A look back at the fascinating rise of Pagani ...

Ahead of the public launch of the all new Huayra, we have taken a look at Pagani's history in Horacio Pagani and his dream in carbon-fibre. It tells the story of an Argentinean baker's son, who, inspired by Leonardo da Vinci, would go on to mortgage his house to buy only the fifth autoclave in Italy during the 1980s. It is this dedication and vast experience with carbon-fibre composites that would ultimately result in the original Pagani Zonda C12 launched at the 1999 Geneva Motor Show. With a carbon-fibre finish that is still second to none, the Zonda has become one of the most iconic cars of the past decade. Despite its very steep price, the Zonda proved so popular that production has far exceeded the 100 examples originally planned.
In the spring of 2010, we visited Pagani's small factory in a suburb of Modena. At the time the final Zondas were produced and we were allowed to capture this in detail. We were also shown samples of the revolutionary 'Carbo-Titanium'. This new titanium laced composite is as strong as conventional carbon-fibre but with added elasticity. All this can be found in the exclusive 40-shot gallery, which illustrates the article.

Enjoy the links:

[url="http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/feature/34/Horacio-Pagani-and-his-dream-in-carbon-fibre.html"]Horacio Pagani and his dream in carbon-fibre - Ultimatecarpage.com - Powered by knowledge, driven by passion[/url]

[url="http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/404/Pagani-Zonda-C12.html"]1999 - 2000 Pagani Zonda C12 - Images, Specifications and Information[/url]

Nice pictures. I was looking at the C12 S 7.3. In the same year as the C12 S 7.3 finished production the Zonda F came out, what struck me was how much of a step up the Zonda F was to any other car Pagani had made before. For me that when Pagani started making their mind blowing cars.

Very nice report Wouter! Keep them coming, like this. It is indeed one of the more interesting stories around. One of the few small sportscar manufacturers which managed to survive for a long time and actually to grasp a foothold.

Maybe it would be nice if you could make a few more of these interviews with interesting automotive-people in the future. While still very nice to read, I think an article written as an interview would have done more justice to the experience. What's your opinion on this?

By the way, I have some technical questions to ask. If I email them to you, can you forward them to Pagani?

It's interesting that the last decade produced a few upstart supercar makers in addition to Pagani; Koenigsegg, Gumpert, Spyker in an industry that is very hard to break into and even harder to make money at. I wonder what factors helped them? The economy hasn't been super strong all decade long, just during the short housing bubble. Is it just smart rich people deciding to build cars and they did it well?