Koenigsegg takes on Bugatti in 310 mph speed record attempt

The top speed race is in full swing, with Bugatti and Koenigsegg battling one another to build the fastest car on the planet.

The new target is 310 mph and it appears that Koenigsegg might get there first.

READ MORE: Bugatti to reveal successor to the Chiron with new design and hybrid engine

Remember when the 371 km/h (230 mph) top speed the McLaren F1 could achieve seemed fast enough?

Those days are long gone and it feels like 230 mph is the sort of speed automakers expect from a turtle these days.

Koenigsegg kick-started this race in 2017, when the Agera RS set a (then) top-speed world record of 277.9 mph – or 447 km/h.

A few years later, Bugatti broke that record with the bespoke Chiron Super Sport 300+ which, as the name suggests, was designed specifically to break the 300 mph barrier.

And it did.

In 2019, the Chiron 300+ reached 304 mph – or 490 km/h.

The thing is, these goals can be set in mph, in which case ‘300 mph’ sounds pretty good, or in km/h.

And in km/h, reaching a top speed of 490 km/h sounds incomplete, because ‘500 km/h’ sounds like a nicer, more round figure.

That’s what Koenigsegg wants to do.

The Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut has the same engine and power level as the standard Jesko.

Its twin-turbocharged 5.0-liter V8 can deliver 1,600 bhp when running on E85 fuel.

However, thanks to a better aero package and suspension, Koenigsegg believes the Jesko Absolut could potentially reach 500 km/h – or 310 mph.

Koenigsegg and Bugatti are the most famous players in these game, but they aren’t the only ones.

EVs are faster off the line but still can’t match the top speed of their gas-powered counterparts – for now.

And yet, the Rimac Nevera can easily reach 415 km/h.

And then there’s the SSC Tuatara, one of the few cars in the world capable of breaking the 300 mph (482 km/h).

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