March 2, 2005 On February 28, the Koenigsegg CCR broke the production road car speed record, achieving a new official top speed of 388 kmh at Italy's Nardo Prototipo proving ground. The Koenigsegg CCR raised McLaren's previously unofficial mark of 372 kmh set at Nardo/Prototipo in 1993 by over 15 kmh. On top of this the CCR broke the official McLaren F1 record of 386.7 km/h, which was set on the 9 km straight line VW Ehra facility in Wolfsburg Germany. The Koenigsegg CCR is already the most powerful production car in the world and now adds the speed crown, beating out the McLaren F1 (372 kmh), the Ferrari Enzo (355 kmh), Porsche Carrera GT (334 kmh), McLaren Mercedes SLR (334 kmh) and Lamborghini Murcielago (330 kmh).
A team of five Koenigsegg engineers and mechanics together with founder Christian von Koenigsegg ran, a technically standard Koenigsegg CCR in order to take the top speed record for productions road cars. The famous supercar test driver, Loris Bicocchi who is a veteran recorder breaker, drove the CCR.
A team of Nardo Prototipo technicians independently verified the speed of the CCR. The car was clocked using Tag Heuer´s Splitmaster 650 with photocells stationary at the track, recording the average speed during 1 km.
Nardo Prototipo is a circular track with a circumference of 12.5 km. This means that the car is driven in a constant turning motion, which makes the exercise and speed even more impressive. The steering wheel at this speed is kept at around 30 degrees of constant angel, which equivalates to a sharp corner for the speed.
The constant turning motion of the car creates extra friction on the tires. This extra friction overcomes the extra horsepower that was needed for further acceleration. The maximum speed was reached at around 6790 rpm, which is not equivalent to the maximum hp level, which is at a higher rpm.
With this verification of speed, Christian von Koenigsegg is even more confident that the Koenigsegg CCR is capable of reaching its projected top speed of 395 km/h, or more, in a straight line.
Driver Loris Bicocchi was very impressed by the performance of the car. He feels happy to finally prove the performance of the Koenigsegg. "This test was very important for the customers and owners of Koenigsegg cars. It proves that their belief and faith in the small Koenigsegg Company was well founded".
Filmator documented the record attempt. Filmator is a Swedish filmcrew that currently is making a documentary about the Koenigsegg Company for Swedish television.
The official Test Report is issued by Prototipo, acting as a third party verificator and is forwarded to the Guinness Book of Records for processing.
The car set-up for the attempt was as follows: standard road car fuel, Standard CCR Michelin tires, Standard ride height of the car, standard engine configuration, standard wheel geometries, standard gearbox, standard clutch, standard brakes, standard over boost pressure from the superchargers.