It was only a few weeks ago that the automotive world was going nuts over Bugatti’s record-setting 0-400km/h-0 run with Juan Pablo Montoya at the wheel of a Chiron and all 1,500 ponies let loose. And rightly so; it was an epic achievement. But now Koenigsegg has gone one up with a customer’s Agera RS. Actually, that’s completely selling this achievement short; the Swedish supercar maker has seriously raised the bar.
The AiM EVO5 telemetry: 0km/h to 400km/h and back to 0km/h in 36.44 seconds. That’s a whole 5.52 seconds quicker than Bugatti’s time.
The record attempt took place this past Sunday at an airfield in Vandel, Denmark, with factory driver Niklas Lilja at the wheel. According to Koenigsegg, the Agera RS used for the run has been built for a US owner who asked for its performance to be verified, a request that provided the perfect opportunity and excuse to test out its 0-400-0 ability. For the record, this particular car is specced with Koenigsegg’s 1MW engine upgrade (read: 1,360hp and 1,371Nm), and optional removable roll cage.
As for the run itself, the Agera RS took just 26.88 seconds to accelerate from zero to over 400km/h, in which a distance of 1,958 meters was covered. Deceleration took a further 9.56 seconds and 483 meters. Gulp.
Christian von Koenigsegg, the founder and CEO of Koenigsegg is understandably ecstatic with the result, commenting in the official report: “It makes me so proud, so happy and excited to see what we have achieved as a team with the Agera RS. A result like this does not just happen. It may have only taken a few hours of driving to complete this run, but we cannot overlook all of the work that went into creating the car in the first place. Building these cars takes everything we have. We give it our all, every day of every week. Without this commitment to excellence, we would not be worthy of either the result or the reward.
“Dreams can become reality. The story of David and Goliath continues to resonate. It is so important to visualize our efforts and results. It gives fuel to the dreamers and visionaries striving to realise their goals. You can do it, regardless of how impossible it seems. This is probably the most important aspect and consequence of what we do here at Koenigsegg.
“I want to thank our employees, close partners, and everyone who is committed to our ongoing mission. Special thanks must go to our driver, Niklas Lilja, for the steely determination he showed at the wheel to turn something that we knew was a distinct possibility into a concrete reality.”
That all said, who’s going to challenge this record next? And can it even be bettered for that matter? As always, let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Brad Lord
Instagram: speedhunters_brad
brad@speedhunters.com
Photos by Koenigsegg
OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS
Now time to call Stephane Ratel and tell him to make his Ultracar Sports Club a real league.
Do you know how many nimrods would crash if they were racing these cars against each other? lol
I mean, of course not on a full grid, just rallycross-style (4 or 6 at a time), and it's not like most owners are chumps--Ferrari customer drivers in the XX Programme, for example, are competent to say the least.
Besides, a good way to keep driving standards high is to pair a customer driver with a pro GT driver in one car.
Most aren't chumps? I would really beg to differ. Maybe capable of driving them in a spirited way, but racing is a whole different ball game. To really get these cars on the limit most owners I would argue are incapable of. The idea sounds cool if you put professional drivers, but not the average Joe which is what most owners of super cars are.
I guess the next to shatter it willen be the Regera
nice music , seriously !
What video were you watching?
Will it ever see an actual track day though? I feel like this is one of those supercars that any collector would love to have but that no one actually races.
It's not your car, so why do you care how it gets used? There's no law or rule stating that a fast car needs to be driven on a race track.
As opposed to Chiron?
Doesn't matter really. They just proved that they can. What will the owners do with them is up to them. But I am pretty sure this will see race track more often than any Chiron will.
Well, crap. In has less power, half the turbos, half the cylinders and more aero. And it doesn't have awd. I mean, how did they actually achieve it?
"more aero" lawlz
It is about 1500 lbs lighter.
Michelin exec's have to be grinning all day long.
To be honest, I want those tyres.
and I thought going 100 mph in a slingblade was scary *screaming emoji* now we just need to break the
482.803 KMH barrier and time record. :33
Yeah, I mean that's real fkn fast.
Is that yellow tape? Or the worst paint job ever? lol
It's tape, I'm dumb..
All we know is they call him the Stig!
No no, he's Swedish so his name is Stieg.
Actually Stig is very common name in Sweden
Stig Blomqvist for example is one very fast Stig
Actually, in Sweden i'ts Stig (25000 ppl, only 30ppl use Stieg)
Ok so I might actually be living under a rock, but why aren't they using the 1:1 for this attempt?
Minimum production volume for production car records is 30 I believe. Hennessy ran into that with the Venom and was told they wouldn't get the official record for top speed even if they made the pass in both directions because they didn't make enough of them.
Stipulations like minimum production volume, two passes in opposite directions or having to beat the record by 1% are arbitrary technicalities.
A faster vehicle is a faster vehicle, period.
Same young - That's the stupid rule by guinness records which really just a small company. The not a official record keeping company, it's company to sell a book. The number of of required cars because of Bugatti's influence by making a donation.
Though I may not always like Guinness rules, this one makes sense. Just like FIA and other race organizations have minimum production quantities to meet homologation requirements in certain classes, I think it does make sense to have similar requirements for "production" vehicle records. Now with that being said, I would like to see a factory street legal record class that low volume/limited edition cars feel into, most so I can see the One:1 actual do a proper run
This is a customers car that wanted the performance verified. As per the Article.
I wonder if Christian Von Koenigsegg had to build those solar panels to offset the carbon dioxide produced by that run?
Perhaps he got them from Tesla
The limitation is always going to be tires that can work at 10 kph just as well as they do at 400 kph. Both the Agera RS and Chiron are traction-limited through most of these tests; using sophisticated traction control to put down only just the max power the tires can transfer to the ground. Just so happens that the Agera is vastly lighter, and despite being less powerful than the Chiron, the A = F/M equation is superior.
To me, the best part is they still had the brown tape on from the shipping crate.
I've been waiting for this video to drop since the day Bugatti released theirs. Knew it was only a matter of time, just a question of which model they'd use to do it. Love Koenigsegg! Such beautifully engineered cars.
The fastest Volkswagen ever vs. a crazy rich Swede and his team of terrified engineers.
I love all of this engineering on display from both factories, it's hard to deny the numbers involved...but, am I the only that laments the fact they are basically super fast automatics?
I'd happily give up tenths or full seconds to shift gears myself. I know, I know, trust me I get it -- modern computers + gearboxes at this level are another thing, I just miss it is all I'm saying (said happily poking along in my way too slow E28 manual...lol). Modern cars have turned into Gundams on wheels, literally and figuratively. I say let's see this challenge with traction control off and the driver moving a stick...
The early ccr and ccx had a manual tranny.
Agreed. My personal belief is that modern cars are overstyled and too easy to drive.
A car at this level SHOULD be difficult to operate, anxiety-inducing in the upper reaches of the tach and fairly unforgiving in general.
I wouldn't mind seeing that. That's one thing I love about Koenigsegg process. While watch some of their inside Koenigsegg
Series they went into how all there chassis tuning is fully sorted without any electronic aids before they add any of it in. Even with it off, they should be pretty stable at speed.
Well, that's a slap on face for Bugatti...
Wait...what? The decel from 400ks to 0 was done in about 1400 feet? That's really impressive.
Be more impressive if they used a measurement system that actually conveyed a sense of scale.
Oh yeah...when you think about how long that is it's amazing. Really puts Indy Car and F1 into perspective. I believe F1 can go from 186mph to 0mph in 2 seconds or so. Crazy stuff.
And that wasn't even with the Regera. This is why I'll always bet on the Swedes.
Great to see corporate Buggati getting stomped by real enthusiasts. I will never own either but Christian Keonigsegg seems like one of us.
Scary... exciting stuff and scary! Double thumbs up CK!
I knew he’d blow the Chiron out of the water. They did 0-300-0 with no hands ages ago.
I’d love to hear Christian’s maniacal laugh when Bugatti posted their video.
Those times are amazing