The 1,600-horsepower Koenigsegg Jesko Absolute recently received an over-the-air update that unlocks record-breaking speeds. This feat comes two years after Absolute broke the 0-250-0-mph record with a time of 28.27 seconds. The hypercar – or, as Koenigsegg prefers to call it, the megacar – can now cover the quarter-mile in 8.54 seconds at a top speed of 190 mph. Meanwhile, the half mile is covered in 232 seconds at 12.76 seconds.
Those top speeds are both quarter and half mile records for non-EV production cars. For reference, it accelerated from zero to 60 mph in 2.26 seconds, and 200 mph was achieved in 9.38 seconds. What makes this all the more remarkable is that the Jesko is rear-wheel-drive and the Jesko completed this record-setting race on an unprepared surface at the company’s test track in Engelholm, Sweden. Also, unlike ultra-fast hypercars like Rimac, there is no electrification in the Jesko.
Koenigsegg didn’t delve too deep into the details, but credited traction control tuning, shifting enhancements and launch control tweaks for the record-setting run. “New software advancements” will come on air for all JESCO Absolutes. One funny part of this record-setting run is that Koenigsegg factory test driver Marcus Lund did the entire thing with his phone in one hand and the steering wheel in the other, making the 232 mph top speed seem effortless somehow. Watch the race here:
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If you’re not up to date on Swedish hypercar development, the Jesko is one of the main products that Koenigsegg has been making over the past few years, and the Absolute is its straight-line-speed-focused version. Instead of a rear wing like the Jesko Attack, the Absolute gets two shark fins to reduce drag. The front splitter winglets are more streamlined, the front louvers are different, it’s longer at the rear, and the wheels get aerodynamic covers, all in the name of maximum slippage and maximum top speed.
Behind the driver is a twin-turbocharged 5.0-liter V8 that makes 1,600 hp on E85 fuel (it makes 1,280 hp on regular gasoline). This engine spins at 8,500 rpm and is said to be the world’s lightest V8 crankshaft at 27.5 pounds. Power is routed through the company’s in-house “Light Speed” nine-speed transmission, and the entire car weighs 3,064 pounds.
It doesn’t look like Koenigsegg’s work is done, as Christian von Koenigsegg ends the video by pointing to the 2,300-hp, 249-mph Gemera Grand Tourer, which is heavier and more comfort-oriented than the Jesko, but actually features an all-wheel-drive hybrid powertrain. “We still see room for improvement,” von Koenigsegg said. “This is just the beginning… Watch this space.”
