Was researching the new car from Italian firm Pagani at the back end of last week, for a piece to go in gadget mag T3. Considering this is the company’s second ever car – if you count the various different versions of the Zonda as one – then it appears to be an astonishingly accomplished machine. The newcomer is called the Huayra, which we are told is to be pronounced ‘Why-Ra’ and like the Zonda, is named after an Argentine wind. It has apparently been on the drawing board since 2003 and you can’t argue with it as a stunning piece of automotive design. It’s taken the ‘cab forward’ cues of the Zonda and turned them into a much more mature vehicle. The car is built around a carbon-titanium tub, with the 6.0-litre V12 – bought in from Mercedes’ tuning arm AMG – located behind the seats and visible through a glass screen. Access to the cabin is via gull-wing doors, revealing a brushed aluminium and leather interior that’s as much about art as functional design. I’d like to think I will have one of these on my drive, but in reality that’s never going to happen. My working life is more at the mainsteam end of motoring, and this is a world away from that. Maybe only 100 of these will be built – probably spread over the next decade or so – and the cost is expected to be £1milllion. The chances of me ever seeing one on the road are like winning the lottery. I’ve only seen a Zonda once, and that was because I knew the owner.
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