Pagani has been putting out truly amazing cars. The Zonda F is nothing short of astounding; well designed, insanely well engineered, and it's simply beautiful. I can't wait to see the Huayra; one day I'll actually be able to afford one. Maybe.
No offense to Horacio here, but the guy was in with the bigwigs at Lamborghini before Pagani was started, so the guy had all the connections he needed. It's not like this gentleman came from nowhere.
Likewise, the Pagani motors are all from AMG, so no manufacturing there, just tuning. If anything, we should be crediting the engineers that actually build the chassis and body.
The article presents a really misleading picture of Pagani. For starters, Horacio Pagani isn't some sort of outsider savant who came from nowhere - he has a long history in the automotive industry and at one point was head of composites at Lamborghini.
Pagani are a small company, but they're not tiny for their sector of the market and have 55 employees. A niche car company can be that small for two reasons - one is that they buy in most of their mechanicals from a mass-manufacturer, the other is that they make chassis from composites, which can only be manufactured by hand and have no meaningful economies of scale. Aside from the chassis, a car like this is assembled rather than manufactured - the engine comes in a box from AMG, the exhaust system from MHG, the interior from Dani and most of the metal components from Aspa.
The Zonda and Huayra are phenomenal cars, but they're not the unique creations of one special genius. They're what's possible when a clever designer is given a blank cheque. The moveable aerodynamic elements on the Huayra are sophisticated, but they're not unique and would be commonplace in racing cars if the technology wasn't banned by the FIA. It's infinitely more difficult to design a good car that costs $20,000 than a great car that costs $2,000,000.
I don't mean to take away from the achievements of Pagani, but instead celebrate the work of the network of companies that make their cars possible. A modern supercar is like stone soup - the designer is just a catalyst for the expertise and resources of a whole army of manufacturers.
According to the article, "...the shape of the Huayra fell out of Mr. Pagani’s head almost fully formed." Given how hard it is to build anything that can zoom at 225mph without losing control or crashing, I find this a rather impressive feat!
Edit: in response to the comments below, yes, I recognize this may be hype, and yes, I recognize designing and building the car must have been an interactive process involving many other people. Still, there's little doubt that Mr. Pagani was the main creative force, and I can't help but be impressed by his accomplishment as a company-founding "car hacker-artist" CEO.
fell out of his head straight to the designers desk to draw the actual templates, then to engineer desk where there is software to simulate aerodynamics, then 'a few' more steps all of which iterated 100 times until they saw a full scale model.
> Given how hard it is to build anything that can zoom at 225mph without losing control or crashing, I find this a rather impressive feat!
Just to put it into perspective, the new Mustang GT500 can reach 200mph stock from the factory and that starts at $49,600. ~220+mph is the norm for supercars these days.
>I can't help but be impressed by his accomplishment as a company-founding "car hacker-artist" CEO.
I strongly suggest you look into Noble Automotive, Vector Motors and Koenigsegg. All founded by "car hacker-artists." You'll probably find their stories interesting too.
It basically consisted of fabricating a frame and some body panels and then bolting bits you'd bought from elsewhere, but 90%+ of the construction/assembly work was done by a single guy (the other 10% being the paint guy across the street, and calling on people to help him line up and hold things in place while he welded). If any plans existed (I never saw any) they were probably on a scrap of wood.
It's not as glamourous as a Pagani, but the cars would still cost over $100k and some of them went on to win national championships and similar.
Turns out a lot can be done by one guy in a tin shed.
If it can do 0-60 in 3 seconds, I'd bet that it could do 0-124 in much less than 18 seconds. Heck, my 330i can do 0-120 in less than 18 seconds... (or so I've heard ;) ).
Horacio Pagani is quite a genius - while the article doesn't go into as much detail about how so much more is involved in the creation of the car, Horacio is most definitely the single most important aspect of the inception, creation and production of his cars.
Without his sheer bloody-mindedness I doubt the entire supercar industry as it stands would exist today.
Very cool. Reminds me of John Britten, the Kiwi who almost single handedly created one of the best and most innovative motorcycles of the '90s (including the engine!)
(I grew up reading about Britten in motorcycle magazines in Israel, and when years later I got to NZ it was cool to see find one of his bikes as a well deserved centerpiece in the national museum :)
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[ 6.0 ms ] story [ 77.3 ms ] threadYou can learn without an education.
Likewise, the Pagani motors are all from AMG, so no manufacturing there, just tuning. If anything, we should be crediting the engineers that actually build the chassis and body.
Pagani are a small company, but they're not tiny for their sector of the market and have 55 employees. A niche car company can be that small for two reasons - one is that they buy in most of their mechanicals from a mass-manufacturer, the other is that they make chassis from composites, which can only be manufactured by hand and have no meaningful economies of scale. Aside from the chassis, a car like this is assembled rather than manufactured - the engine comes in a box from AMG, the exhaust system from MHG, the interior from Dani and most of the metal components from Aspa.
The Zonda and Huayra are phenomenal cars, but they're not the unique creations of one special genius. They're what's possible when a clever designer is given a blank cheque. The moveable aerodynamic elements on the Huayra are sophisticated, but they're not unique and would be commonplace in racing cars if the technology wasn't banned by the FIA. It's infinitely more difficult to design a good car that costs $20,000 than a great car that costs $2,000,000.
I don't mean to take away from the achievements of Pagani, but instead celebrate the work of the network of companies that make their cars possible. A modern supercar is like stone soup - the designer is just a catalyst for the expertise and resources of a whole army of manufacturers.
Edit: in response to the comments below, yes, I recognize this may be hype, and yes, I recognize designing and building the car must have been an interactive process involving many other people. Still, there's little doubt that Mr. Pagani was the main creative force, and I can't help but be impressed by his accomplishment as a company-founding "car hacker-artist" CEO.
Just to put it into perspective, the new Mustang GT500 can reach 200mph stock from the factory and that starts at $49,600. ~220+mph is the norm for supercars these days.
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2011/11...
edit
>I can't help but be impressed by his accomplishment as a company-founding "car hacker-artist" CEO.
I strongly suggest you look into Noble Automotive, Vector Motors and Koenigsegg. All founded by "car hacker-artists." You'll probably find their stories interesting too.
http://www.speedwaysedans.com/index.php/super-sedans
It basically consisted of fabricating a frame and some body panels and then bolting bits you'd bought from elsewhere, but 90%+ of the construction/assembly work was done by a single guy (the other 10% being the paint guy across the street, and calling on people to help him line up and hold things in place while he welded). If any plans existed (I never saw any) they were probably on a scrap of wood.
It's not as glamourous as a Pagani, but the cars would still cost over $100k and some of them went on to win national championships and similar.
Turns out a lot can be done by one guy in a tin shed.
That is one awesome car.
Without his sheer bloody-mindedness I doubt the entire supercar industry as it stands would exist today.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Britten
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britten_V1000
(I grew up reading about Britten in motorcycle magazines in Israel, and when years later I got to NZ it was cool to see find one of his bikes as a well deserved centerpiece in the national museum :)
Just look at that poor bastard, Billy Gates. He dropped out from [s]a community[/s] college! This must be a sensation!
http://www.venomgt.com/