The Mind Behind Pagani

Today we're going to look at the mind behind the beautiful works of art that are Pagani's. Horatio Pagani. Let's go back to the year 1955 where on November 10th Horatio was born to Italian baker Luca Pagani and his wife Maria in Casilda, Argentina. As a young boy he always had a passion for cars. His dream was to one day make supercars in Modena, Italy. At the age of 12 Horatio would disappear into his small room and make models of sports cars out of balsa wood and cuttings of chocolate cans. Drawing and carving these models. These visions would one day turn heads on the streets everywhere as the moving pieces of art that Pagani is known for in the automotive world. At 15 he built a motorcycle which he used to ride around Casilda. Eventually moving to La Plata where he studied fine arts and took some engineering courses. Horatio decided to open a small shop where he could hone his knowledge and master his craft by working on actual cars and getting some real hands-on experience. At age 20 he had designed and built his first F3 racer. The real turning point in his life came when he was hired by Renault to improve the body of a racing car. Pagani's designs offered staggering improvements and he was able to showcase his true talent. At age 23 he made a Formula 2 car that competed in the official Renault team. His mentor Oreste Berta, a famous racing coach, took him to meet the legendary F1 driver Juan Manuel Fanchio. Juan listened to Pagani's projects and he was so impressed he sent out letters of recommendation to the likes of Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Alfa Romeo. Lamborghini had listened and Pagani later visited Lamborghini to meet with the company's chief technical director Giulio Alfieri and in 1982 he decided to move to Italy and was hired by Lamborghini. Although Horatio started out by simply sweeping the floors, he wouldn't stay doing that for very long. Working his way up, eventually Pagani became a chief engineer at Lamborghini and played an important role in the development of the Diablo, the P140, the LM002, as well as building the concept for the Countach Evoluzione. Pagani had tried to persuade Lamborghini to buy an autoclave so they could extend the production of the carbon parts for the Evoluzione. Lamborghini had refused by simply saying, well Ferrari didn't have one so why should they, right? Pagani, however, in late 1987 borrowed the capital himself to buy his own autoclave and in 1991 decided to go his own direction and broke away from Lamborghini altogether. Founding his own consultancy called Modena Design, which to this day still makes carbon fiber composites for Formula 1 cars and other clients including Ferrari. And it wasn't long after that that Pagani would start creating the vehicles he dreamed of as a child. In 1992, only a year later, Pagani had founded Pagani Automobili Modena and for the next seven years he was hard at work developing his first true supercar. A car that he called the Fangio F1, in honor of the man who helped him the most in his career. As a matter of fact, Juan Manuel Fangio was actually involved in the design of the car with Pagani, a project that they called Project C8. When looking into engines, he wanted something that could power this Fangio to make it a true supercar. He struggled to find something that was truly powerful enough but eventually found it in the Mercedes AMG through Fangio's own recommendation. However, in 1995, tragedy struck Horacio as Juan Manuel Fangio died on July 17, 1995, leaving Pagani to finish Project C8 himself. Having come so far, Pagani was just not ready to throw in the towel. He traveled around Europe to find suppliers for the car and to help find investors. Eventually, getting the parts he needed and the funds, he was now ready to complete Project C8. And in 1998, when he was finalizing the aerodynamics, he took the car back to his home country, Argentina. He took the car to the Zonda Wind Tunnel, located in the high mountain regions, an area known for its high wind speeds. Only about a month before the car's debut and when Pagani was finally satisfied with the aerodynamics, he decided to change the name of the car from the Fangio F1, fearing that it just wouldn't live up to Fangio's legacy. And thus, Project C8 became the Zonda C12. The C, standing for his wife's name, Christina, and the 12, standing for the V12 that powered it. The Zonda debuted at the 1999 Geneva Motor Show and took the world by storm. It had everything. It had beauty. It had speed. A true work of art in all regards. It was then that Pagani's dreams as a boy had become a reality. And with a staggering total of 57 orders for the Zonda C12, Pagani Automobili was put on the map. Thanks so much for watching the video everybody. If you enjoyed the content, please give the video a thumbs up. If you're new here and you're not already subscribed, please subscribe to the channel. There will be much more content like this in the future. Thanks again for watching and I hope to see you in the next video.