Pagani Zonda R: the track-only Zonda with a racing V12

The Pagani Zonda R is a track-day car developed and built by the Italian maker Pagani. It debuted at the 2007 Geneva Motor Show and uses a 6.0-litre V12 taken from the racing version of the Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR. It is not road-legal, so its rivals are track cars such as the Ferrari FXX and the Maserati MC12 Corse rather than the road cars that the original Zonda competed with.

Pagani Zonda R at a glance

English Wikipedia says the Zonda R debuted at the 2007 Geneva Motor Show; Italian Wikipedia says a scale model was shown there and the finished car was presented at the Vienna Auto Show in January 2009. Power and performance figures are those of the English page.

History of the Pagani Zonda R

From the Zonda F to a track car

Despite sharing much of the Zonda’s shape, the R is almost entirely new: it shares only about 10 per cent of the Zonda F’s components. Horacio Pagani has suggested that it is a testbed for certain components of the Zonda’s replacement, the Huayra. According to Italian Wikipedia the car was first shown in Geneva in 2007 as a scale model, with a production of about ten planned, and the definitive car appeared at the Vienna Auto Show in January 2009. Only 15 Zonda Rs were produced, along with five Zonda Revolución cars and the prototype.

Chassis, engine and body

The central carbon chassis includes a roll cage and a racing fuel cell with four fuel pumps and a quick-refuel filler. The new front and rear subframes are made of Avional, the wheels are forged-magnesium centre-lock units, and on-board pneumatic jacks allow a quick change of whole wheel assemblies. The V12 is shared with the Mercedes CLK-GTR but modified, and it breathes through a carbon-fibre intake and a Formula One-style Inconel 625 exhaust that is ceramic coated to shed heat.

The bodywork was altered for maximum downforce: a longer bonnet with flaps, a closed underbody, an adjustable rear wing and a race-derived diffuser. The new rear bodywork is composed mostly of vents, which is thought to reflect the need to keep the engine cool under hard track use.

Records

On 30 June 2010 Pagani claimed a record for production-based cars with a Zonda R lap of the Nürburgring in 6:47, ahead of the Ferrari 599XX. On the Top Gear test track the car lapped in 1:08.5 but was disqualified from the Power Lap board because it is not road-legal.

Design and features

• Aerodynamics: the car senses, displays and logs the downforce at each wheel, so owners can adjust the set-up to track conditions.
• Interior: few creature comforts, seats customised to the body of each owner, Digitek instrumentation and telemetry with many sensors.
• Engine: 125 PS per litre, with a racing multi-disc clutch and a carbon-fibre intake.
• Rivals: track cars such as the Ferrari FXX and Maserati MC12 Corse.

Pagani Zonda R versions

• Zonda R Evolution (2012): unveiled at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in pearl white with exposed carbon fibre on the nose, with 760 PS and extra splitters; only one car, the original prototype, was completed, and its chassis later became a Zonda Revolución.
• Zonda Revolución (2013): shown at the Pagani owners’ gathering “Vanishing Point 2013”, with a carbon-titanium monocoque, 1,070 kg curb weight, 800 PS and 730 N·m, a drag reduction system on the rear wing and carbon-ceramic brakes. Five were built, priced at €2.2 million before taxes. In 2021 one began a conversion to become road-legal.
• Zonda R Revolución: a one-off Zonda R of 2010 sent back to the factory in December 2014 to receive Revolución modifications, giving it 780 horsepower.

More Pagani cars are in our Pagani collection: the road car that the R was based on is the Zonda, its road-legal sibling is the Zonda Cinque and its successor is the Huayra.

Sources

• Pagani Zonda R, English Wikipedia: specifications, records, variants
• Pagani Zonda R, Italian Wikipedia: presentation, engine, record