SOCIETÀ UTOPICA

THE PAGANI UTOPIA IS MORE THAN JUST A CAR. IT'S A HANDCRAFTED INVITATION TO ONE OF THE WORLD'S MOST EXCLUSIVE MOTORING CLUBS.

- MATT FARAH

THE PAGANI UTOPIA is not your average, latest-and-greatest, more-is better hypercar. Oddly, for something that costs give-or-take $3 million and looks the way it does, the Utopia isn’t made to shatter records. It’s made to satisfy the exacting needs of existing customers. But it still looks vaguely like a race car, with lots of carbon fiber, aluminum, and titanium, and it gives the impression of motorsport-grade engineering. The interior is the right amount of overkill to satisfy enthusiasts of both watches and handbags and fits a steampunk fantasy of sorts— as if Captain Nemo needed something for trips into a port city. Most important, the Utopia is made to be a good touring car because Pagani customers like to go on road trips, particularly the Paganionly Raduno trips that the factory organizes all over the world.

With any car, spending extra money stops getting you objective improvements at some point. The roads we drive on for commuting, errands, or fun were largely built when cars were smaller and slower. There’s a point at which having a more powerful, more extreme car offers diminishing returns when it comes to a safe place to enjoy it.

There are workarounds to the moral (if not legal) challenge of wringing out evermore racy machines: private tracks at country clubs. Places like the Thermal Club near Palm Desert or the Concours Club near Miami, where your car lives in a trackside villa. Golf-style communities merged with motorsport are popping up all over the world. Places where you can drive on a closed course, avoid pesky road regulations, and enjoy the bonus of an après-motor hang with like-minded individuals at the on-site bar.