Brave (or stupid) Pagani Utopia owner wades through Dubai floods

Don’t drive into flood waters. It’s foundational advice for motorists, no matter what sort of car you’re driving.

It’s especially pertinent if you’re behind the wheel of a one-in-99 hypercar in Dubai.

This Pagani Utopia owner clearly knew better. Stuck in the deadly floods that recently hit the UAE, the owner of this multi-million-dollar V12 hypercar tiptoed bravely through in the wake of a Nissan Patrol.

Behind the passenger cell in the Utopia is a twin-turbo V12 engine Pagani “developed on a bespoke basis” by Mercedes-AMG. The 12-cylinder engine develops 635kW at 6000rpm, and 1100Nm between 2800 and 5900rpm.

It drives the rear wheels via a seven-speed transversely-mounted automated manual transmission. Pagani points out it decided not to go with a dual-clutch gearbox as it is heavier and “robs the driver of the ability to set the pace of the car’s acceleration”.

A seven-speed manual transmission specially developed to handle the engine’s mountain of torque is also available.