Pagani Huayra Imola

Pagani Huayra Imola at a glance

Why it carries the name of a race track

Pagani named the car after the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari at Imola, where the development team spent much of its testing time. The test cars covered more than 16,000 km at racing speed there. Pagani compares that with about three times the distance of a 24-hour race at Le Mans and calls it the most severe track validation it had ever applied to a car.

The company described the Imola as a "vehicle-laboratory". Pagani's experimental work goes back to the Zonda R of 2008, which led to the carbon-titanium materials used in the Huayra. In the same way, solutions tested on the Imola went into the Roadster BC and later cars. The first information appeared in September 2019, and Pagani presented the finished car in February 2020, ahead of a planned debut at the Geneva Motor Show that was then cancelled.

Chassis, weight and paint

The monocoque combines two composites, Carbo-Titanium HP62 G2 and Carbo-Triax HP62, the same materials as in the Roadster BC. Tubular chrome-molybdenum steel subframes are bolted to the front and rear. More than 770 parts are forged or machined from solid metal, and the aluminium pieces got a new textured finish.

Paint was part of the weight work. A new process called Acquarello Light uses about 5 kg less paint while keeping the depth and shine of a normal finish. The old version of this page gave 4 kg, but Pagani's own figure is 5 kg. The result is a dry weight of 1,246 kg: heavier than the Huayra BC, but lighter than the first Huayra by more than 100 kg.

The full family, from the first coupé to the track-only R, is covered on our Pagani Huayra page.

AMG V12 and the Xtrac gearbox

Mercedes-AMG supplies the 60-degree V12 of 5,980 cc with two turbochargers. For the Imola it was tuned to 616 kW and 1,100 Nm, which is 72 kW and 100 Nm more than the first Huayra. By our calculation that is about 103 kW per litre of displacement.

A seven-speed Xtrac automated manual gearbox is mounted transversely behind the engine. It works with an electro-mechanical differential and Pagani's SMART GAS function, which the company developed to cut shift times. Our power converter shows how the 616 kW translate into PS and hp.

Active aerodynamics and suspension

Pagani chose efficiency over elegance for the bodywork. The car keeps the Huayra's active system with four moving flaps that change angle with speed, cornering and braking, and they also act as an airbrake. Fixed fins, winglets and deflectors are added on top, together with a roof scoop that feeds air to the engine. The team deliberately left the ground clearance higher than the ideal for maximum downforce, because uneven public roads can cause sudden losses of grip if a car runs too low.

The suspension uses double wishbones and coil springs with electronically controlled dampers at each wheel, linked to one another. The front ride height changes automatically. One central control unit coordinates the aerodynamics, engine, differential and gearbox, so that the flaps, the shift and the torque split respond to the same driving situation.

Brakes, wheels and tyres

Brembo supplied four ventilated carbon-ceramic discs: 398 × 36 mm at the front with six-piston monobloc calipers, and 380 × 34 mm at the rear with four-piston calipers. Pagani shaped the cooling ducts with aerodynamic studies so that the brakes stay in their working range during long track sessions.

The forged wheels measure 20 inches at the front and 21 inches at the rear. Pirelli developed P Zero Trofeo R tyres in 265/30 R20 and 355/25 R21 for the car, using its Next MIRS system. The rear tyre is 90 mm wider than the front, a gap our tyre size calculator can put into context.

Price, production and rivals

Pagani built five Imolas for customers, plus one prototype. Reports at the launch in February and March 2020 gave a price of about €5 million per car; the old text of this page quoted €5.4 million, which no source confirms. All cars were sold before the public presentation. In 2023 Pagani added the Imola Roadster in eight cars with 625 kW.

The Imola appeared when the hypercar field was growing quickly. Petrol-only rivals of the time included the De Tomaso P72, the Gordon Murray T.50, the Hennessey Venom F5 and the SSC Tuatara, while hybrid and electric hypercars were raising the performance benchmark. None of them offered the same mix of a twin-turbo V12, a manual-style automated gearbox and hand-built carbon-titanium construction.

Who the Imola suits

The Imola suits a Pagani collector who wants the most track-ready closed Huayra that can still be registered for the road. It is heavier than the BC but stronger and better developed for circuits, and its five-car run makes it rarer than almost any other Huayra derivative. Owners who want an open car have the Imola Roadster, and those who want the newest Pagani should look at the Pagani Utopia, the Huayra's successor. The company's story is told on the Horacio Pagani profile.