We’d like to get out ahead of the car spotters on this one, so here goes:

Koenigsegg will be at the Nürburgring in the near future.

Now, let me explain……

Last year we announced plans to go to the Nürburgring with the Koenigsegg One:1 and attempt a new lap record.

Those plans were cut short when ‘Ring management put temporary speed limits in place on certain sections of the track. Those restrictions have now been lifted.

We maintain our desire to show what our cars can do on the ultimate automotive proving ground. We won’t be doing a lap record in the immediate term, but we will be there and because people will see us there and expect all sorts of things, we thought we’d get out ahead of the car-spotters and tell you what we’re up to.

A Nürburgring record doesn’t just happen. In a piece expressing our disappointment with developments last year, I glibly wrote “We…. only need about 7 minutes of their time and we will do our best to not use all of it.” The truth is it takes a lot more than 7 minutes to achieve a good lap at this track. We were ready to go when that piece was written last year. This year, we’re starting over again and it takes months of planning and preparation.

Addendum: Someone in comments has questioned why we need ‘months’ at the track to prepare the car. While we foresee this taking several months, those months comprise only one or two days at the track each month. We will not be testing on public days when the track is full of ‘public’ drivers. We will be testing on private days that we can gain access to.

/Addendum

There are two basic essentials for any driver looking to do a campaign like this:

1) an intimate knowledge of the track, and

2) an intimate knowledge of the car.

Building that intimate knowledge is what we’ll be doing at the Nürburgring in the near future.

Our regular factory driver, Robert Serwanski, will be supporting our preparation with plenty of time in the car at the ‘Ring working on vehicle setup. He will most likely not be at the wheel at the time a record is attempted, however. Intimate knowledge of the track takes a long, long time to build and we are aiming to secure a driver with maximum experience at this most demanding of tracks.

There is a lot for any prospective driver to learn about the car, too, which is why we’ll be there soon. We’ll be testing updated systems on the car, gaining intelligence on vehicle setup to optimize the car’s performance and providing valuable wheel-time for our driver. As a Koenigsegg is far more powerful than most rear-wheel-drive cars, the driver really has to become accustomed with how to push so much power to the limits, especially on a demanding track like the Nürburgring.

Will we gun for a record this year? Maybe. It depends on many, sometimes mundane, factors such as track access/availability, driver availability, the weather and other commitments that may pose a conflict in terms of timing.

So yes, you may see photos of us at the Nürburgring later this month. Don’t get too excited, however. This is a long road we’re on (pardon the pun) and it ain’t over ’til it’s over.

Still, it’s very exciting to be back!