Back in 2003, the idea of the Huayra started taking shape inside the head of its creator, Horacio Pagani. At the time, while he was pleased with what he had achieved with the Zonda, it was a mere supercar, in a time when much faster machines were being rolled out. Ferrari unleashed the Enzo, Porsche brought out the Carrera GT and Koenigsegg’s CC8S was clocked at 390 km/h (242 mph) – Bugatti too was well into the development cycle of the Veyron.
It was the minuscule Italian automaker’s answer to the above, and even if it took long to develop and is still no match for today’s crop of supercars in terms of straight line performance, it has a niche all of its own, making it impervious to critique about its performance.
MotorTrend confirmed what we already knew from countless other reviews, in their recent drive of the Huayra, which was complimented by a quick tour of the Modena factory grounds: you don’t buy one of these cars to drive as fast as you can, even though it is more than capable of that, but rather you invest in one and appreciate the craftsmanship that goes into all of its hand-made components and the result of them coming together.
If the old motoring cliché of driving a certain vehicle “being an event” applies to any new/modern car, then this is about as eventful as it can get – classics are a different story. Check out the video after the virtual jump.
By Andrei Nedelea
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