According to Christian von Koenigsegg, founder of the supercar company that bears his name, the Jesko is probably the last Koenigsegg without some form of electrification. Yet it should still have enough power and downforce to surpass 300 MPH. And even though it’s the successor to the car that’s already the fastest in the world, this Agera RS replacement is a clean sheet design. It’s built around a longer chassis, hiding a heavily upgraded V-8 that makes 1600 hp when it’s running on E85, and a nine-speed gearbox with seven clutches, the like of which we’ve never seen before.
But perhaps most importantly to Christian, the Jesko is named after his father-who, in a time of great need, poured his life’s savings into the Koenigsegg car company.
Now 80 years old and as active as ever, Jesko von Koenigsegg has every reason to be proud of what his son and family have achieved. From humble beginnings 25 years ago, Koenigsegg Automotive is now a juggernaut in the hypercar world. So forget the internal codename “Ragnarok,” and say hi to the Koenigsegg Jesko. You’ll find that it’s more than worthy of the name.
Koenigsegg will build 125 Jeskos in two variants. The track-focused version you see here is designed to produce more than 3000 lbs of downforce with Koenigsegg’s revolutionary Triplex suspension at front and rear. The low-drag Jesko version is a more road-friendly machine with a standard front suspension that leaves enough room in the front trunk to stow the removable targa roof.
And good news: No matter which spec you choose, the Jesko will be homologated worldwide-unlike some other extreme performance cars that aren’t road legal in certain nations.
Here’s everything you need to know about Koenigsegg’s ultimate car.
We’ve talked about how special the Koenigsegg V-8 is before. For its last appearance before Koenigsegg goes electrified and camless across the board, the team has really gone the extra mile. You get 1280 horsepower on pump gas, or 1600 hp on E85. That’s partly because the Jesko’s V8 has a flat-plane crank that weighs just 27.5 lbs, milled from a solid steel billet in southern Sweden. To reduce thevibration you’d get from a flat-plane crank engine while as it approaches 8500rpm, Koenigsegg’s engine architect, Dr. Thomas Johansson, came up with new super-light connecting rods that are made from an ultra-strong Swedish steel alloy. Including the bolts, they weigh 19 pounds, which makes them exactly as light as the titanium rods of the Regera engine, but even stronger. Then, there’s the pistons.
They weigh 0.63 pounds each, with a ceramic-coated curved face that happens to be the strongest in production. As a result, they can take a crazy amount of pressure while allowing the long-stroke V8 to rev to 8500 rpm.
The Jesko may not use Koenigsegg’s camless Freevalve heads, but the ones it has are cast by Formula One suppliers Grainger and Worrall, with an extra “tumble” valve on the intake side to increase turbulence in the air-fuel mix.
Koenigsegg’s even-larger turbos would mean even more lag, but the Jesko’s engine features a clever system that uses pressurized air to spool up the compressor wheels and heat up the catalytic converters more quickly on cold start. In principle, the system is similar to one used on Volvo’s PowerPulse diesel, but Koenigsegg came up with a patent-pending turbo housing design, with pressurized air stored in a carbon fiber tank and blasting into the turbos at up to 290 psi. And with the catalytic converters reaching operating temperature in no time, this twin-turbo Koenigsegg V8 will comply with future global emission standards planned for as far away as 2026.
More air demands more fuel, so the engine now sports three fuel injectors per cylinder. The third injector lives in the intake plenum, squirting in fuel directly above the intake runner for each cylinder. The extra blip of fuel also cools the cylinder, making for a cleaner combustion and less strain on the engine at the top of the power range.
Koenigsegg also threw in individual in-cylinder pressure sensors, a first for road cars. This allows the in-house-designed Engine Management System to monitor and control each cylinder at maximum efficiency. All this results in 1106 pound feet of torque to accompany your 1280 pump-gas horses.
The gearbox is like nothing you’ve ever seen
If you thought the Regera’s direct-drive system was nuts, buckle up for what Koenigsegg calls the Light Speed Gearbox.
The LST has nine forward gears and seven wet multi-disc clutches. Yet at 198 lbs-complete with all fluids, clutches, oil pumps, and the starter motor and flywheel-it weighs significantly less than the average dual-clutch transmission. It’s also half as long as Koenigsegg’s previous seven-speed, with a two-stage shifting method that allows for nearly instant gear changes. And yes, the Jesko even has a stick, sort of.
Koenigsegg says they developed this transmission to have ultimate power on demand, and thanks to the simultaneous engaging and disengaging of those clutches, it offers “near light-speed” gear changes both up and down. That’s because, unlike a one-gear-at-a-time conventional DCT which tries to predict your desires by pre-selecting the next gear, the LST can jump to any forward gear immediately, even as far as five gears away.
With the LST’s seven clutches and the V-8’s anti-lag system, Koenigsegg says there’s absolutely no drop in torque as you accelerate through the gears
Photo credit: Koenigsegg
To get the most out of this design, the Light Speed Transmission uses a two-stage control. Both the paddles and the central shift lever have notched mechanisms. A light pull lets you upshift or downshift to the next ratio. Pull further and you’ll unleash the “ultimate power on demand” mode, where the system determines the optimum gear for maximum acceleration (or deceleration) and engages that gear immediately.
The Jesko comes with a short-throw “stick-shift” of sorts, in addition to the paddles. Because, why not?
Everything at your fingertips
The Jesko’s monocoque is 1.57 inches longer and 0.86 inches taller than the Regera, giving you more headroom and legroom. It’s also as rigid as the F1-style pre-preg carbon fiber would suggest, measured at 47,941 lb-ft per degree. That’s stiff.
Once inside, what’s really new is the steering wheel display and controls. The wheel itself is still made of carbon fiber, now sporting an integrated central screen whose displayed graphics stay level even as the screen rotates with the wheel. Additionally, there are two small configurable touchscreens at your fingertips, which work just like any swipe-capable surface, programmable for future functions as they become available.
With the hydraulics already in place, the Jesko also features the Autoskin upgrade introduced with the Regera, where the car can automatically open and close all its doors and hatches on command. The redesigned dihedral synchro-helix doors now open slightly further outwards and upwards, to make things easier when parked by a high curb. The Autoskin system also includes sensors to protect the automated doors from opening into other objects.
Christian von Koenigsegg’s final touch is an analog G-force meter. Located in front of the driver where the instrument panel would normally be, this hand-made piece is a nod to gadget geeks, and, perhaps, fighter-jet pilots.
Teasing the air
The exterior design is the work of Joachim Nordwall, but since Koenigsegg believes this car will be capable of over 300 MPH with its 1600 ethanol-fed horses, most of the Jesko’s shapes were necessarily drawn with the help of a wind tunnel.
Helping the car stick is Koenigsegg’s deepest front splitter yet (with active flaps behind it), an equally substantial rear diffuser, and the largest top-mounted active boomerang-shaped wing allowed by the law. Even the rear view mirrors help, adding 44 pounds of downforce. In total, the Jesko makes 1763 pounds of downforce at 155 mph, rising to 2200 pounds at 170 mph, and maxing out at 3086 pounds at speeds we can only guess. But as mentioned above, the car is geared to achieve (or exceed) 300 mph, with 30 percent more downforce than the One:1 has.
Photo credit: Máté Petrány
Double Triplex
Of course, too much downforce could break a car. Not the Jesko, thanks to a monocoque which uses a carbon fiber and aluminum sandwich construction with integrated fuel tanks and rollover bars, and reinforcements made of the strongest fiber in the world, Dyneema.
Bolted to all that is the Triplex Suspension system, which Koenigsegg developed for the Agera in 2010. This setup adds a third, horizontally-oriented damper to the middle of the suspension, keeping the car level without compromising grip. Previous Koenigseggs only featured the Triplex design at the rear, but the high-downforce Jesko adds the Triplex design up front, along with a huge air scoop where the roof storage space used to be.
Photo credit: Máté Petrány
Koenigsegg also uses the industry’s longest front and rear wishbones, enlarged wheel bearings in lightweight housings, and adjustable dampers manufactured by Öhlins and further customized with self-developed electronics at the Koenigsegg factory. With their adjustable bump and rebound damping, as well as spring ratio and ride height, these dampers work perfectly with Koenigsegg’s own traction and stability control programs.
The Jesko is also equipped with the Regera’s active engine mounts, which give comfort at low speeds and stiffen up for hard driving. Together with the rear-axle steering, this setup promises outstanding handling in a straight line and around corners.
Koenigsegg even spared a thought for trackday enthusiasts: The Jesko’s front and rear clamshells are split down the middle, to make it easier to replace crunched body panels. The Jesko uses Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires as standard, or Pilot Sport Cup 2 Rs if you promise to keep them dry at all times. The latter have a 10 percent larger contact patch and stiffer sidewalls.
The sticky rubber is stretched over larger wheels. Koenigsegg offers both a forged aluminum and a hollow carbon fiber wheel design, 20 by 9.5 inches up front, 21 by 12 out back. Despite being larger than before, the newly-designed carbon wheels weigh just 13 lbs up front, 16.3 at the rear. With these carbon wheels fitted, Koenigsegg was able to bless the Jesko with its largest carbon ceramic brakes ever. From 0 to 250 to 0 again? Again, again and again.
Horses
Jesko von Koenigsegg picked up horse racing through his father, who bred and raced horses as a gentleman jockey. Jesko himself spent 20 years as a successful amateur jockey. So it’s fitting that the first Koenigsegg Jesko is finished in white with green accents-the colors worn by the jockeys of the Koenigsegg stables.
Not unlike Lord March of Goodwood, Christian von Koenigsegg never caught the horse racing bug. He prefers his horsepower to be gasoline-fueled. But we think the elder Koenigsegg will find much to enjoy in his son’s automotive tribute.
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