Wednesday 13th August

Koenigsegg reclaims 0-400kph-0 record

Rimac didn't hold the title for long - the race to less than 25 seconds continues... 

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Say what you will about Koenigsegg, they’re stubborn old Swedes. And they really care about their speed records. So the Rimac Nevera R wasn’t likely to hold on to its record, established in July, of being the fastest homologated production car to accelerate from a start to 400kph (249mph) and back to nought again. However barmy 25.79 seconds sounded, Koenigsegg would have been determined to beat it. We just didn’t expect them to do so only a month later. 

But they have, and now there’s a new benchmark for the ultimate test of hypercar speeding and stopping: 25.21 seconds. That was achieved on August 7th, with factory test driver Marcus Lundh behind the wheel of a Jesko Absolut, as he had been for previous attempts. At the Örebro airfield, he beat ‘both the company’s own previous benchmark from June 2024 and everyone else’ with the new record run. Take that, Rimac. 

This Jesko was quite a bit faster than before; an Absolut clocked a 27.83-second run of the same discipline in June last year. Koenigsegg says this is thanks to software upgrades for the Light Speed Transmission and engine management that are being called ‘Absolut Overdrive’, and will make their way to customer cars in due course. According to Christian von Koenigsegg, they make for an even more ferocious launch for the rear-drive megacar, and that can be seen in the stats: last year a Jesko took 18.82 seconds to reach the 400 milestone, and this time it was 16.77. So that’s more than two seconds of the 2.5-second advantage right there. The fact that the conditions were described as ‘sub-optimal’, moreover, would suggest there could be even more to come from the revised Jesko. 

The stats really are worth poring over, too. Just when it seems like nothing can get faster, Koenigsegg continues to raise the bar. Just after that 400 clicks benchmark, the Jesko reached 250mph in 17.18 seconds - brisk cars hit half that speed in a similar time - and then braked with spectacular force. From either 400kph or 250mph, the Absolut needed less than 8.5 seconds. The run took place using Racelogic equipment and was verified by the company. 

Christian von Koenigsegg added: “This run demonstrated the power of cross-functional teamwork and exceptional communication between our in-house developed drivetrain systems. It’s a testament to the synergies between our engineering & development teams, our cutting-edge software architecture, and avantgarde class-leading mechanical solutions… That we achieve this level of performance with a production car utilizing a combustion engine with rear wheel drive only - beating all four-wheel drive electric cars in a straight line is almost magical, and show that ‘truths’ can be re-written."

Amen to that. It surely won’t be long before a car goes below 25 seconds for 0-400-0 - place your bets now on who it might be…

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• Rimac Nevera R destroys old Nevera record
  
• New Koenigsegg ‘Sadair’s Spear’ lives up to name

[eein]

With the margins that small the environment must be a factor - ie surface, temperature, air pressure, altitude, etc.

[Pixel Pusher]

It surely won’t be long before a car goes below 25 seconds for 0-400-0 - place your bets now on who it might be…

I'll have £5 on Rimac

[eein]

If Top Gear was still going it'd be them... a car dropped out a plane should hit 400kmh in about 15 seconds, and if the height is judged right you could get it back to zero in about 1 second.

[Justin-ow582]

regardless of powertrain, it's amazing that a RWD car can manage that much power and maintain traction to beat a 4WD car

[nismo48]

Excellent result for the team. There's life in the old combustion engine for a while longer yet

[ChrisCh86]

Hypercars are normally pretty boring as you'll never see one, let alone drive one. Koenigsegg is different though - because the engineering is incredible and also because they've been around for 30 years.

I love how competitive they are too, Kristian (Von Koenigsegg) and Mate Rimac are both inspirational engineers.

[phil4]

They could have easily got it under 25 if they'd sat there at >400 kph for so long.

[WhyOne]

phil4 said:

They could have easily got it under 25 if they'd sat there at >400 kph for so long.

Eh?!?!

[jimothyc]

WhyOne said:

phil4 said:

They could have easily got it under 25 if they'd sat there at >400 kph for so long.

Eh?!?!

Watching the video, they seem to sit above 400kph for a couple of seconds, only breaking at 406kph. Although the telemetry on the video might be out from the one the driver is using. Interesting to see that they did all of this in just over 2km of runway.

[Justin-ow582]

phil4 said:

They could have easily got it under 25 if they'd sat there at >400 kph for so long.

Yeah, can't they patch in the Racelogic system to send a trigger (if even just to an LED on the dashboard) immediately as 400kph is reached?

Watching the on screen stats, it appeared to be >400 for a good 3 seconds before the anchors were slammed upon... but i suppose the stats may not be accurate and they'd forfeit the run if the driver reacts too early.

Maybe the driver was instructed to brake late so that when Rimac break this record Koenigsegg know that they have 3 seconds in their pocket to get it back again

[martin12345]

I'd love to know what the tyres are to support that sort of acceleration ({and decellaration) - re-cycled chewing gum ?
Tyre conditioning is probably quite critical

Also balancing the aero to have good higher speed acceleration vs load for traction and braking
Fascination engineering exercise !

[disco666]

eein said:

With the margins that small the environment must be a factor - ie surface, temperature, air pressure, altitude, etc.

I've often thought about the surface.
We know tyres make a huge difference but surely the surface is just as important.
Is there an 'approved' specification for the tarmac used on timed runs?
If you wanted the best time, especially for something short like 0-60, roughing up the first 100metres of tarmac could make some difference. Any evidence this happens?

[Panamax]

I don't know a lot of people who've owned a Koenigsegg, but from what I've heard 0-400-0 is a good description of what they do to the owner's wallet.

[wyson]

I bet though anyone could do it in the Rimac, but it will need someone with some skills in the Koenigseggggg.

[MountainsofSussex]

Justin-ow582 said:

phil4 said:

They could have easily got it under 25 if they'd sat there at >400 kph for so long.

Yeah, can't they patch in the Racelogic system to send a trigger (if even just to an LED on the dashboard) immediately as 400kph is reached?

Watching the on screen stats, it appeared to be >400 for a good 3 seconds before the anchors were slammed upon... but i suppose the stats may not be accurate and they'd forfeit the run if the driver reacts too early.

Maybe the driver was instructed to brake late so that when Rimac break this record Koenigsegg know that they have 3 seconds in their pocket to get it back again

I wonder if the "agreed process" for doing this is that the time taken to cross 400kph going up is counted, you're allowed to overshoot, then the timer is restarted when you cross 400kph decelerating. Otherwise you'd get a lot of wasted runs with the driver trying to start breaking at 400.1 kph, either going too fast or not fast enough

[Justin-ow582]

MountainsofSussex said:

Justin-ow582 said:

phil4 said:

They could have easily got it under 25 if they'd sat there at >400 kph for so long.

Yeah, can't they patch in the Racelogic system to send a trigger (if even just to an LED on the dashboard) immediately as 400kph is reached?

Watching the on screen stats, it appeared to be >400 for a good 3 seconds before the anchors were slammed upon... but i suppose the stats may not be accurate and they'd forfeit the run if the driver reacts too early.

Maybe the driver was instructed to brake late so that when Rimac break this record Koenigsegg know that they have 3 seconds in their pocket to get it back again

I wonder if the "agreed process" for doing this is that the time taken to cross 400kph going up is counted, you're allowed to overshoot, then the timer is restarted when you cross 400kph decelerating. Otherwise you'd get a lot of wasted runs with the driver trying to start breaking at 400.1 kph, either going too fast or not fast enough

That would make a lot more sense

[GTRene]

Justin-ow582 said:

regardless of powertrain, it's amazing that a RWD car can manage that much power and maintain traction to beat a 4WD car

indeed, also the power from 300 to 400km/h is amazing.

love the tech they find out at Koenigsegg, they also have nice smal electromotors with great power!

[BrownEaredDog]

disco666 said:

eein said:

With the margins that small the environment must be a factor - ie surface, temperature, air pressure, altitude, etc.

I've often thought about the surface.
We know tyres make a huge difference but surely the surface is just as important.
Is there an 'approved' specification for the tarmac used on timed runs?
If you wanted the best time, especially for something short like 0-60, roughing up the first 100metres of tarmac could make some difference. Any evidence this happens?

Very good point, it sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole

The Rimac's time was set on VWs Ehra-Lessien test track (as far as I can see) and the Koenigsegg on an airfield runway so I ended up reading through a few articles/studies regarding the differences between airport and road pavements. This document on ResearchGate notes that runways have very high-friction surfaces which would surely work in Koenigsegg's favour? Small margins, as eein said

I've tried to find info about the asphalt at the VW track, but "bituminous pavement" is as far as I got, maybe not surprising given the secrecy and high security surrounding the track.

Impressive as they are, surely comparing these times is irrelevant unless they're done on the same day, in the same place and under the same conditions?

(EFA)

Edited by BrownEaredDog on Wednesday 13th August 13:26

[Amanitin]

eein said:

If Top Gear was still going it'd be them... a car dropped out a plane should hit 400kmh in about 15 seconds, and if the height is judged right you could get it back to zero in about 1 second.

I like your way of thinking

[asci.white]

MountainsofSussex said:

I wonder if the "agreed process" for doing this is that the time taken to cross 400kph going up is counted, you're allowed to overshoot, then the timer is restarted when you cross 400kph decelerating. Otherwise you'd get a lot of wasted runs with the driver trying to start breaking at 400.1 kph, either going too fast or not fast enough

This. I looked it up and this is correct. The record is set by only including the time it takes to reach 400 and then once they hit the brakes the time is further calculated from the point it decelerates from 400 to zero.