[RahulNagaraj]

According to media reports, an attendee at the Monterey Car Week set off smoke on Pagani's latest $2.3 million dollar hypercar, the Utopia.

The Pagani Utopia on display at 'The Quail' was seen pouring out a cloud of smoke from what looked like the car's engine compartment. However, the company's Head of Marketing later confirmed that the smoke was actually discharged from the car's fire extinguisher.



As per reports, a guest at the event was touching switches on the inside of the car, one of which set off the engine's self-contained fire extinguisher. Witnesses at the event stated that initially, no one knew what happened, but that there was a lot of smoke coming from the engine, close to the back of the seats.

Pagani displayed the Utopia for the first time in North America at The Quail - a popular car show attracting affluent guests and high-end automakers.

Talking about the car itself, the Pagani Utopia is the brand's latest flagship model, set to replace the Huayra. The hypercar was unveiled back in September 2022 and is powered by a 6.0-litre AMG V12 engine. It produces 864 BHP and is paired with an optional manual transmission.

Source: Road&Track

Link to Team-BHP news

[Sanidhya mukund]

This raises a few questions.

1. Why does the engine have an inbuilt fire extinguisher? Does the cooling system not do a good enough job of keeping temperatures under control? (Pardon me, I am not really familiar with how HyperCars work.)

2. The fact that someone fiddling with switches could set off a fire extinguisher would means that the switch is easy to press inadvertently. Shouldn’t it be located at a more discreet location?

3. Was a certain Mr. Bean present at the event?

[PaddleShifter]

Originally Posted by Sanidhya mukund

This raises a few questions.

I had the same query in my mind (your point no. 2), i.e. is it so easy to set off the fire fighting system in the car by an easily accessible switch? Understandably, the switch does need to be easily accessible to be useful in an unfortunate situation. Could this location be a bit more discreet or maybe multiple presses with audible/ spoken warning (from the speakers) after the first press?

Regarding query 1, cars are at risk of catching fire after an accident and a hypercar/ supercar/ sports car is at an increased risk during a track day event when the car is being pushed to the limits by the owner. Besides track driving, remember Paul Walker accident on the street followed by the fire that killed him? Or even more rarely, a random fire due to an electrical malfunction can occur. Lastly, see this 90 seconds clip of a Lamborghini catching fire on the Dubai street because of the hard revving at a traffic stop.

https://youtu.be/N44icPfGi1M?si=bgJIKOqGbuaQuVl8