pagani zonda

"the constant efforts of horacio pagani and his team shows once again how art and engineering can be combined in the zonda cinque roadster."

- pagani zonda cinque press release

imagine my surprise after some very chill saturday night drinks when i spotted a pagani zonda casually parked downstairs from my mate's apartment.  the mid-engined sports car, produced by pagani in italy, debuted in 1999 and continues through the present, with production proceeding at roughly ten cars per year.  as of june 2009, only 106 zondas had been built, including test mules.  the zonda cinque (above) in its current form is a combination of the zonda F and zonda R, creating a road-going track day car with its mercedes amg v12 engine.  built at the repeated request of hong kong pagani dealer sps automotive performance (it was initially named the zonda SPS), only five were built at the cost of gbp1 million plus tax - all sold, street legal and delivered in june 2009.  featuring clutchless sequential gear change resulting in shifts now taking less than 100 milliseconds dropping its 0-62 mph down to 3.4 seconds, the cinque also has a revised form of carbon fibre which uses titanium to increase strength.  this revised bodywork creates 750 kg (1,653 lbs) of downfource at 300 km/h (186 mph) - pulling 1.45 gs when cornering.  nice.

schumacher's surprise return

“for loyalty reasons to the team I cannot ignore this unfortunate situation,” the german said on his website. “but as the competitor I am, i also very much look forward to facing this challenge.”

- michael schumacher

i like to think that i know a thing or two about cars (compared to most girls) but would definitely not consider myself a formula one fan.  what really touched me about this story is schumacher's sense of team spirit.  he will step in to replace injured felipe massa until the brazilian is able to race again (there are seven races left in 2009).  massa, 28, left intensive care yesterday after suffering head and neck injuries five days ago at the hungarian grand prix.  schumacher, 40, retired in 2006 and has acted as a technical advisor to the ferrari team since then, helping with design.  in order to prove himself physically fit enough to return to the extremely demanding sport, he will need to undertake a special training programme.  the next race - the european grand prix - is scheduled for 23 august which the german will enter with a record of 91 wins from 248 grand prix.  although some have been quick to call this a marketing ploy, former F-1 team owner eddie jordan believes otherwise. "anyone who dismisses michael schumacher because of age is making a grave error.  he is a different breed.” now i just need a "team michael" tee....