Koenigsegg One:1 supercar crashes at the Nurburgring

WHATEVER sort of day you’re having today, spare a thought for a professional pilot in Germany. His Koenigsegg One:1, one of only eight of the $3.8 million supercars to ever be built, has crashed spectacularly at the Green Hell early this morning while setting up for a pitch at a lap record of the track.

“Koenigsegg Automotive AB can confirm reports online that a Koenigsegg One:1 was involved in a crash during testing as part of Industry Pool at the Nurburgring on Monday, 18 July,” the boutique Swedish carmaker said in a statement released just hours ago confirming the expensive day out at the track.

Images snapped at the track show a 200-metre-long set of skid marks leading up to Adenauer Forst, suggesting the F1-inspired honeycomb weave carbonfibre construction One:1 may have carried too much speed out of the esses through Foxhole.

According to witnesses, the One:1 jumped the guardrail, and caught fire briefly before the flames were extinguished.

“The driver was taken to hospital as per standard procedures in such situations and was released the same afternoon,” the carmaker said.

Koenigsegg admitted the mid-engined twin-turbocharged 5.0-litre V8-powered One:1 had been at the track as part of its preparations for an all-out assault on the production car track record, a seemingly untouchable 6:57.00 set by a Porsche 918 Spyder in 2013 (pictured below).

“A Koenigsegg is an extreme performance car and must be tested accordingly,” the carmaker said.

“This is an inherently dangerous undertaking that must be conducted progressively and methodically, working point by point on all areas of our highly adjustable vehicles.

“Our primary concern is always driver safety and any testing is structured and conducted accordingly,” Koenigsegg said.

“This incident is confirmation of just how difficult it is to drive at this level on the world’s ultimate proving ground.

“Obviously we are dismayed with this development but pleased that our safety systems worked as designed to protect our driver.”

Dismayed is one way of describing the sensation. Images show a full airbag deployment in the crash, although the safety cell built around the cabin remained intact. The dihedral synchro-helix actuation doors, a Koenigsegg signature, were still able to open.

Koenigsegg has built one prototype of the One:1, with six of the production cars already sold. The supercar that crashed is believed to be the seventh of the production series.

Koenigsegg hasn’t placed a number on how powerful the One:1 is, preferring instead to call it a “megawatt” supercar. Maximum torque is 1371Nm at 6000rpm.

There’s no official number for the supercar’s 0-100km/h time, but other performance data is outright scary: the sprint from rest to 400km/h takes about 20 seconds, and back to rest again only adds another 10 seconds. The car is called the One:1 as the horsepower to weight ratio is perfectly matched: 1360 horsepower to 1360 kilograms.

Koenigsegg’s best lap record on the Nurburgring is held by the CCX, set in 2006. It pegged a 7:33.55. Only 49 of the 593kW supercars were built.