Pagani Zonda C12S

Call me mean, but I don’t see the point of buying 12 months’ road tax for the Zonda if it’s going to be sitting in the garage for at least six of them, so this year’s plan is to have it taxed for just six months. That started on April 1st, but first the Zonda needed a new MoT, which meant a visit to our old friends at the Paragon MoT & Service Centre in Northampton was in order.

Previous experience suggested that MoT’ing a Zonda requires several more operators than for a normal car, and this year proved no different, with MoT man Nathan Bovingdon being joined by another three guys, all taking pictures and saying ‘Wow!’ or ‘How much?!’ at appropriate points.

The test proved plain sailing, so, certificate acquired, I headed off to get some new front tyres fitted. I would have had them done last June, when the rears were replaced (at £759 for the pair), but tyres for the front just weren’t available at the time. It’s one of the things they don’t tell you before you buy a car like this: getting four new tyres at the same time can sometimes be next to impossible, as manufacturers only make these low-volume sizes in batches. It’s therefore best to order well in advance – a Ford GT-owning friend couldn’t use his car for three months recently while he waited for a new set of rears to become available…

At least the Zonda is turning out to be unbelievably easy on its tyres. I was amazed to discover that the rears have only lost 1mm of tread in the 2500 miles they’ve covered so far, because a Ford GT or Enzo can destroy a set of rears in fewer miles than this.

Anyway, with the Zonda now MoT’d, taxed and re-tyred, all I need is a proper summer and not a washout like last year’s. Here’s hoping…

Running Costs