“It is the wind, that fills our souls.”
Usually before writing about each car, I put on some suitable music, and prepare myself mentally by going over a bunch of trivia, chief of which I include here for you to learn with me as well. I have to say that I enjoyed this ‘pre-blog’ ritual the most so far. The Huayra, named after the God of Wind in Quechuan culture, is as powerful as it is beautiful. Horacio Pagani thought that normal carbon fiber was simply too brittle for his liking. The Huayra comes with a monocoque tub made of a custom weave of Carbotanium and Carbo-Triax. Don’t ask me what those mean; material scientists just like giving their patents the coolest names.
Something I found really interesting regarding this custom M158 is that it technically counts as a structural member. When you sit in the car, you aren’t just part of the monocoque, no, you are a part of the whole car, powertrain included.
Also, can we appreciate the fact that this car produces 1.66G of LATERAL acceleration? Seriously? For reference, a commercial airliner pulls 0.4G at takeoff. In fact, Pagani had to achieve this through a bespoke partnership with none other than Pirelli. They were able to create a tire specifically for this car, the P Zero Corsa HP. You’ll definitely have heard of P Zero Corsas, but the HP (stands for Horacio Pagani), is a special variant tailored exclusively to the Huayra. You see, all the nascar-esque aerodynamic work on this air-bender creates a very unusual weight distribution which causes normal tires to get all confused by the consistently shifting of loads. Horacio specifically told Pirelli he didn’t want the “fastest” tire, but the most “talkative” one.
Enough performance talk. Sure, this domesticated Zonda is still an engineering marvel, but we must not forget the most admirable aspect of it. Its looks. I understand that all Paganis have Horacio’s ‘gesture of love’, which are side mirrors inspired by his wife’s eyes. But a little more subtle detail of passion that the man puts into his artworks is that the center console’s switches are modelled after the keys of a clarinet, a nod to Horacio’s love for music. Can you possibly even fit any more personal enthusiasm into such a paragon of passion? I don’t think so.
That’s not all. Zooming in on the Huayra specifically, it has two behemoths of air intakes that sit behind the pilot’s shoulders, feeding the V12 (Murciélago-esque, no?). These are meant to represent the human desire to not only catch wind, but also tame it. I mean, look at the car, it looks like it’s always breaking the sound barrier, even if it’s parked. The sleekness of it is unbelievably captivating. I had the honor of seeing a fully carbon Huayra and a Roadster last visit to Dubai, in fact. Do enjoy some real photos, for once.
I hope you have taken, even though a short one, a trip down the rabbithole that is Horacio Pagani’s adoration for cars. I understand that his main objective was to create an “extreme car”, but honestly Horacio, you’ve outdone yourself with the Zonda long ago, and you know it. And we know you know it. The Huayra was more about passion than extremity and capacity, and what a move that was. Today, we have the successor to the Huayra that is the absolutely gorgeous Utopia. However, I personally prefer this. Oh, to own a Huayra..
Car Casette:
- Shape of My Heart – Sting
- Idea 10 – Gibran Alcocer
- Experience – Ludovico Einaudi
“I’ve learned to listen to people and to pay attention to little details that nobody may ever actually see. Hidden details testifying to our philosophy of beauty.” -Horacio Pagani
Gallery Garage 