Find here everyday this week a new episode from this outstanding event.
Day 1
In an industrial zone somewhere in Modena, surrounded by grey warehouses, dull office buildings and wheat fields is the home to where art and science come together to create some of the most breathtaking and recognizable cars from the last two decades. This is of course the home of Pagani.
I must admit I have a lot of love for Paganis, by far my favorite cars of all time. So, it was with great privilege and joy to join 13 Paganis on their annual Vanishing Point rally across Italy. Throughout four days the cars would drive through some of the most picturesque scenery North Northern Italy has to offer and it all kicked off at their new state of the art facility.
The first day was a welcome ceremony and the grand opening of the new Pagani Museum at the factory. There was a lot of faffing around inside, but eventually they would start to make their way to their hotel 5 hours from the factory, with a coffee stop in between of course.
We got our first look at all the cars on that would be on this rally when they left the factory in a convoy of every car guy’s dreams. The pack was led by Horacio Pagani in his latest creation, the Huayra Roadster, followed by the dozen or so customer cars.
This year there were three new Huayra BCs, five Huayras, and five Zondas. There were also other supplementary cars such as a Koenigsegg Agera XS (owned by the same person as the blue BC), an Aston Martin DB11, a Lamborghini Huracan, a Ferrari 488, a Ferrari 458, a Ferrari California T, and a Bentley Continental GT plus all the crew and support vehicles.
It wouldn’t be a proper Italian journey without some drama and after 10 minutes we had already lost a car. The factory’s silver Huayra BC halted the convoy due to some technical issues. As we were at the back of the pack we didn’t see what happened but according to people who witnessed it there was a lot of smoke coming out of the back. After that, we never saw the silver BC again.
The rest of the rally continued onwards to the hotel. Most of the driving on the first day was done on motorways. Immediately after the first toll gate things got messy. The heavy traffic played agains the favor of the rally and the confusing signs quickly separated the pack. Some cars went one way while others went the other.
From the factory, the cars were supposed to head southwards towards Florence, however some cars ended up going north towards Milan. The cars that went in the correct direction went off the motorway and joined onto the Apennies Tour via the Raticossa Pass and Fusa Pass towards their coffee break.
The passes had beautiful sweeping mountain roads with typically Italian scenery that wouldn’t be out of place in a movie. However single carriageway roads, slow elderly drivers, and large trucks hampered any possibility of fun driving on these roads towards the first stop of the first day.
By the time, we got to the coffee break stop all the cars had magically regrouped. Foreshadowing the rest of the rally, cars that weren’t Paganis weren’t allowed inside the gated and guarded
stops. However, the stop was in a picturesque location overlooking a lake.
Once that was done, the cars made their way to the Castello del Nero hotel, south of Florence. The drive to the hotel consisted mainly of motorway driving but when we arrived at the hotel the sun was just about to set leaving a warm orange and pink sky. It was a beautiful way to end the first day of the 2017 Pagani Raduno.
By Ken Saito