'World's fastest car' one step closer to reality as jaw-dropping test sees it hit 311mph

The Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut is one step closer to achieving its goal of becoming the world’s fastest road car after computer simulations found that it could be capable of over 311mph (500kph).

The vehicle is the brainchild of Swedish mastermind Christian von Koenigsegg who has been building some of the world’s fastest hypercars for over 20 years.

The Jesko Absolut is his latest and most advanced creation and built with a singular purpose – to become the fastest road car in the world.

Although this means defeating the current record holders Bugatti, Mr von Koenigsegg is confident they have the data and the confidence to remove their Franco-German rivals from their throne.

Speaking to Top Gear Magazine, Mr von Koenigsegg said: “We have our supercomputer simulations. We’ve been to a German wind tunnel with the Jesko Attack and Absolut, so we know exactly how the aero works on the car.”

While they don’t know for certain how their car is likely to behave at such high speeds, Koenigsegg has discovered that the Absolut could travel even faster than the simulations initially suggested.

Mr von Koenigsegg revealed. “We punched those numbers into the very advanced system of the chassis dyno. And it calculates the rolling resistance of the tyre, the drag of the car, it puts correct load on the car at 500kmh if we reach there… and we managed to pass 500kmh in ninth gear before hitting the rev limiter and still having some space in the chassis dyno.”

As a result, there is a possibility that with the right tyres, conditions, and platform the Absolut could travel even faster than 311mph. That's far higher than the 304mph achieved by Bugatti in 2019 with the Chiron Super Sport.

However, before Koenigsegg was even been able to consider thinking about surpassing Bugatti’s benchmark, they had to overcome the hurdles of physics with their Jesko Absolut.

The car in question is carbon-fibre-bodied to make it strong and light. Alongside this is an ultra-slippery body to make it as efficient and aerodynamic as possible; the hope is that once up to and above 300mph it will be stable as well.

Powering the Jesko is a supercharged 1,578bhp flat-plane crank 5.1 litre V8 engine that sends its power to the wheels via a nine-speed transmission. Helping to shove the Jesko Absolut to its top speed is 1,106 lb-ft of torque.

On paper then, the Jesko Absolut looks all set to not only take but dominate the record for the world’s fastest car. Standing in their way, admits Mr von Koenigsegg, are two issues.

The first of these is finding the right location. The Jesko Absolut needs a stretch of road long enough for it to build up speed and then lose it gradually without the need to accelerate hard from standing start or slam on the brakes at the end of a runway.

The second major challenge is tyres, finding rubber that will be able to stand up to the immense forces being placed on them for the duration of the run, and tyres that will be able to withstand over 300mph.

When Bugatti attempted its runs five years ago in 2019, they were able to get around these issues with specially developed Michelin tyres and by conducting their runs at Volkswagen’s Ehra-Lessien test track.

The reason they were able to access this specialised facility is because VW owned Bugatti at the time of the record attempts.