Swedish boutique supercar specialists Koenigsegg seems to be prepping their most potent car, the 1000kW One:1, to set a new lap record in Germany at the famed Nurburgring Nordschleife track for fastest production vehicle.
Among the mega-fast elites in the car world, the Porsche 918 Spyder currently wears the crown that Koenigsegg wants for itself and to do that, the One:1 will have to beat the hybrid Porsche’s time of 6 minutes 57 seconds.
It isn’t known what kind of lap times they expect their One:1 to yield around the Nurburgring, but the Porsche’s time certainly seems to be in their crosshairs. McLaren with their P1, on the other hand, did run timed fast laps around the track and claimed that it had achieved its target of under 7 minutes but did not reveal the exact figures.
If there’s any car that can truly make the Porsche and McLaren quake, the Koenigsegg One:1 would probably be it. In its most powerful tune when running on E85 ethanol, the mid-mounted 5.0-litre twin-turbo V8 produces 1361hp (1000kW) and 1,371Nm which corresponds to its 1361kg weight, giving the car a power to weight ratio 1000hp per tonne.
Seeing as how the E85 ethanol fuel might be seen as providing the One:1 with an unfair power advantage over its other Nurburgring lap rivals, Koenigsegg might elect to only use regular fuel for the attempt, which brings maximum engine power down to 1160hp (or 865kW).
Right now, the fastest production car record lap is held not by the Porsche but by Radical and their SR8 LM. While technically it is the fastest, the disparity between the other contenders can’t be ignored. It is a production car but not meant to be driven on the road at all given its track-focused character.
Koenigsegg’s search for the ultimate lap time would probably involve posting up at the track and returning to with a more refined vehicle set up each time over several months. This does play well into the One:1 since it’s chassis and engine behaviour can be finely adjusted by design.
Since the Nurburgring is open to the public on most days, Koenigsegg will have to be selective of when they plan their lap record attempts, choosing to let it out on track when traffic is scarce during private track sessions.
From what we know, and indeed to qualify to make a legitimate claim on the lap record, the car must remain as close to standard as possible, and the only change to the One:1 is the fitment of a roll cage.
Perhaps after being satisfied with the result with their One:1, Koenigsegg might return to chase the lap record again with their hybrid hypercar, the Regera.
