Z356

As I just posted in the 991 gt3 forum, I had the privilege of seeing & photographing a MY2014 Pagani Huayra, one of the first delivered to a client in the US, last night! We had dinner with the owner, a friend of mine from Colorado & Louisiana, who just took delivery of this 'French Blue' Pagani in Los Angeles on Monday (May 19th). He drove up from LA for a photo session at the Carmel Mission, where the car is scheduled to be on display later this summer for the Second Annual 'Carmel Mission Classic' on Wednesday, August 13th during the Historics!

http://www.carmelmissionclassic.org/index.html

So last night we met for dinner at the home of the 'Carmel Mission Classic' organizer Frank DiPaola and his wife Yara. There we were met by two Pagani employees - Davide Testi (R&D/Test Driver) for Pagani Automobili SpA and James Hilton (Operations Manager) for Pagani Worldwide LLC. Davide flew in from San Cesario sul Panaro (near Modena)*, where Pagani automobile production is located, to personally supervise the deliveries of four cars this week in California - two in Los Angeles and two in San Francisco! James is affiliated with Pagani in the US, which interestingly enough invoices all Paganis worldwide. Pagani Automobili builds them...but Pagani Worldwide LLC sells them directly from the US to all world markets! According to my conversations with Davide, Pagani plans to build 110 of the gullwing models, 110 of the cabriolets (not yet in production) and about 15 to 25 'gt' competition models to be called the 'Nürburgring Edition'. Around 40 of the gullwings have been sold to US customers. Major other markets for the Huayra include China and the Middle East. Interestingly, sales in Europe are very low due to the economic downturn.

The cost of the Huayra coupe is around € 1,200,00 or US$1,600,00+! Horatio Pagani (an Argentinian by birth) has been a pioneer in the use of carbon fiber in his previous employment with Ferrari & Lamborghini. As an independent, he is now taking the carbon fiber concept even further in his own production of cars! The car' weight is around 1,350 kilos or just shy of 3000 pounds! The engine is made by AMG and to quote them: 'Mercedes-AMG has created a truly unique and lightweight engine, a twin turbo with 730 HP and 1000 Nm of torque'! The gearbox is a 'transverse sequential seven speed gearbox - AMT robotyzed system with driving programs'. Other 'strategic partners' of Pagani, besides Mercedes-AMG, include APP - Wheels, ASPA – CNC Precision Parts, BREMBO – Braking Systems, DANI GROUP – Interior Leather, MHG – Exhaust System & PIRELLI - Tires! Every screw on the car is titanium and has laser-inscribed the 'Pagani' name! The exhaust is entirely made of titanium, which accounts for the beautiful blue/purple hues you see in the photos after they heat up! For more information on the Pagani Huayra, see the links below:

http://www.pagani.com/huayra/default.aspx

Notice of first US deliveries:
http://blog.dupontregistry.com/pagan...-customer-usa/

Tomorrow, the owner drives the car back to LA and then it will be shipped to his home in Louisiana. But it will be back soon in the West, first in Colorado in July and then here in Carmel for the Historics! I didn't get a chance to drive it and compare it to the 918 Spyder that I test drove at The Thermal Club last November! But perhaps when he brings it back in August, I'll get the opportunity to take it out for a quick spin. Hope you enjoy the photos...although the quality is not the best since I was using my iPhone's camera.

Saludos,
Eduardo
Carmel

PS Some of you might remember that I am part of a 'Guys Only Trip' that goes every two years to Europe and visit various European automobile factories and auto museums. In 2013, our group visited Pagani in San Cesario sul Panaro, just outside Modena. Paganis are truly a hand-build cars. The company employs less than 115 employees. Davide joined Pagani some years ago when there were only 14 employees...and he worked previously at Ferrari. He is a bit of a celebrity as a factory test driver. For the BBC's Top Gear show, 'The Stig' posted the fasted lap ever of a production car in a Pagani Huayra at 1.13.8! Yet Davide Testi drove the same English circuit and bested The Stig's time by a considerable margin with the same Huayra during the Top Gear practices! Davide is an amazing driver!

http://www.topgear.com/uk/track-guid...ype=Power-Laps

In my photos, Davide is the one in the Pagani 'black' polo with tattoos in his arm (see last photo)! Davide is flying back to Italy tonight from San Francisco...he just came for the special deliveries in the West Coast!


For more photos, please see link below:

https://rennlist.com/forums/991-gt3/...-customer.html

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Z356

Attached are a couple of more photos found in the internet of this particular Huayra in Los Angeles a few days ago at delivery! Plus the article just published in Jalopnik yesterday talking about Davide Testi and the delivery of this beautiful 'French Blue' Pagani at the dealership in LA on Monday!

http://jalopnik.com/the-pagani-huayr...ium=socialflow

Plus a write up on the Pagani Huayra at Top Gear and Davide's test drive of that vehicle in England which is linked in the Jalopnik article on Davide Testi!

http://www.topgear.com/uk/photos/220...4-25?imageNo=2

Saludos,
Eduardo
Carmel

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Michael246

The US spec mirrors are horrible... completely ruin the whole car for me.

maomao911

I am beginning to appreciate the look of Huayra a bit more, but the engine sound is just so awful compared to the Zonda, which my ultimate dean car.

ipse dixit

I have hard time paying someone over $1M for a car with an engine that is basically an off-the-shelf product from another manufacturer (MB AMG).

And that interior is something only Liberace would enjoy on any drive longer than 1 hour.

Coincident

The interior is grotesque. The mirrors are clownish. Love the wheels. The car has no sense of subtlety and refinement. Way over the top. Would love to drive it though.

docdan

I love the car and love the interior. The interior looks like a luxury retro-spaceship. The rest of the car looks like a work of art.

Z356

A few more photos that I took last night. The details of this car would take a week to cover adequately!

Saludos,
Eduardo
Carmel

PS We met one last time today (see last photo) before my friend drives the Pagani back to Los Angeles early tomorrow morning! Today was mostly a photo shoot day at the Carmel Mission and at various locations along US1 on the road to Big Sur. Unfortunately, we are getting into our summer seasonal 'marine fog layer', so the sun was a no-show!
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DreamCarrera

Wow, great pics Eduardo, thanks for sharing.

I love the pic(in the first set of pics) where the guy kneeling beside the car, I assume he's the car's owner, appears to be giving the stank eye to the guy sitting in the car who is touching the ebrake. There should be a caption bubble over his head stating; "I was nice enough to let you sit in the car, why do you also feel the need to touch it???". Although I don't blame the owner. It's sort of like showing your rare Picasso to a friend and they then proceed to run their finger along the face of the painting to feel the texture of the paint. HAHA

DreamCarrera

The engine is a specially designed 730 hp AMG masterpiece. I assure you it's not a run-of-the-mill MB engine. Although, I do agree with the other poster who stated that this car should sound at least as good as the Zonda, which IMO it does not.

Z356

The guy seating in the car is Pagani R&D specialist & renown test driver Davide Testi. He has more seat time on the Huayra than anyone else in the world...including Horatio Pagani même! And he knows everything there is to know about this special sport car! Davide was present at the delivery of this car in Los Angeles on Monday and already had flown to San Francisco for the other two deliveries Wednesday (May 21st). But he drove on Tuesday night with James Hilton from San Francisco to Carmel (2 hours each way!) just to answer some additional questions that the owner had after driving his Huayra for one day! So he was showing the owner some procedures that were not fully covered during the previous day's delivery presentation! That's some special service call...and the owner was very glad to let him explain it all while sitting inside the car!

Saludos,
Eduardo
Carmel

DreamCarrera

HAHA Very well, my comments were just a lame attempt at making a joke. They were not to be taken literally.

Thanks again for the great photos and story.

biko

I quite like the Pagani. A work of art with such extreme attention to detail. I understand why others may not like it. But hey that's the true for most things.

GVA-SFO

Funny to see this topic here, ..well, it is true that this is also a "P" car, ..but with other following letters !
What ever taste you have for the shape and everything, a Pagani is playing in a completely different league.
It is like Haute Couture, you have simply no way to compare it even with a very high end brand on a Saks Fifth Avenue store !

About the sales of Pagani, for your information, Europe do not goes that bad, ..for the "super rich" guys.
But you should know that ALL the production of Pagani, for more than the two next years are sold.
So, the "problem" is not the market, ..but the availability !

..And this is probably why the Boss do not need to have tie, and have such nice smile !



Geneva Car Show, this year, personal photo taken during the press day.

porsche0nut

There's one at Pfaff McLaren in Toronto... not sure if it was "just making a stop" or if it's there to sell (or sold).

I much prefer the style (and yes, sound) of the Zonda. This is too over the top for the sake of being over the top.... for me. I can appreciate it though.

That TI exhaust system is stunning!