Chapter 441 The Heart and Soul of Aeolus BC and Pagani Supercars

"Mr. Horazio, who booked your first supercar so early?" Li Xiaofan asked curiously.

Horazio Pagani smiled and explained to Li Xiaofan:

"It's a supercar enthusiast named Benny Caiola. Have you heard of him? He is a wealthy real estate businessman in New York, USA, who was born in Italy. He is also a collector of supercars, especially Italian supercars. Benny Caiola's favorite before was Ferrari. But just last month, like you, he came to visit my studio after being introduced by a friend, and then soon paid me a deposit and booked the first supercar I designed and developed..."

Benny Caiola, BC...

Li Xiaofan suddenly knew who he was.

In the previous life, at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show, Pagani officially released a limited edition model called Pagani Huayra BC. Only 20 units were sold worldwide, and they were sold out immediately after they were released.

The pre-tax price of the regular model of Pagani Huayra BC is 2.4 million euros, which is more than 20 million yuan.

At that time, Li Xiaofan and his good friend Yu Xiaodong saw a story about Pagani Huayra BC on the Internet:

It was said that a generous New York tycoon bought the first Pagani sports car, and Horacio Pagani and his technical team were able to turn more imaginative design drafts into reality.

The New York tycoon was impressed by Pagani's design concept from the beginning, and then became the first customer in the brand's history. In turn, he constantly encouraged Pagani to create a more "track-focused" sports car. It is said that the New York tycoon has a profound influence on the Pagani supercar brand.

In 2010, the New York tycoon unfortunately passed away. In order to commemorate this super Pagani fan and friend who had a profound influence on him, Horacio Pagani launched a global limited edition of 20 Pagani Huayra BC in 2016.

BC is the initials of this New York tycoon...

It turns out that this New York tycoon Benny Caiola placed an order to support Pagani supercars so early, no wonder Horacio Pagani later had a special relationship with him.

"Mr. Horacio, I understand. In order to support your first supercar brand, I will place an order for you like Mr. Benny Caiola, and the delivery time in the future is not a problem!"

"Thank you so much, Li!"

As the second VIP in the world to order a car from Pagani Automobile Company, Li Xiaofan and Tang Xinyi, accompanied by Horacio Pagani, visited the Pagani Zonda prototype under development.

Horacio Pagani said that he originally wanted to name the first Pagani supercar "Pagani Fangio" to commemorate the noble man in his life: Juan Manuel Fangio Fangio, who has won the F1 world championship five times.

It was under Fangio's introduction that Horacio Pagani came to Lamborghini, a super sports car manufacturer in the suburbs of Modena, and started as an assembly worker until he participated in the design of Lamborghini's famous Diablo sports car. When he started his own business, with Fangio's help, Pagani successfully obtained the top engine of Germany's AMG company.

Unfortunately, Fangio, the car god, passed away last year. Horacio Pagani couldn't bear to use his predecessor's name, so he took the meaning of "wind in the Andes" for his first supercar and named it Zonda, which means "son of the wind".

Li Xiaofan had heard of this story told by Horacio Pagani.

In the trial production workshop, the Zonda prototype, which Horacio Pagani was dissatisfied with after the road test, was being reassembled.

At the first station in the workshop, the main mechanical parts of the car are installed on the front and rear subframes made of chrome-molybdenum alloy steel, and then the subframes are installed on the carbon fiber main frame respectively.

It seems that there is nothing extra. This beautifully made steel subframe carries the parts it must carry.

The high-tech large-displacement engine from Germany's AMG company has the name and signature of the assembly worker engraved on the nameplate, and the transmission nameplate provided by Xtrac, a famous racing transmission supplier from the UK, also has the phone number of Xtrac.

Located between the front and rear subframes is the heart and soul of the Pagani supercar: the carbon fiber frame.

Horacio Pagani introduced that the engine, transmission, interior and even painting are currently outsourced to high-quality suppliers in the small town of Modena, but the key carbon fiber components are all developed by their Pagani Automobile Company itself.

One of the biggest highlights of the Pagani supercar is Horacio Pagani's ingenious conception and exquisite workmanship of carbon fiber components.

In his previous life, Li Xiaofan had read an introduction that the exterior of the Pagani Zonda was made of a large amount of carbon fiber. The car was handcrafted, with very sophisticated craftsmanship and perfect workmanship. It once surpassed the super sports cars of first-tier brands such as Ferrari and Lamborghini, and was loved by a large number of super sports car tycoons around the world.

Through the transparent glass, Horacio Pagani accompanied Li Xiaofan and others to visit the carbon fiber manufacturing workshop.

Horazio Pagani introduced that in the closed clean room workshop, a precise constant temperature of 20°C is maintained to ensure perfect flexibility of the pre-impregnated carbon fiber sheets.

The skilled workers inside use their hands to press every curve and surface of the parts of the Pagani supercar into a mold.

Horazio Pagani said that there are other manufacturers who claim that their products are hand-made, but their body panels are usually molded by machines.

In the Pagani supercar, every piece of "carbon fiber muscle" is formed by hand.

This scene reminded Li Xiaofan of the car body factory where he went to use a bending machine to shape panels...

Horazio Pagani said that the Pagani Zonda prototype he is currently designing has approximately 250 carbon fiber parts.

It takes about 3-4 weeks to prototype a set, and the largest parts, such as the rear hatch and the cockpit reinforced with aluminum strips, which is the main frame, each take several days.

To increase strength at stress points, these critical components require additional layers of carefully trimmed ribbons of carbon fiber.

Because parts such as the rear hatch cover are large in area and complex in shape, and may only be painted with varnish without color paint, making all the fiber lines neat is a task that requires magic to complete.

Horazio Pagani introduced that the technical workers operating in the workshop had worked in the carbon fiber workshop of the Ferrari F1 team and were experienced and skilled.

After the molding is completed, these carbon fiber parts need to be placed in a vacuum bag for another 24 hours, and then baked in batches in a huge autoclave. The longest one takes 10 hours.

These carbon fiber parts will then be corrected, polished, inspected, then painted, and finally installed on the prototype body...

Different from the simple tour in the previous life, this time Horazio Pagani personally accompanied him into the core department of the Pagani company, which shocked Li Xiaofan and Tang Xinyi.

No wonder a Pagani supercar is so expensive. Every part of it is so exquisitely crafted, truly embodying the "craftsman" spirit!

…

After leaving the Pagani Supercar Company and driving to Florence "Feleng Cui", Li Xiaofan received a call from mainland China.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Li, are you still in Italy?" The caller was Academician Ni.

"Hello, Academician Ni, yes, we are on our way to Florence..."

"Mr. Li, if you are free after your vacation in Italy, please arrange a time to come to Beijing as soon as possible!"

"Academician Ni, is there any good news?" Li Xiaofan asked in surprise.