104 CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK | MAY 2019s far as Christian von Koenigsegg’s
80-year-old father Jesko knows,
Koenigsegg’s new hypercar is
called Ragnarok. The name
references the mythological Norse
apocalypse, and the car has been
conceived to succeed the Agera line
on Koenigsegg’s 25th anniversary.
Christian describes it as a road-
legal track car to pick up where Agera RS left off: ‘Visceral and raw; a final
hurrah for internal-combustion engines only in our cars.’
Jesko is being kept away from the project, but Christian has handed
him the press kit before he attends the Geneva motor show, as always.
Ragnarok, Ragnarok, Ragnarok, goes the text. Definitely called Ragnarok.
The figures are astonishing: a V8 twin-turbo good for a staggering
1262bhp on 95 RON fuel, a more staggering 1578bhp on E85 biofuel, up to
1400kg of downforce, a circa-300mph top end, at least $2.8m for each of 125
units. Those figures make even McLaren’s track-focused Senna wilt, cer-
tainly on paper, and the focus is on handling as much as power. Christian
expects it to be the ‘fastest fully homologated car around big racetracks.’
Just eight days before its Geneva unveiling, we’ve come to Koenigsegg
in Angelholm, Sweden, for a preview of the new hypercar. Christian has
already arrived in his Tesla Model S, untucked blue checked shirt, black
trainers, green jeans, nice watch, casual but definitely smart. Staff seem
unfazed, simply cracking on rather than jumping to attention.The new hypercar is unmistakably Koenigsegg, with its dihedral doors
opening up like a pistol-twirling cowboy and the trademark fighter-jet
canopy. Worryingly, though, much remains to be done: the car is raised
on axle stands, empty sockets for headlights, interior a shell, front and rear
clamshells –now manufactured in two pieces rather than one – perma-
nently open. The monster double-profile rear wing is missing. Its supports
will be mounted far up the rear clamshell, with the boomerang-shaped
spoiler floating over the rear end for the best aero performance.
But this car will be finished on caffeine and overtime, and when it’s
unveiled it will spring a huge surprise not only on Geneva showgoers, but
on Jesko himself. Because Ragnarok is simply an internal pseudonym, and
Koenigsegg’s new über track car is actually named in his honour: Jesko. It’s
Koenigsegg’s Enzo. Only Jesko is still around to see it.
Koenigsegg’s story is one of remarkable success in a business of odds-on
failure. Aged just 22 in 1994, Christian von Koenigsegg began building
the Koenigsegg CC. It took until 2002 for series production of the CC8S
to start, but 150 Koenigseggs have been hand-assembled since, including
madness like the One:1 (1360bhp and 1360kg) and the 1500bhp hybrid
Regera that dispenses entirely with a gearbox.
There’d be no Koenigsegg Automotive without Jesko, who made his
fortune in agricultural irrigation and computer-controlled climate systems
during the ’80s. When Christian set his heart on building supercars, Jesko
‘came to help for five or six weeks but ended up working day and night for
five years,’ recalls his son. Sold his house for funding, too. Jesko’s great
passion lay with horses, not horsepower; he was an amateur jockey, owned
stables, and had pro jockeys race for him. The Jesko’s white and green refer-
ences the jockeys’ colours.
Like the Agera, the Jesko is built around a monocoque of carbonfibre and
aluminium sandwich construction. There is Dyneema reinforcement –
claimed to be the strongest fibre in the world – plus integrated fuel tanks
and rollover bar, all designed and manufactured by Koenigsegg. Claimed
class-leading torsional rigidity of 65,000Nm per degree carries over from
the Agera, but the tub is 40mm longer and 22mm higher to improve ⊲Part powerboat, part fighterjet, it’s dominated by its aeroand cooling from a distance,and by its detail up closeInside KoenigseggA