#Pagani

The Pagani Zonda is an incredible car, the culmination of one man’s dream to build a supercar that would honor the legacy of Juan Manuel Fangio, one of the greatest Formula 1 drivers of all time.

The Bugatti Veyron might be faster, the Pagani Zonda more eye-catching and the Ferrari Enzo more extravagant. Nevertheless, the McLaren F1 is still regarded by most enthusiasts as the greatest car ever made, bar none. The F1 was the physical manifestation of the dreams of Gordon Murray, a savant engineer whose personal quirks ingrained in the car’s design. There’s no radio, because Murray hated listening to the radio, but there’ is a top-notch hi-fi for your own music. The engine was a BMW V12 that had more in common with an F1 engine than the opulent 12-cylinders that powered the 750iL and 850i luxo-barges. The driver sat in the middle of the car, and the engine was lined with gold, for better heat dissipation.

If the Pagani Zonda R promo video isn’t the coolest thing you see today, please post a link to what is – because we really want to see it. The hardest-core of Paganis, the Zonda R is a track-duty version of the Italian supercar, weighing just 2,359 lbs and powered by a 6.0-liter AMG V12 engine that makes an incredible 750-hp and 524 ft-lbs of torque. That’s enough for a 0-60 mp time of just 2.7 seconds, using a mid-engine, rear-drive setup with a paddle-shift sequential gearbox that’s three times as fast as anything Ferrari has.

Built specifically for the race track, it gets an FIA homolgated roll cage and racing seats with five-point safety harnesses, which are needed to keep the driver in place. After all, the Zonda R can pull incredible g-forces, with 3,307 lbs of downforce that allows the car to (theoretically, anyway) drive upside down.

The Pagani Zonda R will be produced in a limited number with Horacio Pagani signing each vehicle. The cost of ownership is extraordinary, with an MSRP of 1,460,000 Euros or roughly $1.9 million.

Check out the video after the jump:

We ogled over the photos when Pagani announced its limited edition Zonda Tricolore model last week and, as expected, it looks even more impressive in it’s blue-tinted carbon fiber flesh. A salute to the the Frecce Tricolore, Italy’s famous air force acrobatics team, this special edition special Zonda supercar is based on the Zonda Cinque. It uses a special carbon-titanium weave for the body, which has been coated in a special clear blue lacquer. In addition it gets the red, white and green stripes of the Italian flag pinstriped up the front of the car.

In a salute to the the Frecce Tricolore, Italay’s famous air force acrobatics team, Pagani has released a new special edition version of its incredible Zonda supercar. Based on the Zonda Cinque, the car uses a special carbon-titanium weave for the body, which has been coated in a special clear blue lacquer. In addition it gets the red, white and green stripes of the Italian flag pinstriped up the front of the car.

Thanks to a citizen journalist, or should we say citizen spy photographer, we now have several images of Pagani’s upcoming Zonda replacement, the C9. These photos of the car were shot by an Autoblog reader who passed by the transport rig parked on the side of the highway in near the airport in Johannesburg, South Africa. Most likely this isn’t a very accurate idea of what the C9 will look like and it appears as though this test mule is using a modified Zonda body to cover up the important parts underneath.

Italian supercar manufacturer Pagani is preparing its successor to the incredible Zonda and company founder Horacio Pagani has let slip a few new details about the upcoming exotic. Referred to by its code name, C9, this new model will have an entirely new design. We applaud this as Pagani has released dozens of different Zonda models since the supercar first debuted at the Geneva Auto Show back in 1999, however, coming up with a design as stunning and timeless as the current one will be difficult.

There is now one more person in the world who doesn’t think that Bugatti Veyron crashing into a lake video is amusing – the owner of this Pagani Zonda F. The accident occurred in Hong Kong, where another Zonda was crashed several years ago. In total three Zondas have been damaged with a third car suffering an accident in Poland.

With the Wheel & Tire section at the 2009 SEMA Show drastically less impressive than in year’s past, Pirelli didn’t shy away and brought out a car that even frightens the Veyron. That’s right, the Italian-made Pagani Zonda… and not just any Zonda, but the Zonda R.