First drive: our debut in the Pagani Huayra

Let’s just get this straight from the off: the Huayra is a proper exotic, a stop and stare supercar. The interior is a baroque mix of hyper-modern and traditional, blended with a bit of weird, and garnished with leather. The finish is millimetric, the quality unbelievable. The tub itself is carbotanium (carbonfibre with titanium threads woven through the structure), with molybdenum front and rear suspension subframes hung from either end. The roof section is only structural in that it’s somewhere to hang the gullwing doors (the tub itself is strong enough without), and every titanium nut, bolt and length of Aeroquip hose is bang on and Pagani branded. It’s like a giant jeweller’s workshop.  

It’s not, to my eyes, a pretty car, though the adaptive aero package (two pairs of flaps at either end) adds some technical vibe that’ll surprise you when you really get going. And it’s definitely cleaner and leaner than pretty much any other supercar out there, forgoing the bulky physical weaponry of the Aventador or Veyron. 

For the full pictures and story, you need the next issue of Top Gear magazine – out 20 June 2012