Pagani Zonda news - Ooh, R - 2008

Now that’s what we call going out with a bang. The Pagani Zonda will soon be put out to pasture - to be replaced by an even more extreme supercar codenamed the C9 – but not without a final, ultra-extreme goodbye.

This is the Zonda R, a madly expensive, madly fast version of Pagani’s hypercar set to go on sale some time next year.

Limited to just 10 examples – five for the track and five for the road – the Zonda R will cost an eye-watering 2,000,000 Euros. And that’s before you’ve specced the iPod connector…

Though it looks superficially similar to the other Zondas, the R shares a mere 10 per cent of its underpinnings with the outgoing model. Some five centimetres longer than the Zonda F, the R’s shape is even more focused on downforce – there’s a bigger splitter, a bizarre new rear diffuser and, as you may have spotted, a mahoosive rear wing.

More significantly, Pagani has ditched the Mercedes-sourced 7.3-litre V12 in favour of AMG’s six-litre V12 as found in the S65. That should be good for around 650bhp and, we’d guess, a 0-60mph time pretty close to three seconds.

The production Zonda R should be unveiled at the Geneva motor show next spring. Time to start saving up, then?

You can see Clarkson driving a Zonda - only not this one - in his new DVD.

Or, watch that F lapping the 'Ring: