Professional drifter takes a $3.4 million Pagani Utopia Roadster for a slide on the ice
- A pro-drifter has taken a Pagani Utopia onto the snow and ice of Switzerland
- The Utopia has an 852HP Mercedes-AMG V12 engine under the hood
- Pagani replaced the Huayra with the Utopia in 2022
Published on Feb 24, 2025 at 5:55 PM (UTC+4)
by Henry Kelsall
Last updated on Feb 24, 2025 at 5:59 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Kate Bain
A professional drifter has taken a Pagani supercar, similar to the one in the above video, out onto the snow and ice in Switzerland.
2020 Drift Champion of Ukraine Yaroslav Veselaho was at the wheel of the Pagani Utopia Roadster supercar.
The supercar costs more than $3 million, but drifting likely wasn’t a consideration for the Pagani engineers when they built it.
However, as Veselaho’s Instagram video shows, the Utopia handles the terrain with ease, as if it was made for it.
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The video gives us an idea of how to drift a Pagani Utopia
The video is taken from onboard the Utopia supercar and from behind the wheel.
During the video, we see Veselaho sliding the car from left to right and shuffling the wheel to keep it steady.
Keeping the supercar pointing in the right direction is clearly a challenge.
Snow and ice won’t, of course, provide anywhere near as much grip as a regular tarmac, or even dirt road.
Yet Veselaho keeps the Pagani under control through the drifts without getting anywhere near the barriers and gives the crowds a very exciting show.
The video is relatively short, but is enough to give us an idea of what drifting a supercar is like.
The Utopia wasn’t originally made for ice drifting
Of course, the ice of Switzerland isn’t the usual domain for the Pagani Utopia.
Its natural habitat is the open road or a race track, where the supercar excels.
But the Utopia is the successor to the Huayra.
So Pagani took the lessons it learned from the track-only Huayra R and incorporated them into the design of its successor, the Utopia.
This included using a forged aluminum double-wishbone suspension, which the company developed based on its experience with the Huayra.
As with other Pagani supercars, the Utopia takes its power from a Mercedes-AMG V12 engine.
But more specifically, it packs a 6.0-liter M158-twin-turbocharged V12, producing a huge 852HP and 811LB-FT of torque.
That means the Utopia is one of the most powerful supercars in the world, making it an extra challenge for Veselaho to keep under control on the ice.
Incredibly, the champ does it with comparative ease, proving that almost any car can go drifting.
Henry is a content writer with nearly ten years experience, having written for various publications since 2017. Qualifying with a Sports Journalism degree from Staffordshire University, Henry loves all things automotive but has a particular soft spot for classic Japanese cars and anything Lancia. He also has a curious passion for steam locomotives.
