Koenigsegg Taking a One:1 to the Nurburgring

The Swedes don’t plan to attempt a new ‘Ring record. Yet.

byJonathon Ramsey|
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Kind of like your local homemade ice cream shop, Swedish carmaker Koenigsegg makes small-batch supercars in a variety of wholesome, amazing flavors. Unlike the treats at your local homemade ice cream shop, Koenigsegg’s wares held the Top Gear lap record and then stayed in the top ten for eight years, set a world record for going from zero to 300 kilometers per hour and back to zero, they’ve done 249.54 miles per hour on the Nürburgring Nordschleife, and been the subject of the DRIVE documentary APEX: The Story of the Hypercar.

The vehicle profiled in that feature-length doc was the One:1, a land speeder with 1,341 horsepower that weighs 1,341 kilograms (2,950.2 pounds, and the justification for the name). In 2014 boss Christian von Koengigsegg said he wanted to take his superfast coupe to Germany in 2015 to break the production car lap record, then and now held by the Porsche 918 Spyder with a run of 6:57. When an accident during a Nürburgring race in March 2015 killed a spectator, though, the track owners clamped down with speed limits on certain sections of the track – for everyone, including during races – nixing the chance to demolish the record.

The dream is alive is still alive. Maybe. Koenigsegg says on its blog that it’s headed to the ‘Ring this year out of a “desire to show what our cars can do on the ultimate automotive proving ground.” However, it “won’t be doing a lap record in the immediate term,” italics his. The blog post is to let the car spotters know nothing is afoot. Yet. It will, however, be studying the track, honing one of its cars, and looking for a driver with intimate ‘Ring knowledge so that it can, one day that isn’t in the immediate term, make an attempt.

The company is taking a One:1 to Germany, but since all seven units are in customer hands and the car is out of production, Koenigsegg hasn’t said what it will be using for its clockwork blast. A while back it claimed the One:1 could take “a very significant chunk” out of the current record, envisaging a realistic time in the 6:30s. If they had to ‘settle,’ there is a 1,160-hp Agera RS ready in the stables.

Whenever the time comes, the boss says he’ll dispense with the usual obfuscation around these efforts. “We’re willing to put our car on the scales, let anyone come and analyze the fuel we’re running on, see the tires we’re running on—people can come and check. We want to do this without any doubt.” The ‘Ring might want to stock up on popcorn, this is going to be fun to watch. And speaking of watching, for a gorgeous, 4K look at the world’s most intense driving machines, head over to iTunes and spend some time with the movie Apex.

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