So I know that I said in my first post that the Corvette Stingray was my favorite car, which they did just come out with the mid-engine C8, but this is the holy grail of supercars. The car which if I was given a choice out of any vehicle, I would choose this one without a second of hesitation. The Koenigsegg Jesko.
Koenigsegg has many cars, and it would take about five or six blog posts to give them than the credit they deserve, so today I'm just going with their most recent model. The Jesko. The Jesko may be the most advanced car in the automotive industry right now. The Jesko was released at the 2019 Geneva Auto show last year, so of course, it won't be ready for buyers until 2021, but despite the fact that they are 2.8 million dollars, and they've already sold out, it's still fun to fantasize. And they gave me way too much to write about.
So the Jesko is obviously going to be a street-legal car, that meets all emission laws. But this thing is a beast that should be confined to the area of a racetrack. But who and what can make such a car?
It all starts with their 5.0-liter V8 engine. This engine puts out up to 1600 horsepower, and 1100 pound-feet of torque, making it the most powerful gasoline-powered production car on the planet. This wouldn't be too hard if you didn't have to worry about emission laws, but the Jesko is a fully street-legal supercar, that meets all the regulations and world standards. In the engine, there are 8 cylinders, each getting 3 injectors. This allows for the air and fuel to mix as efficiently as possible. Toyota recently came out with its Dynamic Force engine, and the Koenigsegg's cylinder heads are similar to the ones put in Toyota's engine. They have been designed to "Optimize tumble" inside the cylinder.
You might be wondering what tumble is because I was too at first, so here's Wikipedia's short definition. "A tumble flap is a flap housed in the intake area of many modern automotive gasoline engines to produce a swirl at right-angles to the cylinder axis. This swirling motion improves the air-fuel mixture and enhances power and torque, while at the same time lowering fuel consumption and decreasing emissions."
The Jesko also has a redesigned complete carbon fiber chassis, which allows for "more legroom, headroom, and greater visibility." At their first attempt at making a powerful engine, they had already broken a Guinness World Record for the most powerful production vehicle, and now their only competitor is themselves. Their new design allows them to get a more powerful engine, with a higher rev limit, at 8500 RPM.
Another big part of the Jesko is the suspension, or steering (shown in the image above). As you may already know, many supercars have a LOT of carbon fiber, and this one is no different. The whole chassis, or monocoque, as Koenigsegg likes to call it, is made completely out of carbon fiber. If you didn't already know, carbon fiber is VERY strong, so they need less of it to complete the monocoque, allowing for "More headroom, legroom, a more spacious cabin feel, and a clearer view through the wrap-around windscreen." But its also able to handle their suspension. The Jesko uses their triplex suspension in the Jesko. Koenigsegg first used the triplex in their Agera and decided it would fit good in the Jesko also. The Triplex system is meant for the back of the car. When the Triplex system was in the design process, Koenigsegg had the idea of adding a third horizontal damper to the rear of the car, and I'll explain why later. When I heard horizontal damper, I had no idea what in the world it is, so I looked up a picture of it, and essentially its another spring added to the back of the car horizontally. The image below helped me understand it better.
So basically what the third horizontal damper does, is it "uses natural physics, to combat squat." Squat is the tendency for the car to lower its self under hard acceleration. So what Koenigsegg did with the Jesko is they added a second Triplex system to the front of the car, to add these capabilities to the front of the car.
Another big part of the Jesko is carbon fiber. I've been doing lots of research on carbon fiber lately, and it is actually very fascinating, so I'll do a blog post on that later. But the entire chassis is made out of carbon fiber. carbon fiber is super strong, while also being super lightweight, which makes it perfect for an above high-end sports car. I will add a video about carbon fiber with Cristian Von Koenigsegg below. I encourage you to watch it.
The Jesko also has a lot of downforce, and when I say a lot I mean a LOT. The Jesko offers over 1000 kg of downforce, and this ties in perfectly with the part about carbon fiber because to handle all of that downforce, you are going to need a pretty strong chassis.
I hope you guys liked this piece, and watch out for a new post!