Today

Koenigsegg Jesko hits 180mph in quarter-mile

New quarter- and half-mile records for Jesko notch up faster ever speeds for a production car

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No time from a Koenigsegg hypercar, whether around a lap or down a runway, should really come as a surprise anymore. Yet here we are again, jaws on the floor at how a non-electrified car on an unprepped surface can accelerate quite so fast. 

This time it’s non-EV production car records for the Jesko Absolut, enhanced just a little further of late with new software that’s coming over the air to owners (tech that’s being shared with Kimera, remember). Across a quarter mile, where traction is the important thing for a launch - and the Jesko is only rear-drive - an 8.54-second time was recorded on the VBox. At 190mph. There are plenty of dedicated drag cars, surely, that are slower. Koenigsegg suggests it’s the first time that a production car has gone through the quarter at more than 180mph. For some idea of just how fast the Koenigsegg is travelling, the four-wheel drive, 1,267hp Corvette ZR1X is close on elapsed time - 8.675, on a dedicated drag strip - but at just the 159mph. 

Only getting into its stride, basically, which is evidenced by the even more astonishing half-mile time: 12.76 seconds, at 232mph. That’s a fast quarter-mile time, really, let alone twice the distance. And a speed that very few can reach, with the Koenigsegg still accelerating from there. On production tyres, down a Swedish runway. 

Factory test driver Marcus Lundh was driving and, as if to prove just how easy it is to launch a Jesko faster than anything else, filmed the whole thing on his phone. Not one to try at home, but what a machine. Christian von Koenigsegg said: “The way the Jesko rips, it’s just amazing. What a beast it is. The level of grip through two-wheel propulsion is just unheard of, never seen before. Seemingly impossible, until it was proven.” And Koenigsegg being Koenigsegg, it’s not beyond the imagination for them to go even faster still. And for those that want to experience eight-second quarter miles of their own, there’s actually a Jesko for sale on PH - an Attack rather than an Absolut, but ought to be fast enough. It will cost four million, though… 

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• Now Mansory has its hands on a Koenigsegg Jesko
• Epic Kimera K-39 gets 1,000hp Koenigsegg V8

[Ray_Aber]

I love the Koenigsegg story. The fact that a small Swedish operation can achieve this - and not just the application of brute force - is astonishing from an engineering standpoint. Always great fun to watch. Two-wheel drive too? Astonishing.

[Jte3397]

The only hypercar manufacturer I find interesting (unless you count Kimera) and probably the only one that would get my money should I ever have it to spend (unless you count Kimera).

[aestivator]

article said:

There are plenty of dedicated drag cars, surely, that are slower

In Sportsman classes maybe. In 'real' drag categories, even Pro Stock cars run in the 6-second range with terminal speeds 200+.

It'll be the lack of big sticky drag radials that makes the difference. 0-60 is basically instant

[GTRene]

Now lay a new egg, Mr. Koenig, and make some small, compact, and lightweight sporty cars for a wider audience with a V8 and say, 500 hp and around 100k.

[Bluehorseshoe]

These are amazing cars but if it were my mythical millions perhaps a Kimora or a Pagani but I guess if you have £3m for a car it less a case of or more a case of all