The Journey Of Horacio Pagani From Lamborghini Janitor To Founding The World’s Finest Supercar Brand
Born in a poor family wherein he had to build a bicycle from parts to building a hypercar brand like Pagani Automobiles what it is today, Horacio Pagani has indeed come a long way. For working with giants like Renault and Lamborghini, Mr. Horacio Pagani’s story of building Pagani is unheard of to a lot of enthusiasts around the world.
A creative kid since childhood, Horacio completed his majors in engineering and arts while simultaneously running a business back home wherein he created various things like bar stools and campers. But it was only in the 1970s that he finally got the chance to work on a proper car as a project, and that was with Renault. Pagani was hired by the French automaker to improve the body of their existing sportscar and he even built a separate sportscar for them with an engine provided by them. His work there was appreciated by many and this was also the first time he showcased his talent as an automotive engineer.
Mr. Horacio Pagani was always fascinated by fast cars and he was very much inspired by the Jaguar E-Type which was the synonym for beauty in the automotive world back then, and he always had this dream of working in Italy to make cars there.
When his work for Renault got recognized and appreciated, Renault gave Horacio Pagani a permanent position in their team along with Formula One Champion Juan Manuel Fangio whom he later became good friends and by this time, Horacio Pagani was also signed to Renault team as a design consultant. It was Manuel Fangio who inspired Pagani and made him meet a lot of individuals from automobile giants like Fiat and Mercedes, through his connections.
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Finally in 1983, after realizing where his true interest was, Pagani moved to Modena to search for a job in one of the biggest sportscars manufacturers at that time through a letter of reference from Fangio. As luck would have it, most of the manufacturers denied him right away but he finally landed as a janitor in Lamborghini. Yes, the very well-known Italian sportscar maker. Soon after his dedication to his work and passion, his rank grew and he got a spot on the new composite materials team over a period of time. His first project was the war machine, LM002, a considerably ugly-looking SUV that did not work out for Lamborghini, but was a career boost for Horacio as he became the chief engineer at Lamborghini after the project.
Now by this time, Horacio had become quite skilled at his work and earned a respectable position too, but he had yet to work at a proper Lamborghini that is known for its speed and style. Apart from that, his fondness for carbon fiber was growing at a rapid rate and he knew how useful the material could be if used in sportscars for speed, durability, and quicker acceleration thanks to its lightweight.
However, his higher officials at Lamborghini were against his decision to use carbon fiber in their vehicles since Lamborghini was not racing, and nor their arch-rival, Ferrari was using them. Frustrated by this decision, he took a vast loan to buy an autoclave himself, showed up at work, and started working on a unique project, which finally came up to be known as the Countach Evoluzione concept!
This exclusive Countach was built from scratch by Horacio and his team and was made from carbon fiber, kevlar, and aluminum. Today, the Lamborghini Countach is one of the most popular products from the brand and the number of modified Countach might surprise you but the original one weighed less than even a Miata, and imagine the crazy body-to-weight ratio, as it was still powered by that massive V12 engine from the original Countach! The car could do 0–60 MPH in just under 4 seconds and had a top speed of over 200 MPH. Still uninspired by his fascination with carbon fiber, Lamborghini did not pay much heed to it and a frustrated Pagani left Lamborghini in 1991 with his autoclave and team of engineers.
As the world slowly got to know the advantages of carbon fiber, Pagani founded his own consultancy which was called Modena Design and it made carbon fiber composites for some big manufacturers like Ferrari and Aprilla Moto GP team among others. Harocio soon became a person who was known for making fast cars even faster.
Now with brands like McLaren setting high-speed records with their production cars and using carbon fiber in full swing, it was time for Pagani to start working on their very own supercar. But Horacio could not do it all alone, as a result, he called his old friend Juan Manuel Fangio whom he had met during his days in Renault, and asked him for help in what could be the next big step of his life.
Codename the C8, Fangio, and Pagani put in everything in this project that they had learned over the years in the automotive industry. The design of the C8 was inspired by the Group C racing cars which were aerodynamically very efficient thanks to its sculpted designs and as admitted by Pagani, women.
Now talking about the most crucial part of the car, the engine. Well, it was pretty obvious that the C8 would be getting a V12 without a second though since Group C cars also had one. So the C8 team went ahead to Mercedes-Benz AMG for an engine. The team already knew that AMG was making a high-performance engine that would be further powering their flying race car program, hence they only asked for a lower spec 6.0L V12, which was a similar one used in sedans. The German giant agreed and promised them just five M120 V12S from their warehouse.
The fact that the sound of the engine was more important to Horacio than the performance of the whole car was a major reason why he did not want a much powerful engine, In fact, performance was never the main motive behind building the C8. Finally, after a lot of research and development, the car was developed and it was named the Fangio F1. The name of the project was a tribute to Juan Manuel Fangio as he had been Pagani’s partner since day 1.
Unfortunately, Fangio passed away in the early days of May 1995. After many hardships, Horacio continued the project for years without a name. Finally in 1998, after rigorous research and development for six years, the prototype was made, and Pagani took it back to his native country Argentina to test it in the Andes Mountains where he could test the car’s high-speed stability and aerodynamics. Well, it was from here that it got its actual name, the high winds flowing in the Andes Mountains are called “Zonda” and this was how Pagani kept its name. And finally, in 1999, the Pagani Zonda was finally revealed to the public.
Limited to only 5 units, the Pagani Zonda was an exclusive machine that was very different from the Lamborghinis and Ferraris of that time. Nothing about the car was ordinary, a full carbon fiber outer body, distinctive extensive design language, and a futuristic interior layout were among some of the few characteristics that made the Pagani Zonda exquisite and stand apart from the rest of the sportscars, making it an engineering marvel.
And being a sportscar, the Zonda was fast, not because of its 400-HP producing V12 but primarily due to its lightweight body material and aerodynamic body. Moreover, it was much easier to drive, unlike its rivals like the equally exclusive Mercedes Benz CLK GTR or the Lamborghini Diablo. Although priced at a staggering amount of $300,000, the demand for the Pagani Zonda was through the roof and it found itself 57 takers, to which Pagani was completely surprised since they only made 5 of them.
The journey of building the Pagani Zonda was nothing short of a roller coaster ride for Horacio Pagani and it would not have been possible without his experiences, Juan Manuel Fangio, and his teammates who were with him throughout his days. With the production of the Pagani Zonda, he had also proven to his old bosses at Lamborghini that a proper carbon fiber is possible. Post the success of the Pagani Zonda, came the Zonda S, Zonda S 7.3, Zonda Roadster, Zonda F, Pagani Zonda F760 AG, Pagani Zonda R Evolution and the Zonda R. Each of the cars was an improvement over its predecessor in terms of performance.
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