New car news

06 February 2009 - 12:00

Open wide and say R

We’ve seen sketches and renderings galore, but here it is in all its carbon fibre-clad, titanium-strewn glory: the Pagani Zonda R.

Just unveiled in Vienna, the R is the very final iteration of the Zonda, a 551kW, Mercedes V12-powered, lightweight monster that says ‘so long, and thanks for all the tyre smoke’ pretty damn effectively, in our book.

Though the R represents an emotional send-off for the Zonda – don’t worry, Pagani says it’s working on a brand new hypercar (codenamed the C9) for next year – it shares just 10 per cent of its components with previous models. 

The bodywork is composed of a seriously lightweight, seriously expensive carbon fibre-titanium blend, meaning the rear-drive R tips the scales at just over 1000kg. Yes, that’s a 521kW-per-tonne power-to-weight ratio.

With Pagani’s first paddshift gearbox taking care of transmission duties, that means a 0-100km/h time of three seconds dead (sheesh) and a 374km/h top speed (double sheesh). You’ll probably need to fiddle with the adjustable aero flim-flams to make sure you don’t enter the stratosphere at that speed.

Just 16 Zonda Rs will be built – fifteen will go on sale to the public, and one will stay ‘in company hands’ at Pagani – at a cost of more than $2.5 million each. Oh, and you won’t even be able to drive it on the road. Not legally, anyhow.

But, quite frankly, who the hell is going to be able to catch you to tell you off?*

*Top Gear does not condone driving faster than the your state's police force... Oh no.