Pagani Zonda

The Pagani Zonda is a mid-engined sports car produced by Pagani in Italy. It debuted in 1999 and continues through the present, with production proceeding at roughly 10 cars per year. As of September, 2008, 95 Zondas had been built. Both 2-seat coupe and convertible versions have been produced. Construction is mainly of carbon fiber.

Some early Zonda engineering was done by Formula One champion, Juan Manuel Fangio. The car was originally to be named for him, the "Fangio F1", but the name was changed upon his death in 1995, renamed after an air current above Argentina.

The R Clubsport was debuted at the Geneva Motor Show 2007, still using the 6.0 litre V12 sourced from AMG by Mercedes-Benz. The R Clubsport's competition lies with track-biased cars such as the Ferrari FXX and Maserati MC12 rather than the original Zonda's road competitors. It is thought, therefore, that like the FXX and some models of the MC12, the R CS will not be road-homologated. Since it is likely that the car will be ineligible under FIA regulations for almost any form of organized racing, the car is essentially relegated to privateer racing in nonstandard series and the owner's private track time, much like customer versions of the MC12. For comparison the FXX, which has its own race-series, is also neither road nor race homologated, and is not even delivered to the owner, instead being 'made available' by Ferrari at specified events. The Pagani-designed race-models are also far more proven and targeted racecars, so it is unlikely that even heavily-modified R CSs will compete in formal racing.

Despite sharing much of the Zonda's shape, the R CS is almost entirely new, sharing only 10% of the Zonda F's components. It has been obliquely suggested by Horacio Pagani that this car is a testbed chassis for certain components of the Zonda's replacement (in the same vein as the Ferrari 288 GTO Evoluzione and the successive F40) and that the R CS accurately reflects some of the Zonda's successor's features.

Information from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pagani_Zonda

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