Just because a car’s gone on sale doesn’t mean the engineering process is done. Sure, it may be homologated and in an approved state for public release, but behind the scenes, engineers are often tweaking the nuances of a vehicle’s control systems, working on making them better. Sometimes, better even means reclaiming an acceleration record, and that’s exactly what Koenigsegg just achieved.
Beyond outright top speed, the most head-spinning metric in the hypercar game is zero-to-400 km/h-to-zero, or from a dead stop to 248.54 MPH and back to stationary. It’s an enormous test of both acceleration and braking, so it seemed for a while that Rimac had the title on lock with the Nevera R, its beefed-up 2,107-horsepower quad-motor electric hypercar. That thing did the ludicrous test in a mere 25.79 seconds, meaning you could pop some Minute Rice in the microwave and do the acceleration and deceleration run twice before the timer beeped.
However, Koenigsegg has been tinkering with its 1,600-horsepower Jesko Absolut, and the Swedish hypercar maker has beaten Rimac’s record by more than half a second without any hardware changes. We’re talking zero-to-248.54 MPH-to-zero in 25.21 seconds. In this game, nearly six-tenths of a second is an eternity, so how have the Swedes managed that, especially without the ferocity of an all-wheel-drive launch?
As Christian von Koenigsegg put it, “Our software engineers have been tweaking and adjusting the Light Speed Transmission & Engine Management system and have introduced a new torque control system which manages the grip of the Absolut like never before.” Indeed, having amazing hardware is one thing, but making it all work together perfectly is another kettle of fish altogether, one that’s laborious and time-consuming but well worth the effort. While tweaks to the engine and transmission calibration make plenty of sense, it’s worth noting the role that torque management plays here.
Obviously, asking two road-spec tires to handle 1,600 E85-fed horsepower in a reasonably low gear is a big request, and without anything limiting torque output, you’d simply generate a cloud of tire smoke that Greenpeace could see from Amsterdam instead of accelerating quickly. Torque management is a huge part of the secret sauce that lets road cars get off the line quickly, constantly limiting engine output in low gears to get the most out of the available traction. Koenigsegg seems to have cracked the formula, helping to shave 2.5 seconds off its previous zero-to-400 km/h-to-zero time in the process.
Best of all, because this so-called Absolut Overdrive update doesn’t require any hardware changes, it’s being rolled out to every Jesko Absolut, including those already in customer hands. So, hats off to the team in Ängelholm for diligently tinkering with lines of code. All that hard work has certainly paid off.
Top graphic image: Koenigsegg; depositphotos.com
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Of course this type of car is so far from my reality that it is in the realm of space travel. Still, there have always been records no matter how far they depart from daily reality.
The Land Speed Record and the like are interesting to observe but also not suitable to compare to my trusty Smart ForTwo for example.
Just the same I am glad that there are people obsessed enough to set these records.
Meh.
My thoughts exactly.
Along with ‘ring times, I can think of few records that are less relevant to 99.999875% of car owners. This car costs twenty-five times what my home cost, and the car doesn’t even have a flushing toilet.
Seems like a pretty effective way to flush money, though.
Lol!
Seems like a strange record to go for, since there only a handful cars that can even go 248mph.
Bugatti invented this particular test in autumn 2017 with a mark of 42 seconds, which got Mr. Koenigsegg’s attention. The ink was barely dry on the Bugatti press release when Koenigsegg thought, “eh, why not?” and took a customer car out on their runway and immediately took five seconds off of Bugatti’s mark.
0-400-0 – Koenigsegg-Registry.net (by yours truly, probably won’t view correctly on mobile, sorry, never solved that.)
I’ve been out of the know for a while so take this for what it’s worth: But I might point out that back in 2017 they followed their new 0-400-0 with an absolute production car speed record a few months later. It’s internet rumor that Mr. Koenigsegg has asked Michelin about 330mph capable tires.