Zac Quinn 
Koenigsegg makes some pretty incredible hypercars, and their latest creation, the Jesko Absolut, has just started production. But having a good-looking car worth millions isn’t enough; as founder Christian von Koenigsegg recently stated, the company will try to set a new speed record for production cars later this year. And that could put the recent speed record set by the SSC Tuatara in check.
Koenigsegg Top Speed Record Challenge: Details
In just 2.3 miles of tarmac, the SSC Tuatara achieved the monumental speed of 295 miles per hour on May 14, 2022. Dr. Larry Caplin was driving the SSC Tuatara. The achievement took place at the Johnny Bohmer Proving Grounds in Florida. To achieve this top speed record, the team had to max out every inch of space available at the Space Shuttle landing strip at the Kennedy Space Center. 1,000 feet of asphalt runoff area on both sides and the runway’s 15,000 feet of saw-cut concrete were used. 3,800 feet of that space was used for a braking zone.
“CVK” said theoretical models based on gearing and power curves have indicated a top speed of over 310 miles per hour. You might argue that the Bugatti Chiron is the record holder since it achieved a top speed of 304.7 mph in 2019. However, the automaker only ran the car in one direction rather than recording a two-way average, which is the standard procedure for speed records.
The Koenigsegg Jesko is available in either the Absolut or Attack configurations, much like the SSC Tuatara is offered in similar Striker and Aggressor setups. The Jesko Attack is a high-downforce version, while the Absolut is a low-drag version designed for top speed. Just 125 cars will be made, with that total count being split between Absolut and Attack models. The final count for the two versions will be determined by customer demand. That said, the entire production run of the car sold out in 2022 despite a $3 million price tag for each vehicle. For now, it’ll be cool to see if this car can officially beat the current production car speed record. We just have to wait to find out.
