Published
on 3
Mar 2025
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All rights reserved.
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The
fastest car in the world? Very probably.
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It
is a bit strange that a car maker names its car after the father of its
founder, especially when he is still alive. However, you might say the
same to those cars named after bulls (Lamborghini), winds (Pagani) or
even its own name (Ferrari LaFerrari). We don’t know anything
about Jesko Koenigsegg, but we do know Koenigsegg Jesko is one of the
most spectacular hypercars in the world, and probably the fastest of
all.
“Fastest” has different meaning. Obviously, the legacy 0-60 mph
standard is no longer relevant to hypercars. Top speed is more
relevant, but it is difficult to verify, as there are only a handful of
places
in the world might be suitable for testing 250 mph+. Both Jesko and
Bugatti Chiron have versions said to be capable of breaking the 300 mph
mark, making them even more difficult to verify. For this reason,
Christian von Koenigsegg suggested to use 0-400kph (248.5mph) as the
judging standard. Bugatti said its Chiron Supersport did that in 28.6
seconds. The more slippery SS 300+ version might be a tad quicker, but
Jesko Absolut should easily beat it at 18.8 seconds, as tested by
Koenigsegg itself. That’s not a surprise to me, because the Koenigsegg
offers the same amount of power when drinking E85 fuel but carries
nearly 600 kg
less weight!
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Attack
model sports massive reverse angle rear wing...
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Debuted in 2019 Geneva motor show, Jesko succeeds Agera to be the core
model of the Swedish firm. However, as Koenigsegg was busy with the
production of Regera, it was not until 2022 that the first Jesko was
delivered to customer.
There are 2 variants actually: Attack and Absolut. Attack sports
spectacular aerodynamic kits, most notably the massive front splitter
and the huge,
reverse-angle rear wing. The latter is suspended from the fastback by a
pair of carbon-fiber blades, leaving its massive underside surface
smooth and more effective to generate downforce. Winglets at the rear
wing, side skirts and either ends of the front splitter add further
aggression and improve air flow. All these generate 700kg of downforce
at 155 mph, rising to 1000kg at 168mph and max out at 1400kg.
Meanwhile, Absolut is tailored for straight line speed and breaking
records. Its front splitter is smaller and the rear wing is gone,
leaving a pair of vertical fins to reduce turbulence. Downforce drops
to merely 40kg at 155 mph or 150 kg at top speed, but aerodynamic drag
coefficient is lowered to a remarkable 0.278 while frontal area is
reduced as well. Koenigsegg claims the car capable of reaching 500 kph
(311 mph) ! The aforementioned 0-400 kph record was achieved with
this car.
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while
Absolut is streamlined to set speed records.
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Annoyingly, in Koenigsegg’s fashion only favourable performance figures
are released. There are no official figures for 0-100 or 0-200 kph
sprint, or the top speed of Attack model. Top Gear once put its
measuring equipment to the Attack model, timed 0-60 mph in 3.3 seconds
and 0-100 mph
in 5.3 seconds, very poor for a hypercar actually. It shows that the
car struggles badly for traction before storming past rivals at above
130 mph. This means, while the Jesko is very probably the fastest road
car in the world, on normal roads it is hard to tell if it is faster
than other hypercars.
On paper, the 5-liter V8 seems old-fashioned, featuring neither
variable valve timing nor direct fuel injection. However, it is highly
developed. The cam covers and intakes are made of carbon-fiber to save
weight. The crankshaft is milled from a solid block of steel and, now
converted to flat-plane crank, weighs only 12.5kg, enabling a 8500 rpm
redline. Each cylinder has 3 fuel injectors and a pressure sensor to
improve combustion. 2 large turbos pump up to 1.7 bar of boost
pressure. They were originally served with a compressed air injection
system to reduce turbo lag, but that feature did not get into
production cars. The engine produces 1280 horsepower at 7800 rpm on
gasoline, rising to 1600 hp on E85 fuel. Insane power for an engine so
small.
The flat-crank V8 is not quite as musical as a V10 or V12, of course,
but it still sounds pretty good. There is some turbo lag at lower revs,
but once on song the V8 has very sharp throttle response, as rev rises
and falls rapidly thanks to the low inertia crankshaft, pistons and
con-rods. You control it via a long-travel and linear throttle pedal so
that not too difficult to keep wheelspin at bay, assuming you can
resist temptation.
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Massive
power - same as Bugatti, but 600 kg lighter - means lots of wheelspin.
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The most innovative feature on Jesko is Light Speed Transmission (LST),
an invention by Koenigsegg. It is neither a single-clutch nor
twin-clutch gearbox, but a 9-speed gearbox with 3 shafts, 7 clutches
and no sync rings. You may read AutoZine
Technical School for its
principles. In short, Koenigsegg claims it is much lighter than a
conventional DCT with the same number of ratios and torque capacity,
while being able to
upshift or downshift multiple gears at one time. In reality, gearshift
is made quickly and punchily, but the car’s acceleration is so fast
that you struggle to keep up with the rev.
Compared with Agera, the carbon-fiber tub of Jesko is made 40mm longer
and 22mm taller to free up cabin space, but its torsional rigidity is
unchanged at 65,000Nm/degree. Triplex suspension, which adds a third
damper between left and right suspensions, is now used not only at the
rear but also the front axle to prevent squat under huge downforce. As
usual double-wishbone geometry employs in-board springs and adaptive
dampers to reduce unsprung weight. The latter can be reduced further by
hollow carbon-fiber wheels, an option that costs the same money as a
Porsche 911 ! The suspension’s ride height is hydraulically adjustable,
depending on drive mode and speed. At 1420 kg kerb, the Jesko Attack is
25 kg heavier than Agera RS, but the wingless Absolut is lighter. The
wheelbase is quite long at 2700 mm, but the Jesko has active rear-wheel
steering, so that it should be
more manageable at urban speed.
We are not quite sure how the Jesko drives on public road, but on track
it demonstrates massive grip and stability. It feels light and
responsive. The steering offers good feedback. The ceramic brakes are
powerful and pedal feel is good, too. With so much downforce and
stability, it is not as fearsome to drive on a track as you might
think.
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Spartan
cabin is noisy.
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The suspension is stiff in order to withstand so much downforce, but
with little unsprung weight ride comfort is pretty reasonable. More
problematic is noise and refinement. The engine is bolted to chassis
via active mounts, but the bare carbon-fiber tub and doors amplify all
sorts of noises in the cabin, making a noisy environment.
Unlike the luxury-biased Regera, the cabin of Jesko is rather spartan,
just partially trimmed with Alcantara. It offers a small portrait
touchscreen with Apple CarPlay functionality, a tiny instrument display
fixed to the steering column, a pair of cupholders on the transmission
tunnel and not much else. The cabin is quite roomy for a hypercar, but
you need to overcome the wide door sill first. It is not a fancy place
like Pagani or Bugatti, though build quality is solid.
The car is sold for nearly $3 million. Just 125 cars will be built,
splitting between Attack and Absolut. Considering Koenigsegg builds
only 30-40 cars a year, production should last until next year, then
the company will focus on the 4-seat hybrid Gemera.
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Verdict: 
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