Monday, May 08, 2006

The price for a piece of crazy

Does anyone know what the price is for a piece of ultimate crazy? You might be confused with my question, but just bear with me. You know the crazy things that people do...no, not like "dude, did you hear that? A voice in my head told me to bite your tongue off!" kind of crazy. But crazy things like base jumping from the top of Niagara Falls, or swimming with sharks and doing an upper cut right on it's face as it swims by. Until recently, I never knew how much an ultimate crazy would cost. £415,000. Yep, an ultimate crazy costs £415,000. Why, you may ask? Simple, because that is how much a Koenigsegg CCX would cost. The CCX is undoubtedly the ultimate of all crazy.


Let me elaborate. First, a bit more insight for the car. The CCX is Swedish made supercar with a mid-mounted twin-supercharged 4.7litre V8 that churns out an unbelievable 806bhp. 806! I mean 806hp from a 4.7litre engine? That is truly remarkable. OK, you might remember from my previous post that an F1 engine spits out 300hp per litre, or 904hp from a 3litre V8. But you've got to bear in mind that an F1 engine will only do 10,000 miles it's entire lifetime, and also there are no emission regulations to push it down. The CCX is a road legal car, which means it has to be engineered to last at least 150,000miles. And it also needs to adhere to the ever stringent emission regulations. The 1000hp Veyron is powered by a quad turbo 8litre W16. All this makes the CCX engine even more brilliant. And to top it all off, being nice little swedes, they also made the engine environmental friendly, well for a supercar anyway.

The chassis and body panels, a cocktail of kevlar, carbon fibre and lightweight reinforcements, coupled with an all aluminium engine adds up to 1180kg. So what do you get when you cross an 800hp engine with a 1180kg car? Chaos, that is exactly what you're gonna get, unsurpassable chaos! Tops out at around 250mph and a blitz of only 3.2seconds from 0-62mph, oh my god, that is totally orgasmic. FYI, this car was caught on a speed camera in Texas, USA doing 242mph, which is officially the fastest speeding ticket ever.

But wait. That's not the reason why I called this car the ultimate of all crazy. Just look at the rear end of that car. Can you see anything wrong with it? Nothing? Exactly! There's nothing there! Rear spoilers are important to increase the downforce on the rear tires to provide enough grip and traction, especially at higher speed. So why the hell didn't those blonde scandinavian freaks put a rear spoiler on a 250mph car? Even the Veyron, weighing a full 700kilos more, has a spoiler with not one, but two aerodynamic settings. Well, yes, I know it's got those venturis underneath, but surely, that can't be enough can it? They didn't even equip the car with traction control. I mean, that's like creating bio-hazard nuclear bazookas of mass destruction, and selling them to 10 year olds without a safety lock.

This is really the ultimate of all crazy. An 800hp car that weighs about a tonne with minimal downforce and no traction control. It costs £415,000. Interested anyone?

Koenigsegg CCX
Price: £415,000
Engine: 4.7litre Twin-supercharged aluminium casted V8

Power Output: 806bhp @ 6900 rpm
Torque: 678 lb/ft or 920Nm @ 5700 rpm
Weight: 1180kg / 2600lb
0-62 mph: 3.2 seconds
Top Speed: 245 mph
Fuel Consumption: 13.8 mpg combined