The unveiling of the Pagani Huayra

Last week welcomed back Italian supercar Pagani to Singapore. Official dealership for supercars Lamborghini, Lotus, and Alfa Romeo; EuroAutomobile Pte Ltd now has the honour of being the official dealer of Pagani in Singapore starting with the unveiling of the mighty Huayra. The new addition will be displayed at the showroom at 30 Teban Gardens Crescent.
“The addition of the Pagani Huayra has expanded our dealership in the supercar business. We hope to continue to bring new and uncommon cars to the Singapore market to excite the car enthusiasts here. This would definitely bring in new friends, and as how we work here in EuroSports Auto, come in a customer, walk out a friend,” said Mr Melvin Goh, Managing Director of EuroSports Auto Pte Ltd.

Based on ancient legends of the Aymara telling us of Huayra Tata, the god of wind, who commands the breezes, winds, and blizzard; and also invades the mountains, cliffs and hills of the Andean highlands. It is told that Huayra Tata resides deep in the high peaks and valleys, abandoning them only to demonstrate his power to his wife, Pachamama, goddess of mother earth. With his power, Huayra Tata was able to lift the waters from Lake Titicaca and rain them down on the fertile Pachamama. When Huayra Tata sleeps, the waters and rivers lay quiet. But the calm before the storm is about to be interrupted...

The eternity of the element air. Gentle and refined, yet the strength of the wind it is able to erode even the toughest of materials giving birth to distinctive shapes known in nature. Elegant and muscular the Huayra merges the past, present and future in a timeless interpretation of automotive art.

The styling of the car was perfected over the course of five years to find each line’s beginning and end. During this study, eight scale models were created, as well as two 1:1 models, each an evolution of the previous in a never-ending quest to perfect the form and refining the substance.

The bi-xenon headlamps are just one of the many precious gifts from the Zonda R, and LED daytime running lights are seamlessly integrated in the elliptical shape of the design. The rear bumper integrates with the diffuser and is dominated by an elliptical frame that surrounds the four central exhaust outlets, now becoming a characteristic Pagani element.

The new central monocoque on the Huayra is an entirely new design made from carbon-titanium. However, with the gull wing doors cutting deep into the roof, much research was focused on achieving the highest levels of rigidity through the application of new advanced composite materials and technologies first tested on the Zonda R. the fuel tank is located integrally in the best protected area of the monocoque, behind the driver, reinforced by safety cell made of different composite and ballistic materials. The front and rear CrMo subframes offer an exceptional rigidity-to-weight ratio to allowing the suspensions to work at their best while incorporating an advanced energy absorbing crash structure, ready to protect the occupants in the unlikely event of an impact.

The never-ending quest for weight reduction resulted also into the combination of structural and non-structural or aesthetical elements. An example is the integration of all ventilation air ducts into the monocoque’s structure, making the use of additional parts and ducts unnecessary. The result of this attention to detail is a vehicle weighing 1,350 kg making the Huayra the lightest sports car in its class.

Mercedes-AMG provides the heart for the Huayra. The 60 degree 12 cylinder turbocharged engine with a displacement of 5980 cm3 has been developed not just to meet the strictest technical and quality requirements, but also to give the car its many faces.

The calm and harmony of driving one of the world’s most refined GT car is interrupted when the driver calls upon the Huayra to unleash its 700 horsepower and 100 Nm of torque. The turbos have been studied to offer immediate response to the slightest throttle input, giving the driver full control over the engine at any rpm and preventing unwanted delays in the delivery of power.
The engine’s systems have been designed and tested to stand up to the most adverse conditions of temperature and performance. The Huayra has been subjected to the highs of Death Valley and the lows of the Arctic Circle.

The two lateral radiators are positioned in the front to guarantee the best cooling efficiency of the intercoolers placed over the cylinder heads. Dry sump lubrication ensures an optimal oil feed to the engine even when the car is subjects to the most extreme lateral accelerations. It also regulates the oil flow so that only the necessary amount of lubricant is actually pumped into the engine from the external oil tank, reducing the friction caused by an excessive volume of lubricant inside the engine sump. An oil/water heat exchanger reduces warm-up times by heating the engine lubricant during cold start and keeps engine coolant and lubricant levels at steady operational temperatures. Extensive weight saving programmes led to ingenious yet simple solutions. In order to reduce hoses and connections as much as possible is built directly to the engine. The intercooler covers serve as expansion tanks to the low temperature circuit and the engine coolant circuit. The vertical fins contribute to the cooling of the tanks.

The M158 engine is homologated to meet the strictest environmental regulations, EU5 and LEV2. Despite the increase of power compared to the other Mercedes-AMG V12 engines developed for Pagani, CO2 emissions as well as the fuel consumption have been reduced, to make the Huayra class leading amongst 12 cylinder sports cars with values that are respective of much smaller vehicles in the market. The two stage fuel supply system features two microprocessor controlled pumps feeding fuel to the engine with the second pump only activated when necessary, thus reducing the energy required to run the fuel pumps and eliminates the waste of excessive fuel being transported and heated in the fuel lines. This efficiency combined with a large 85 litre fuel tank ensures the Huayra’s grand touring ability.

As homage to the decennial tradition of Mercedes-AMG in building world class sports car engines, the M158 displays the historic AMG emblem on the intake manifold alongside the name of the technician that assembled the engine by hand at the Mercedes-AMG headquarters in Affalterbach, Germany.

The Titanium exhaust system has been engineered by MHG-Fahrzeugtechnik and is a direct application of race proven technologies on a high performance road car and the complete exhaust weighs less than 10 kg. Hydroformed junctions are used to reduce backpressure and guarantee a free flow of the exhaust gasses. Titanium guarantees a low weight in the muffler area while Inconel guarantees reliability on the parts of the exhaust more exposed to high temperatures. Careful attention has been paid to the tuning of its sound, which has led to a harmonic rumble at idle speeds with a hint of the power that lies hidden at low speed and a deep thunderous growl of motor and air, reminiscent of an airplane, at high speeds.

The power and prodigious torque generated by Huayra’s V12 are transferred to the wheels through a transverse sequential seven speed gearbox and a dual plate clutch and the complete gearbox weighs only 96kg. Keeping the weight of the rear overhang as low as possible has been a priority as we aim for a neutral behaviour at the limit. A further benefit of this layout is a better behaviour of the car during a rear impact. A dual clutch system was evaluated but ultimately not selected as it would have increased the weight by approximately 70 kg, thus negating any minor improvement in shift-time.
Xtrac already supplied the gearbox for the Zonda R and so it was the natural choice for the development of a new high performance gearbox. Xtrac’s expertise in motorsports was obvious throughout the design and material selection processes that resulted in the strongest and lightest gearbox possible suitable for road use, with a synchromesh box that offers comfort levels a race car gearbox will never be able to offer.

The suspension geometry has been designed to further enhance the sure-footed nature already present in the Zonda on the longer wheelbase Huayra. The individual suspension made with forged AvionAl double A-arms have been tested extensively on the Zonda R programme. Incorporated into the wheel hub assemblies are cooling ducts that connect directly to the support brackets, thus extending the reliability and lifespan of the bearings. Pushrod operated adjustable. Öhlins shock absorbers keep everything under control and have been optimized for the dynamic requirements of the vehicle.

To date five prototypes have been built which have been conducting road tests for the past four years. Currently, over half a million kilometres have been covered by our prototypes and before entering the Singapore market, Pagani’s beautiful range will have reached one million test kilometres.

Each prototype has been assigned to a specific development task. At Mercedez-AMG, one is used to develop drivability, and another is used for emission development. One car is operated constantly by Bosch Engineering for the application of ABS and advanced stability and performance enhancement systems.

Credits: Story by Raymond Lai Photos by Pagani