The Koenigsegg Jesko Just Shattered a Few Speed Records

No matter the functional improbabilities of unleashing your car's top speed on public roads, there's still something magical about knowing just how fast a hypercar like the Koenigsegg Jesko can go. And the Swedish manufacturer isn't shy to show off just how close to flying the Jesko is; the brand has just announced a series of new world speed records set by its wild-looking speedster.

Specifically, Koenigsegg is now claiming the homologated production car world record for 0-400 km/h, accelerating up to 248 mph in just 18.82 seconds. For the 250-mph marker, the Koenigsegg needs another half a second or so at 19.20 seconds. Notably, Koenigsegg says this is the first time a production car has managed to reach 250 mph in under 20 seconds, breaking another world record.

But that's only half the story, as the Jesko managed to haul itself down to a standstill from 400 km/h in a mere 9.01 seconds, for a total 0-400-km/h-0 time of 27.83 seconds. For the imperial among us, the equivalent is 0-250-mph-0 in 28.27 seconds. Overall, the Jesko managed to set a top speed of 412 km/h — 256 mph. All the data was verified by a RaceLogic monitoring system.

Koenigsegg is competing with itself in this category. Only a year ago, the record was set by Koenigsegg's Regera at the same airfield in Örebro, Sweden, with a time of 28.81 seconds. Driven by factory test driver, Markus Lundh, and using the Jesko Absolut model, Koenigsegg claims the minimal downforce design on the model helped the 200-plus-mph air flow smoothly over its carbon-fiber shell.

Koenigsegg Jesko

With a drag coefficient of just 0.278, the Jesko Absolut is slicker than most of its competitors in stock form. (Koenigsegg did note that a protective roll cage was added for the world record run, so it's not quite stock.) Additionally, the 5.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 was powered by E85, letting 1,600 flow out to the rear wheels. Using Koenigsegg's proprietary Light Speed Transmission, with nine forward gears and seven wet multi-disc clutches in one compact, ultra-light package, snappy shifts were undeniably part of the prize-winning run.

The environment played a special role in the world record run, too. While preliminary runs were made on June 26th, Koenigsegg said the ambient air and track temperatures were considerably lower on June 27th. Combined with calm winds, Lundh was able to drive the hypercar to a new record with relative ease, though the Michelin Cup2 R tires weren't quite certified for the extremely high speed.

Koenigsegg Jesko

"You have all the shifting and the high-pitched V-8 screaming in the back, so it's more eventful," Lundh said comparing the new record run to his previous run in the Regera. "This is way more slippery through the air, it just keeps on going."