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Edwood

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Finally! Epic Huayra test. I find their cars to be amazing mostly because they're one of the VERY few today that still maintain the passion and flair that cars used to have until, I think, the 1940s. He didn't mention quite a few things that are well known about this car now, though – such as the different turbo noise and the fact that it's softer than the Zonda, and has a totally different objective.

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Well AFAIK the chassis is basically the Zonda R, so I would have expected an even faster time. But then again it's not on slicks and is probably set up quite softly for the road. Also that was a damp track in parts.

 

Still, the time is less impressive when you consider that the Ultima GTR did a 1:12.8 on road tires, and without a Stig at the wheel. It did a 1:09.9 on slicks. Now that's a glorified kit car so it doesn't have to put up with the same set of regulations as a production car, but still, it puts things into perspective.

 

Great episode on the whole. The last 5 minutes may have been a bit idiotic but the rest felt like straight-up old-school Top Gear from before season 9.

 

[Edit: the Pagani does seem to take its inspiration from the coachbuilt luxury cars from the late 30s - the Talbot-Lagos, Delahayes, Bugattis, and so on. It certainly has that obsessive level of detail, and it's quite an engineering feat that in today's world of regulations - one in which small car manufacturers are intentionally almost incapable of surviving - such a car even exists at all. I'm not the supercar type, I'll never have one and I never did have those Ferrari and Lamborghini posters when I was 10. I never cared. But I do understand why this thing is so magical, and if I ever lusted after a supercar, it would be something like this.

 

Just change the damn name. I thought the Ruf Porsches were already ridiculous - the only car name that can be pronounced by a dog. This Huayra can be pronounced by a dog... vomiting.]

Edited by catscratch
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Well AFAIK the chassis is basically the Zonda R, so I would have expected an even faster time. But then again it's not on slicks and is probably set up quite softly for the road. Also that was a damp track in parts.

 

Still, the time is less impressive when you consider that the Ultima GTR did a 1:12.8 on road tires, and without a Stig at the wheel. It did a 1:09.9 on slicks. Now that's a glorified kit car so it doesn't have to put up with the same set of regulations as a production car, but still, it puts things into perspective.

 

Great episode on the whole. The last 5 minutes may have been a bit idiotic but the rest felt like straight-up old-school Top Gear from before season 9.

 

[Edit: the Pagani does seem to take its inspiration from the coachbuilt luxury cars from the late 30s - the Talbot-Lagos, Delahayes, Bugattis, and so on. It certainly has that obsessive level of detail, and it's quite an engineering feat that in today's world of regulations - one in which small car manufacturers are intentionally almost incapable of surviving - such a car even exists at all. I'm not the supercar type, I'll never have one and I never did have those Ferrari and Lamborghini posters when I was 10. I never cared. But I do understand why this thing is so magical, and if I ever lusted after a supercar, it would be something like this.

 

Just change the damn name. I thought the Ruf Porsches were already ridiculous - the only car name that can be pronounced by a dog. This Huayra can be pronounced by a dog... vomiting.]

The Huarya is $1.3M isn't it? I can't say I am surprised that they are surviving if they're selling cars at those prices. All those emissions, regulations, and crap are far less stringent in the middle east, where I imagine a lot of these cars go. The prince of Dubai has a Toyota Supra that runs on jet fuel, try doing that in the US, the EPA will probably have you in handcuffs!

 

As the Koensigg founder said,   give us enough money and we'll even build you a helicopter :)

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catscratch, I actually wasn't expecting that time at all. Even with that much power, the fact that it's softer and more of a GT car than the Zonda made me think it would, at best, match the Aventador and MP4. But apparently it's not that soft  :laugh:

 

Skimming through the Veyron's article on Wikipedia, I found something really interesting: "however in 2009 Alain Prost took his own Veyron round the track in a time of 1:11.2. This was never mentioned by Top Gear as it was felt that it would have made The Stig look bad." It needs a citation and I didn't find anything about this, but anyway...

 

Oh, and I've never been the supercar type as well. I do like Lamborghinis and some Ferraris, but I'd take something like a Morgan Aeromax or Bentley Brooklands over those anytime. The exception is the SLR.

Edited by Leonardo Drummond
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