We'll be celebrating 25 years of the Pagani Zonda on the Cartier Lawn

Once upon a time the Pagani Zonda was the upstart Lamborghini rival that was far too expensive at over £300,000. In 2024, it’s nothing less than a blue-chip collectible, with examples changing hands for no less than £2 million. Debuting at the now-defunct Geneva Motor Show in 1999, the Pagani Zonda dropped jaws but garnered cynicism, as to whether an ex-Lamborghini employee could really see this boutique beauty through to not just deliver cars, but deliver good cars. 

The Zonda ended up defying expectations, as a well-built, reliable, high-quality, and most unbelievably, good-to-drive supercar straight out of the gates. The original M120 6.0-litre Mercedes-AMG V12 engine quickly jumped to 7.0 litres and 7.3 litres, for a power figure of 555PS (408kW) to match the spaceship looks. The Roadster capped off the S era, before the F took over to revolutionise the Zonda inside and out. It was on the F that all subsequent specials would be based, from the mythical Cinque, to the 760 series of the early 2010s.

Inspired as much by classic Le Mans racers as it was by Da Vinci, the Zonda was arguably the first to school the market in the art of charming a billionaire out of high six – and eventually, seven-figure sums. Its evolution was exponential, as the market it helped to supercharge exploded around it. It went from a £300,000 c/500PS (408kW) supercar, to a 760PS (559kW), multi-million-pound exotic in the space of a decade and a half.

It was also the car that refused to die, with ever-more insistent new customers throwing a blank cheque at Horacio Pagani to dust off the carbon moulds, put a call in to Mercedes-AMG, and fire up the autoclave.

Less than 200 were built in its fairly elongated life cycle. From the original 6.0-litre C12, to the maddest, baddest one-off 7.3-litre 760PS (559kW) screamers, Zondas continue to, on occasion re-enter and leave the factory in a rejuvenated spec. This in spite of it being two generations behind Pagani’s current analogue V12 beauty, the Utopia. Its appeal is clearly enduring, as the original boutique hypercar. 

On the Cartier Lawn at the 2024 Festival of Speed, Zondas of all ages and all specs will be present. From semi-original early cars, to chassis that have undergone transformations, to the very latest, greatest, carbon clad monsters that ape Le Mans prototypes, while dispensing with the delicacy and elegance of the originals.

The 2024 Festival of Speed takes place on 11^th-14^th July. Only Thursday general admission tickets remain, with Friday, Saturday, and Sunday tickets now sold out, although a limited number of hospitality packages for all days are still available. Tickets and packages can be purchased from £70.  

Main image photography by Joe Harding.