Late last week Pagani UK almost brought the West End of London, as well as West Sussex, to a halt when the unprecedented spectacle of a convoy of eight Pagani Zonda and two Huayra hypercars – the largest ever Pagani gathering in the UK, valued at well over £35million – drove down en masse from Pagani UK’s North London headquarters, via the Capital, to Goodwood for the 25th anniversary Festival Speed (FoS), held last weekend to a sell-out 200,000+ crowd within the grounds of the Duke of Richmond’s Goodwood Estate.
The exceptional Pagani convoy was led by the Italian hypercar maker’s founder, Horacio Pagani, driving currently the world’s most expensive new car, the exclusive Zonda HP Barchetta with an estimated value of €15million – the first of just three such open-topped models planned to be made, with this unique example being Horacio Pagani’s personal car, and the other two examples already pre-sold.
Photographed and filmed by thousands of astonished on-lookers during the run down from London to Goodwood, the jaw-dropping Pagani convoy turn heads where ever it went, even prompting a special mention by excited traffic reporters on some local London and Home Counties radio stations.
After a very exclusive overnight stop for an extraordinary supper and breakfast at highly acclaimed Half Moon Inn gastropub at Kirdford, the large (by Pagani standards) convoy continued on to Goodwood, with the cars all descending on the 2018 Festival of Speed in unison and being parked-up in a specially reserved row, much to the amazement and sheer delight of the many Festival goers.
Away from this special display, FoS spectators were also treated to the ultra-rare opportunity of getting up close to yet more Paganis with both the Zonda HP Barchetta and production version of the Huayra Roadster on display in the Goodwood Supercar Paddock, with the Pagani UK team on hand to helpfully answer any questions and share their huge knowledge and infectious enthusiasm for the marque.
The intoxicating Pagani hypercar pair also made their world dynamic public debuts at Goodwood, both tackling the legendary the 1.16-mile (1.86 km) Festival of Speed Hillclimb with dazzling enthusiasm and aplomb, Horacio Pagani clearly enjoying his drive in the Zonda HP Barchetta.
The standard-setting 764 bhp, 210 mph production Huayra Roadster that dynamically debuted at Goodwood is a natural evolution of the sold-out Coupe, with raw power packaged into a 1,218 kg high-performance hypercar capable of the highest lateral acceleration ever seen on a car with road tyres at 1.8 G. Valuable experience and knowledge gained from relentless testing on the road and the toughest circuits of the world enabled Pagani Automobili to build a solid technical premise from which to base all research and development.
The Pagani Huayra Roadster and unique Zonda Barchetta were joined at Goodwood by the one-off Zonda Oliver Evolution, the very last 760 edition of the Zonda, made in 2016. Pagani UK was invited by the Duke of Richmond to present this unique Zonda for a special 25th Anniversary Festival of Speed display – with one iconic supercar representing each year of FoS – located on the Goodwood Cricket Pitch, the oldest such pitch in the world where the rules of the sport where written. This one-off Zonda Oliver Evolution was based on the 760 RS model, and unlike other special edition Zondas, this bespoke derivative of the iconic Italian pure-breed hypercar has a special bespoke rear spoiler, engineered to generate maximum downforce to give ultimate grip.
Commenting on its notable presence at the 25th Anniversary Goodwood Festival of Speed, Christine Clarkin, Pagani UK’s Dealer Principal said, “We were really delighted to be involved with the Goodwood Festival of Speed once again in such a high-profile way last weekend, and to be one of the many amazing attractions at this world-leading, must-attend event”. She added “It was very rewarding to meet with so many keen, appreciative and knowledgeable enthusiasts at Goodwood, especially given their appreciation of art and design meeting engineering excellence. The many excited and positive comments about our Pagani models was very gratifying to hear, and the having Horacio Pagani on hand to sign autographs and meet his many admirers was the icing on the cake of the truly excellent weekend”
