- The Koenigsegg Absolut might go faster than 311 mph
- Simulations put the car below redline at 311 mph with room to go
- A production-car speed-record attempt is in the works for this year
Koenigsegg just reset its own record with the Jesko, but the automaker may not be done yet.
In February, Koengisegg founder and CEO Christian von Koenigsegg said the Jesko Absolut will make a production car speed-record attempt in 2024. Plans are now underway for a run.
"We have the airfield here," von Koenigsegg told Top Gear. "We have our supercomputer simulators. We've been to a German wind tunnel with the Jesko Attack and Absolut, so we know exactly how the aero works on the car."
The exec said that during simulations using a chassis dyno while taking into account the rolling resistance of the tires, the drag of the car, and the load on the car at 500 kph, the car passed the 500-kph (311-mph) mark in ninth gear before hitting the rev limiter. The car would theoretically have more speed in it, given enough space, at 311 mph.
Von Koenigsegg noted that none of this indicates how stable the car is, but rather the resistance to speed and forward momentum. The exec also cautioned that on a chassis, dyno fans cool the intercoolers and radiators, and that's not the same as having air flow naturally through the car at 311 mph. The limiting factor, he added, would be tires.
The exec admitted the team hasn't located a stretch of pavement it feels is comfortably long enough that isn't a public road.
The Jesko Absolut will be the fastest car Koenigsegg ever makes, according to von Koenigsegg. It's powered by a 5.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 that produces 1,600 hp when running on E85. A Koenigsegg-developed 9-speed automatic transmission, dubbed the Light Speed Transmission, sends power to the rear wheels.
The SSC Tuatara set a production-vehicle land-speed record of 282.9 mph in 2021. Bugatti won the race to the 300-mph mark, but the automaker didn't run two ways.
