Just sitting in the passenger seat of the Koenigsegg One:1 (we explain the silly name later) as it attacks a wet runway is, in terms of spiked adrenaline, somewhere between a solo sky dive and being chased by a bull while running in red pants. But as the man from the factory demonstrates, even in the sodden conditions we’ve found waiting for us in Sweden, the world’s fastest car can still be easily controlled. Or so it seemed.
It’s been raining all day, and the One:1 is struggling to put its monstrous power onto the slick surface of the former airbase that serves as Koenigsegg’s test track. The engine is bellowing and the car squirming and sliding as the twin-turbocharged V-8 comes on boost. Even with the stability control switched on and working overtime, it’s struggling to find grip. Running on regular pump gasoline means around 1161 horsepower; 1341 horses and 1011 pound-feet come when it’s fueled with E85. But either way, that’s vastly more twist than the rear Michelins can deliver to the soaked tarmac. Glancing across at the instrument display, I can see that the wheels only stop trying to spin as we pass 125 mph, when serious aerodynamic downforce starts to push the car into the track.
For a couple of heartbeats, we experience the full, brutal acceleration of a car that makes a steam catapult look underpowered.
And then, with a jarring suddenness, the car snaps sideways, and, although the runway is still arriving at an undiminished rate, it’s now coming at the passenger window. A look across the cockpit confirms that this isn’t part of the show; our driver’s face makes it clear that we’re having an unscripted moment in a $2.8 million hypercar.
He briefly holds the slide, and then there’s the sensation of momentum shifting, the pendulum swinging back. There isn’t enough opposite lock in the world to catch this one, and sideways becomes backwards toward the edge of the runway.
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