Most people would be more than happy that their supercar set a new Guinness top-speed record of 277.87 miles per hour. But company founder Christian von Koenigsegg is not like most people, and told TopGear.com at the Geneva Motor Show that the Agera RS could have posted an even higher number during the top-speed run.
“For sure, we could’ve gone even faster, but when the record was clearly taken, I said that’s enough,” he told TG. “We could’ve pushed it more, but the risk factors involved… you just never know. We were done.”
Need a refresher on what record he’s talking about? Last November, Koenigsegg went to a closed section of highway in Pahrump, Nevada, and set a two-way top-speed average of 277.87 mph. That was a new world record for a production vehicle – ousting Bugatti from the top spot.
In fact, because the record had to be set from a two-way average, we know that the Agera RS did briefly exceed 277 mph; on-board video shows it briefly touched a staggering 284.3 mph. Oh, and as if all that weren’t crazy enough? Don’t forget that it was the owner of the Koenigsegg Agera RS in question who asked the company to help test its top speed.
Still, von Koenigsegg does recognize that his company’s record isn’t safe forever: “I expect we will be beaten,” he told TG. “I was expecting Bugatti to announce that they have beaten us at this [Geneva] show.”
Still, the Agera RS is a beast of a machine, and it’ll take something truly special to outrun it. The car used for the record run boasted 1,360 horsepower and 1,011 pound-feet of torque from its biturbocharged 5.0-liter V8, with a claimed dry weight of 2,854 pounds. Koenigsegg has previously claimed that’s enough for the Agera RS to sprint from rest to 249 mph and back to zero – that’s 0-400-0 kilometers per hour – in just 36.44 seconds.
Source: TopGear.com
Gallery: Koenigsegg Agera RS sets new record for fastest production car
