Koenigsegg CC8S and CCR

Two amazingly sleek and powerful exotic cars, with 806 and 655 bhp! Humongous performance guaranteed

Simplicity and elegance are hallmarks of the Koenigsegg CC8S and CCR exotic cars. Incredible performance, near the ultimate possible with current technology, is the trump card of the more powerful CCR: 0-60 in 3.2 seconds, and a standing quarter mile in just 9.0 seconds! Talk about neck snapping power.

The shape of Koenigsegg CC8S and CCR is so simple, without all those big air intakes that lots of supercars need, that you wonder whether it works. Well, it does: the CCR, which is highly supercharged, has been timed at 241.9 mph at Nardo, which at the time made it the fastest production car in the world. This means its maximum speed is probably about 245 mph. Unfortunately for Koenigsegg, Bugatti raised the record to 248 mph with the Veyron, another very exotic car, just a few months later.

Even so, Koenigsegg CCR broke some another record, when tested by Sportauto, the German magazine. It was timed at 194 mph at the end of the long straight at the Nurburgring - a record for a production car. It lapped the Nurburgring in 7 minutes 34 seconds, which is very quick, despite very cold conditions which did not allow the tires to reach the best temperature.

Bristle with ingenious technology

The Koenigseggs are not just fast; they bristle with ingenious technology that set them apart. There are also such refinements as a removable hardtop, adjustable dampers, unique adjustable anti-roll bars, ducted cooling for the brakes, and very high-grade components.

From the outside, this quite small exotic car looks very simple, and like the Porsche Carrera GT, it can be driven open top or with a hardtop a more elegant shape than the Porsche, though.

There is a small rectangular grille at the front, low, sweeping nose, with conventional headlamps behind glass lenses that fit flush with the fenders. A pair of very small air intakes feed air to the front brakes.

Twin headrests for open driving; fairings for closed driving

At the sides there are long air intakes in the flanks. The roof extends back from the windows in a pair of curved streamlined headrests which leave the space above the engine flat. Overall, the lines are very distinctive. These headrests become neat fairings once the hardtop is in place.

The interior is rather strange, with a circular dial housing for the minor controls on the center console, although the instrument binnacle itself is right in front of the driver, where it should be. The gear lever is well-placed in the middle of the tunnel.

Doors hinge upwards

Also unusual are the doors. When the door handle is operated, and the door given a gentle push, the door is raised, as it turns through an arc, ending up on its end, leaving the space completely clear for you to get in or out. The doors are actuated by a unique linkage, and then supported by gas struts. Very neat, but a touch heavy with all that linkage.

Carbon fiber tub like an F1 car

Beneath this sleek body is the carbon fiber tub. As on a Formula 1 car, this provides a strong cell around the passenger compartment. A rear steel sub-frame carries the power train and suspension, while a smaller sub-frame carries the front suspension and steering. The structure is very light, the carbon fiber composite tub weighing only 137 lb (62 kg) - an important factor in the low weight of the car.

Remarkably, Koenigsegg has taken the Ford 4.7 liter modular V-8 engine and with the aid of an unusual supercharging system boosted power to 655 bhp at 6,800 rpm for Koenigsegg CC8S, with 550 lb ft (750 Nm) at 5,000 rpm. If that’s not enough, then you can have Koenigsegg CCR with an amazing 806 bhp! Peak power is produced at 6,900 rpm, with maximum torque of 678 lb ft (920 Nm) at 5,700 rpm.

It might seem that there’s not a lot low down, but with so much power available there is plenty of power at any speed. Incidentally, this compares more than favorably with the 550 bhp Ford gets from the same basic engine but with a bigger displacement in the Ford GT. This shows that Koenigsegg wanted maximum power at all costs.

Not since the days of the Bugatti EB110 and the Edonis, have such small engines with very high outputs per liter been used in exotic cars 139 bhp per liter for the CC8S and an amazing 171 bhp per liter for the CCR. Prodigious.

Twin compressor supercharging

The engine is completely reworked by Koenigsegg, and is supercharged by an unusual system involving two centrifugal blowers; one is not adequate because it would only give good boost at high engine speeds. The use of the bi-compressor system, providing boost of up to 1.4 bar at 5,000 rpm on Koenigsegg CCR, is critical to the massive power outputs. Actually, the boost is not that high; Porsche uses 2.0 bar on the 911 Turbo.

New on this engine is a fast-response system designed to ensure that there is no supercharger lag.

The very powerful but compact engine which also contributes to the low weight of the car is mated to a Cima six-speed gearbox built specially for the car. The final-drive unit includes a torque-sensing differential.

Inboard suspension and anti-roll bars

Also unusual is the suspension, although it looks like a typical racing set-up. To get the handling essential for such a powerful car, double wishbone suspension is fitted with unusually long arms to keep camber change to the minimum. The inboard spring/damper units, which lie almost horizontal across the car, are not there to ape Grand Prix cars, but to suit two unusual features of the design.

First, the VPS adjustable dampers have large secondary cylinders which could not be fitted easily within the wishbones.

Unusual anti-roll bars

Secondly, they are needed to operate the anti-roll bars. Usually, anti-roll bars run across the car, and are connected through links to the suspension arms. On the Koenigsegg cars, the anti-roll bar consists of a linkage which is Z-shape when you look down on it from above.

At the center is a double-ended lever arm, which pivots on a spindle. One end connects to the link that acts on the coil spring one side, and the other end connects to the other side.

On bumps, the mechanism moves freely, but on roll, the movement of the suspension is resisted by the lever arm, which bends, thus acting like an anti-roll bar. The lever arm can be changed to alter the stiffness of the anti-roll effect easily and quickly.

Hollow suspension uprights

Suspension uprights are also unusual in that they are made from high strength steel light alloy castings are more common. They are very light. The inside is hollow and forms a passage to channel air to the brake discs. Hoses from the front air intakes connect to the hub carriers.

After that things get more conventional, with large AP six-pot racing callipers acting on slotted discs. These sit inside 19-inch front and 20-inch rear wheels shod with Michelin Pilot Sport 2 tires guaranteed up to 250 mph and they’ll need to be! At the front, they’re 255/35 section on 9.5 inch rims; at the rear 335/35 tires are used on 12.5 inch rims. To save weight, the Dymag wheels are cast in magnesium.

Good aerodynamics

With this amazing specification, it is no surprise that the Koenigseggs are both remarkable performers, leaving most exotica in the dust. Good aerodynamics result from the use of the Volvo wind tunnel, and the Cd is just 0.297 which is very good and this without excessive lift. To improve air flow, the underside is flat, and there are twin diffusers at the rear.

Light weight

These are very light cars, each said to weigh just 2,650 lb ready for the road, although Koenigsegg CCR probably weighs a few pounds more. This is very light for a car with this amount of power, and gives the CCR an unladen power-to-weight ratio of about 680 bhp per ton. Stupendous!

Overall, these are two truly amazing exotic cars, that don’t just challenge the Enzo, Carrera GT and Murcielago; the Koenigseggs certainly trounce them in a straight line, and might do that round a track as well.