 760 series and it monstrous 760+ BHP engine, 7 speed actuated gearbox and revised aero, add a stronger Le Mans flavor, build a completely new and so far bespoke front end almost directly taken from the Revoluciòn, a modified rear end plus a new massive wing, new headlights and some other bits and bites, and you get the brand new Pagani Zonda LM. LM obviously standing for Le Mans. Another good name would have been Zonda Monstrous Beast edition, or even the Pagani "I want one now" Zonda. You get it.

The car was already spotted in Andorra where its registered and at Pagani factory of course, but it was yet to completed in all its details. Now the customer can fully enjoy his new ultimate Zonda in all its glory, and what best occasion than a private rally around Italy with other customers and Pagani entourage? Added bonus, this is the 10th anniversary of the first Vanishing Point Pagani meeting, and it's probably still ongoing right now as I write.

Full disclosure, I said the event is private, indeed only customers, partners and friends are invited. While taking pictures outside of Pagani headquarter, I noticed people coming and going from the showroom, people clearly not part of the event and not invited. So I walked in, wondering if indeed it was OK. No one seem to bother, so I took a couple of shots of the blue Pagani Huayra #001, the first production car. A few seconds later, I was kindly shown the door. I felt so bad for it, so let me post my apologies here in public, my bad.

As you can see the front of the car is modeled after Le Mans prototypes, perhaps those from the more recent years rather than those pointy ends on the cars from the 80s and 90s. The new headlights are a complete departure from the usual Pagani design, with now all four elements under a single cover reminiscent once again of LM prototypes. A new LED DRL element is visible too. While I think the new front ads some freshness to the Zonda profile and nicely integrates in it, there is quite some gap between the front clam and the cockpit/windshield, but perhaps that was done on purpose for ventilation reasons, indeed you can spot two massive radiator fans underneath it. Autofocus played a fast one on me this time and I didn’t notice at first, an almost useless picture is the result.

As for the other major modifications, the rear end was adapted, rather than built from scratch as the overall design seems quite the same, to integrate a lower spoiler and additional tail lights quite similar to those found in the Zonda R and Revoluciòn, this time though they feature a built-in spoiler too. The main wing is massive, even more than the 760 series and mimicking that from the Revoluciòn cars, but this time the side planes/pillars have a more complex design. Maybe it’s the less homogenous feture of the car, but not something I’d call a deal breaker for sure. As for the interior, it seemed pretty much standard issue, except for the chrome finish of the metal plaques, something else I’d rather do without.

The thing is, this car is the result of the dedication of Pagani to provide customers and the automotive world with yet another gem, and a customer willing to get his dream car completely tailored according to his liking. Apparently he also owns the Zonda Cinque Roadster #1/5 also featured at the gathering and a Zonda R too. I might add that some Zonda Rs are presently being updated to Revoluciòn specs, for good measure.
Even if the result may or may not be our first choice, we should be simply happy that there are people out there willing to commission, and to build, such bespoke and extreme creations. The same goes for the ever growing Ferrari Special Projects program, some of their cars are awesome, other less so, but it’s simply exciting that they exist. So now you just have to go out and make some millions, no more excuses separating you from your ultimate supercar!

I also feel like Italian companies are better at building such special cars, something to do with the heritage, racing history and Mediterranean passion for all things wild and personal. I don’t see Porsche pulling out such bespoke and exotic models. Mercedes have been building unique versions of their cars for some very loyal and wealthy customers, but most of the time we are talking about special version of existing cars, with maybe a different engine, or transmission (those fifteen E 55 AMG 4-Matic W210 anyone?) or refurbished internals (the eleven or so 300 SL rebuilt with modern suspensions, engines, steering, etc).
The raw nature of Koenigsegg’s cars allow for some additional madness to be infused by a willing customer, and the One:1 program is a great example of what more can be done, but maybe their product is so extremely designed to reduce the margin for modifications. I’d expect the aerodynamics on the Agera to be pretty much the best they could come up with for those outstanding top speeds, but a new balance may be found nonetheless.
Bugatti has shown already that all they are willing to do is a new set of wheels and body finish, but maybe McLaren can prove me wrong with some additional bespoke models after the somewhat weird but fascinating X1 Concept from 2012. Also the new Special Operations division of Jaguar might be in for some suprises. Last year Project 7 Concept was very promising, although the death of the C-X75 program is hard to justify in my mind. That was one sexy supercar.

Some other pictures of the event and the 2014 Terra di Motori with the 100th Anniversary of Maserati and a Pagani Zonda Revoluciòn will follow soon.

All Watermarked Pictures and Words Copyright: Damiano Garro for The Italian Junkyard
Other shots copyright: Guy Golsteyn, Ultimatecarpage.com, Belgian-Motorsport.com
This article can be linked to from other websites but its content and the pictures can't be reproduced on any other website without my written permission Want to know more?

2014 blue Pagani Zonda Revoluciòn #5 to debut at the 2014 Geneva Auto Show

   How many times did you hear the sentence “the last Pagani Zonda edition”? I bet you are thinking “way too many”, and you’re right, you heard that a lot, but it’s not as bad as you might think.

It probably started in 2009 when the Zonda Cinque and the Zonda R were unveiled in Geneva, even because rumors and some sort of official confirmations regarding a new model from Pagani called C9 were swirling around as well. That wasn’t the case though, as a year later we were staring at the Zonda Tricolore and Zonda Cinque Roadster, once again in Geneva. Not considering bespoke models and upgrades for various customers, in 2012 the Zonda R Evolution prototype appeared on the map at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. It was a monstrous evolution of the sleek yet wild Zonda R from 3 years earlier, even if the Huayra was kind of stealing the show.

By the end of 2012 the Zonda 760 series was making headlines again. They couldn’t help themselves… By June 2013 the new Zonda Revoluciòn was unleashed, redefining the idea of a raw track car and reestablishing a worthy power gap between the road going Zonda 760 and its evil twin, now boosting 800 bhp, 50 bhp more than the Zonda R, and that's from a naturally aspirated V12 engine with a 6 liters capacity. Talk about power density...

This specific car, the number #5-5 of the scheduled 5 units production run, finished with a clear coated carbon fiber in both natural and blue shades, is going to be showcased in Geneva 2014. Is it going to be the last new Zonda to cast its downforce on the road/track? Do you really care? Because if you ask me, there is no such thing as too many (new or upgraded) Zondas. There is actually one more road going Zonda with some bespoke elements looming in the shadow…

Now I understand when people complain about a car being long in the tooth, and I just had this feeling reading about the new Aston Martin V8 Vantage N430. Because it isn’t new, and it doesn’t look new either. It’s basically the same car unveiled 9 years ago. Refinished, polished, upgraded and so on, but it’s showing its true colors already, and I used to like it, I probably still do.
I was pleased with the 2012 Vanquish, which looked new despite surely carrying over some elements from the DBS/DB9 family, but for once the styling was refreshed and not simply tweaked. Notwithstanding the gorgeous One-77, Aston needed a new course to follow and the Vanquish seemed to have provided that, but then they simply updated the DB9 for the fourth (4th, seriously) time basically admitting the Virage was nice and everything but kind of pointless.
Now the Vantage family, both the V8 and V12 models, are putting Aston Martin in the same place it was in 2009 basically. They really need new models. I have the feeling the changes in ownership and the way too long talks with Daimler about the technology sharing agreement can be considered at least partially responsible for this, but now they really need to get their acts together, asap.

Why this digression? Because this is not the case with Pagani. Indeed here the matter is quite different. They did manage to pull the Huayra out of its development in 2011, releasing the production model in 2012, so enthusiasts and customers had their new hyper-rocket to talk and brag about. What they also did was to let customers keep on enjoying the Zonda as much as they wanted. It surely shows some self-confidence about the Huayra as they apparently weren’t scared of one car eating off sales/attention from the other.
Indeed Pagani customers are famous for being repeat offenders owning more than one Zonda, so there definitely was and still is room for a Huayra in their garages for sure. It seems a customer already got two Huayras in Switzerland too. More than that this move of preserving the Zonda shows that customers still love the car and just want more and more.

I thought the idea of the Revoluciòn was a bit farfetched as the Zonda R itself was battling against giants like the Ferrari FXX and FXX Evoluzione, the Maserati MC12 Versione Corse (with its racing pedigree too), the Ferrari 599XX and 599XX Evo, and other less adored offerings like the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren 722 GT or the Gumpert Apollo R to name a few. So I wondered if there was indeed room for another version, even if in just 5 units. Well apparently they did their math right at Pagani. 3 cars have already been spotted: the #1/5 finished in clear coated carbon fiber with yellow, white and red stripes which can be seen at the Pagani Atelier from time to time, the #2/5 finished in matte carbon fiber with gold, white and red stripes and then this black and blue beast. If these shots are anything to go by, you’d guess the 5th Revoluciòn is going to Japan, but it wouldn’t be the first time.

Should read something along the lines of: "HAPPY NEW YEAR!", but in Chinese. Full disclosure, Japanese people also use Chinese characters, maybe because Chinese has something like 100 times more characters than Japanese, just guessing here.

The 2nd Revolucion was delivered to Japan in June 2013 for its official local presentation and the launch of the Huayra in Japan as well. Indeed the black and carbon fiber Huayra you see here is the 15th produced car, chassis number 76016 if my chaps over the Pagani Zonda Forum did they homework properly. You can also see the Zonda F 24 of 25 in the background, rumored to be chassis number 76092. The Revoluciòn #2/5 was soon dispatched to Hong Kong though as basically something like a quarter or a fifth of all produced Zondas (some were then moved to mainland China).

A bit of technical data and specifications.
Its 800 bhp V12 AMG engine is an evolution of the same V12 found in the Zonda R 5 years ago, which was itself an evolution of the racing engine installed in the dominant and all-conquering Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR AMG from 1997. The torque has its peak at 730 Nm at an undisclosed rpm, but thanks to the feather weight of 1.070 kg the car is going to simply fly on the tarmac.
The gearbox is built out magnesium for a lightweight yet strong casing. It’s not the usual flappy-paddles actuated manual gearbox, this is a true sequential racing gearbox, but there still is an actuation mechanism so that the gears are selected via paddles rather than the usual lever, but you have to understand that there is a solid difference between a manual gearbox and a sequential gearbox, they are simply built and designed differently. As far as I know only the Ascari A10, the BAC Mono and the aforementioned Gumpert Apollo used real sequential gearboxes, all other road going cars use actuated manual gearboxes except for the Joss JP1 from Australia which uses a Zero Shift gearbox, which is another type of mechanism. The unit is disposed transversally, even if my instinct would have led me to say it was a longitudinal unit judging solely by pictures. It is a very short unit indeed.
A truly new addition to the car is the DRS, or drag reduction system, installed on the rear wing. As with Formula 1 cars, the device is meant to reduce drag generated by the tail of the car when downforce is not required. Indeed the system can either be operated manually pushing the properly labeled DRS button on the steering wheel or in automatic mode, moving the rear wing from the minimum downforce setup to its maximum downforce position when a lateral acceleration in excess of 0.8g in both directions is detected, at speeds over 100 km/h. As a reference, most sportscars can only dream to reach a 0.8 lateral acceleration, while for the Zonda Revoluciòn this is right where the game starts!

New breaks from Brembo dubbed CCMR (carbo-ceramic matrix – racing, I guess) are installed for a better track experience. They should be more powerful than the R discs, as if it was needed, and their lower operational temperatures extend the life of the discs by 4 times while also being 15% lighter and just as fading resistant.

The only bad news is that dreams are free but exquisite cars come at a price, 2.2 Million Euros plus taxes. That’s 700.000 € more than the Zonda R, but I’m pretty sure that after trying this beast on the track there would be no logical arguments keeping your piggy bank safe from the Zonda Revoluciòn.

Official Press Release:

Article by Damiano Garro for The Italian Junkayard Want to know more?