Say what you will about the preposterousness of the Pagani Zonda, the man who builds them has certainly got his material science nailed. The foundation Horacio Pagani has built his eponymous company on is comparable in solidity only to the material he creates his Zondas from: carbon fiber.

For Pagani did not set out at a foolish young age to make his as-close-to-kindergarten-art-as-possible supercars. He paid his dues at Lamborghini, working his way up in the organization until he designed the very Zonda-like 25th Anniversary Countach. Lesser men would then jump headfirst into car construction, but not Pagani: he followed by founding the carbon fiber consultancy Modena Design. By the time he finally got around to building the first Zonda in 1999—the C12—he had been working non-stop with carbon fiber since the first days it cropped up in car design. Allowing the Zonda to become the nimblest yet most rigid supercar of its day.

The last version of the Zonda is the R and its street legal offshoot, the Cinque. On a recent episode of Top Gear, the Cinque was featured in connection with the material it is made out of: an amalgam of carbon fiber and titanium. As quoted from a press release by Richard Hammond, the material is called carbotanium by the Pagani people—only for James May to retort that an equally obvious linguistic move could have resulted in titbon.

The timestamp on this blogpost shall also serve as an anchor for a countdown to the inevitable day when a pair of Oakley sunglasses will be manufactured from the same material. The name itself is so Oakley it hurts. And they certainly don’t shy away from working with titanium.

The artwork above is Natalie Polgar’s “The Incompatibility of Zondas with the Subantarctic Environment,” from The Pagani Zonda Field Guide.

If you're like us, then you know. If not, then we'll have to point it out loud and clear. Roofless exotics are for rich poseurs. Or are they? With the same Mercedes-Benz AMG-sourced V12 as the equally limited edition Pagani Zonda Cinque hardtop pumping out 678 horsepower and a tire shredding 578 lb-ft of torque, this is no poseur ride. To clarify even further; any car with full carbon fibered bodywork, carbon-titanium monocoque chassis (engineered specifically for the Cinque), Cima six-speed sequential gearbox and a titanium and magnesium adjustable suspension means business.

Sitting pretty at a dry weight of 2,667 lbs, the Zonda Cinque slingshots to 60 mph in 3.4 seconds, 125 mph in 9.6 seconds and fights the wind until it reaches its 217 mph top speed. Massive lateral grip in the Zonda Cinque allows it to maintain 1.45g with its massive Pirelli PZero tires (front 255/35/19, rear 335/30/20) wrapped around aluminum and magnesium, APP monolithic wheels (front 9x19, rear 12,5x20).

Sounds to us like there's plenty of fun wrapped up in this $1.8 million non-poseur mobile, but regardless of all the awesome, you just know that all five of these beauties will end up in some collection, never to be seen or heard from again.

In addition to sucking up the world’s excess supplies of carbon fiber and titanium, supercars are also excellent devices for taking ungodly sums of cash and turning it into, well, nothing. While Albert Einstein might point to a factual error or two in that argument, supercars definitely depreciate in ways very familiar to the Dan Osman types who tie themselves on climbing ropes and plunge into ravines.

Spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a two-seat vehicle is usually reserved for people who couldn’t care less about their money, but these are not usual times. And if you had money to burn, would you store it in a bank? Surely not. Why not buy a Pagani Zonda Cinque instead?

Five will be made of these street legal versions of the Zonda R track special. On sale at ES Elite Style GmbH is chassis #1 for a cool 1.6 million Euros—two million bucks at the current exchange rate. For your monetary equivalent of a Presidential fleet of Maserati Quattroportes, you will get a sequential gearbox, 678 very useful horsepower, and a large athletic shoe with a sinister red-white-black color scheme to zip around in.

One word of warning to the potential buyer: this is an extremely low car best suited for well-maintained tarmac. Please do not drive it on the French island of Kerguelen, which is a glaciated volcano in the Southern Ocean and has no paved roads. Presented here for your warning is the painting The Incompatibility of Zondas with the Subantarctic Environment from the Pagani Zonda Field Guide:

You know it’s bad luck when albatrosses eye your vehicle with suspicion. Jusk ask a sailor intimate with the Roaring Forties.

The Pagani Zonda F Cinque is something of a bridge between the Zonda F chassis and the next one, the Zonda Cinque (pictured above) gets chassis, aerodynamic, and power upgrades compared to the old car. The Zonda F Cinque is based on the Zonda R and borrows styling and aero elements from the Cinque like the hood scoop, and rear diffuser. Five Pagani Zonda F Cinque cars will be built in the year between the end of Zonda F chassis production and the start of Zonda Cinque production.

So if we want to put this in simpler terms and liken the Zonda F Cinque to Corvette history, this car would be the the 1961-62 model years, borrowing elements of two cars to make one rare and still cool car. Look for actual images and details on the car as it debuts next week at the Geneva Motor Show. [GTSpirit]

Why Cinque? According to the person who posted this news, and the picture above, only five of the beasts is to be made. We'll assume it's going to carry the same 7.3-Liter Mercedes V12 and will perform best at the track, though we'd still try and drive it down Lake Shore if given the chance. If the photo above entices you like it entices us we recommend buying lottery tickets. Now! (h/t to Joe) [TeamSpeed]