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| www.QV500.com - Pagani Zonda Part 4: The Zonda GR |
 Rollout, February 2003 |
By December 2002, the Zonda was nearly into its fourth year but still nobody had raced one of Pagani's exquisite machines. This changed when Tom Weickardt, Toine Hezemans and Paul Kumpen decided to join forces and create a new company, Carsport Zonda. Weickardt was the owner of American Viperacing, Hezemans, Carsport Holland and Kumpen, GLPK. Their idea was to secure the exclusive rights to develop, build and sell competition Zonda's. Horacio Pagani gave his blessing and within four months, the first GR had been completed at Carsport's facility in Modena. |
| Initially, these cars would be built to comply with the ACO's GTS regulations as not until 2004 would carbon-tubbed supercars be legal in the FIA's GT Championship. Nevertheless, the Zonda would still be the first GTS car to use anything other than a traditional spaceframe although this in itself was no guarantee of beating hardened racers like the Corvette C5-R and Ferrari 550. Carsport's original plan was to contest the entire 2003 American Le Mans Series and do that years 24 Hours of Le Mans, but such ambitious ideals were quickly dropped in favour of doing just the three big events at Sebring, Le Mans and Road Atlanta. The race to build a competition Zonda in time for Sebring was on and Carsport began by fitting reworked suspension with double supporting beams, new KW shocks and Brembo carbon brakes. There were also new 18-inch centre-lock Speedline wheels (12 and 13-inches wide front/rear), the tyres being shod with rubber from Italian manufacturer, Pirelli. Mechanically, Carsport were restricted to using an engine of no more than six litres so it was decided a 5987cc AMG Mercedes Typ M120 E73 motor would be most appropriate, this customer-spec unit being tuned by BTD in Belgium to produce no less than 600bhp at 6000rpm. Equipped with an enlarged radiator, the engine was coupled to a Hollinger six-speed sequential gearbox, both motor and transmission getting heat exchangers for the oil. |
 Le Mans 24 Hours, June 2003 |
The Zonda's bodywork also underwent several minor changes even though nothing too drastic seemed to have been done at first glance. Front and rear wheelarches were extended whilst the tail was reduced in width by 4cm to meet ACO regulations. There were also front and rear diffusers and an adjustable rear aerofoil, the wing mirrors being mounted lower down the windscreen pillars than before. Inside, the beautiful cabin was stripped of all its luxurious fixtures and fittings, a rollcage, bucket seat and rudimentary instrumentation helping reduce weight from 1250 to just 1100kgs. |
| The first car was shaken down in mid February and everything seemingly went well, Hezemans and Kumpen completing more than 40-laps around the Adria test track near Venice. Expectations should have been checked after a launch in a Belgian nightclub (!) and with just two weeks before Sebring, the pressure was really on to transform arguably the most impressive supercar in existence to a fast and reliable racer. Carsport arrived in Florida for the 12 Hours with an ageing Viper GTS-R and the Zonda, but must have been bitterly disappointed when the new car qualified last in its class. Driven by Hezemans and Kumpen, it started from 25th on the grid, one place behind the Viper and retired six laps later with an engine failure. Hardly the debut Carsport had been hoping for, the Pagani's half hour at Sebring had meant it qualified for the Le Mans 24 Hours and a coveted entry from the ACO duly followed. However, without any direct support from AMG, things didn't look promising as the Zonda GR's most obvious weakness had been a lack of grunt. Subsequent tests at Zolder and Le Mans reinforced this, but after a major sponsorship deal fell through, nothing could be changed in time for the French classic. Qualifying 32nd (last but one in class), this time the GR managed 10 laps before retiring with gearbox problems. With the third and final outing of the year canned, we wait to see how the next chapter will unfold. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Sebring 12 Hours, March 2003 |
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