Two years ago, in April 2022, a certain Swedish company unveiled their fastest-ever vehicle (in pre-production version), and ever since, the world has been waiting to see it stand up to its promise. Well, the wait is not over, so the delivery of the first customer-spec Absolut example won’t scratch the itch just yet. We are talking about the Koenigsegg Jesko – the much-lauded and equally elusive speed demon that should put all of its siblings in their places (from second to going down).
The Swedes have promised that no other model Koenigsegg has or will ever build will beat the Jesko Absolut’s top speed. Yet here we are, in 2024, some four years months after Christian von Koenigsegg made that promise, and we still don’t know what that ‘You Shall Not Pass’ threshold is. I don’t mean to divide the internet here, but the megacar manufacturer claims that the mysterious performance will best not only every other Koenigsegg but also any ‘fully homologated car before it.’
We are talking about some serious competition here – think Bugatti, Rimac, and Hennessey, to name but some of the speed archangels with 300+ mph (480+ kph) aspirations. And yet, a blank check for ‘whatever-you-say’ miles-per-hour isn’t exactly just around the corner. And until now, only the carmaker itself could unveil the much-awaited figures.
Why until now? Because the first customer-spec Jesko Absolut has been delivered to the official Koenigsegg dealer in Switzerland. Yes, I know the odds and hopes of getting concrete numbers are on opposite ends of a probabilistic curve. We probably won’t see this first privately-owned example blasting the straight line and breaking land speed records any time soon, but we sure as Valhalla would like to.
Photo: instagram.com/@koenigsegg
This client Jesko Absolut sports the company’s proprietary Koenigsegg Naked Carbon to make it as light as possible. That’s not saying much, but consider that the car has a curb weight of 1.39 tons. That’s with the regular body carved of pre-impregnated carbon fiber/Kevlar and lightweight sandwich reinforcements. The KNC shaves the lacquer of the carbon weave, leaving the fibers exposed to the elements, and the car some 20 kg lighter (45 lbs).
Now, the low mass combined with the hyper-efficient aerodynamics of the Absolut and its monstrous twin-turbo V8 and Lightspeed Transmission (that’s the actual name of the nine-speed box) should work in favor of breaching top speed limits. Consider that the car generates 150 kg (330 lbs) of downforce at full speed (whatever that terminal velocity may be). At 250 kph (155 mph), the super-sleek Jesko experiences only 40 kg of air resistance.
Take the Absolut’s track-thundering twin brother as a reference: the Jesko Attack – powered by the exact same engine and transmission setup and weighing 1.42 tons – exerts 1.4 tons of downforce when going flat out at maximum speed. That’s over nine times more than the Absolut.
The car featured in the video below sports a super-lightweight flat-plane crankshaft weighing 12.5 kilos (27 lbs) that’s able to cope with 1,600 PS (1,578 hp) and 1,500 Nm (1,106 lb-ft). That’s the engine’s absolute peak performance when running on E85 fuel (100-octane high-performance gasoline).
After nearly two decades in news television, Răzvan turned to a different medium. He’s been a field journalist, a TV producer, and a seafarer but found that he feels right at home among petrolheads. Full profile
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