Automotive

Single-speed Regera breaks Koenigsegg's own 0-400-0 record

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Christian Koenigsegg, left, with the Regera, center, and driver Sony Persson, right
Koenigsegg
Christian Koenigsegg, left, with the Regera, center, and driver Sony Persson, right
Koenigsegg
Koenigsegg Agera at the 2016 New York Auto Show
Angus MacKenzie/Gizmag
The Regera doesn't have a transmission
Martin Juul
Koenigsegg debuts the production Regera at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show
C.C. Weiss/Gizmag
The Regera has a removable hard top that can be stowed below the hood
The Regera rides on second-generation Aircore Superlight wheels wrapped in Michelin Super Sport tires
The "world's first fully robotized car" – all closures are operated automatically via smartphone or remote control
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The 0-400-0 km/h (0-248.5-0 mph) test is an absolutely brutal test of a car's acceleration and braking capabilities, and Koenigsegg has been all over it in recent years. Bugatti may have started the whole idea of this ridiculous metric with a 41.96-second 0-400-0 back in 2017 by its Chiron, but within a month, Koenigsegg's Agera RS had destroyed that record by nearly five seconds, completing it in 37.28 seconds.

Early last week, it was the Regera's turn to take a crack, and see what this luxury-focused megacar, with its strange hybrid powertrain and single-speed direct drive transmission could do. The Regera gets off the line quickly thanks to a high-torque, 700-horsepower, three-motor electric system, and as that starts running out of puff, its monstrous 1,100-hp, 5.0-liter twin turbo V8 is really starting to come on song, in a single speed that's geared to top out at 403 km/h (250 mph). It's a car, in other words, that's almost custom designed to ace this test. And ace it, it did.

At the Rada airfield near the town of Lidkoping, Sweden, driver Sonny Persson took advantage of perfect, windless weather conditions to lay a heavy boot into the Regera, accelerating from a standstill to 400 km/h in a blistering 22.87 seconds. This despite uneven track conditions on the airstrip, which forced him to gently swerve around bumps rather than just holding the car straight.

Then it was time to hit the brakes, and the Regera was able to suck all that speed back to an almost daintily controlled stop in just 8.62 seconds. The total time: 31.49 seconds. The total distance required for the feat? 2,048.46 meters (1.273 mi). Wild stuff. The only remaining challenger would appear to be Hennessey's Venom F5, which its makers claim should be able to do 0-400-0 in less than 30 seconds – but it'll be tough without the help of a hybrid system to get it off the line.

At the end of the video below, Persson and Koenigsegg talk about how the ethos behind the Regera is "first to 400 wins." Tick. An engineer then asks "what about top speed?" and Persson says "hold my beer." Cute. So it seems we can expect the Jesko to have a stab at breaking into the 300-mph club to join Bugatti's Chiron Super Sport 300+ very soon.

It's such fun to watch these guys testing the world's most powerful production cars against one another.

Source: Koenigsegg

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5 comments
guzmanchinky
That is a wild achievement. Not entirely sure how relevant it is? Is it just for bragging rights or do people actually go these speeds? Even in Germany people rarely go over 150mph, and in the US surely hardly any car ever sees 100. Even when I drove the Nurburgring I didn't see anywhere that more than about 170mph was possible for a stretch. Do people (even in the middle east) have access to a lot of abandoned aircraft runways? I guess what I'm saying is this top speed obsession makes not a lot of sense, and doesn't it actually harm other abilities of the car, such as handling and (gasp!) comfort? If you told me a car topped out at 150 but could spank all of the others in every other category I'd be very impressed.
warren52nz
I'm surprised its acceleration is so much slower (!) than its deceleration. I would have thought that in this league traction is the limiting factor but if it can stop in ~8 seconds I'd guess it could "get there" in a similar time. Guess not.
Tony Morris
@warren52nz. Even if you had unlimited power to all four wheels you still have the problem of aerodynamic drag working against you while accelerating and in your favour while decelerating.
buzzclick
Radical machines breaking ungodly speed records by men determined to win a pissing contest. This one looks damn good too.
buzzclick
...but I digress. The fastest I ever drove a car was 144mph, and that was more than enough for me.