Published: Feb 28, 2013

Pagani Responds to Top Gear Controversy

Having been accused of fixing its lap around the Top Gear test track, Pagani sets the record straight.

Yesterday we reported on speculation that Pagani had fixed its record-breaking lap time at the Top Gear test track. Doubters claimed the Huayra that smashed the Ariel Atom’s record by 1.3 seconds was wearing racing slicks at the time of lapping the Dunsfold track. In the spirit of fair play we reached out to Pagani to hear its side of the story. And the Italian supercar manufacturer's press officer Luca Venturi was good enough to reply promptly with an explanation.

more at CarBuzz:
BMW M5, M6 Competition Packs Debut Aston Martin Reveals CC100 Concept LaFerrari Arrives in Hong Kong

According to Luca, Pagani offers its customers three types of tires - PZero, PZero Corsa and PZero Trofeo - developed specifically by Pirelli. Pagani asserts they're all homologated for street use, and the more aggressive Trofeo rubber (a modified version of the slicks on the Zonda R) was used for the track run. So there we have it – the tires may have been near racing slicks, but are technically street-legal. Furthermore, Pagani claims that, after comparing times made on other tracks, the Huayra is capable of going up to two seconds quicker than the time posted. Maybe the Stig was having an off day.