Watch Koenigsegg Regera set a new 0-400-0km/h record

Koenigsegg has strengthened its footing in the fight to become the fastest carmaker on earth, taking one of its hypercars from 0 to 400km/h and back to a stop in record time.

The Koenigsegg Regera was the weapon of choice, with its 0-400-0km/h run taking just 31.49 seconds, which is 1.8 seconds faster than the previous record… set by the Koenigsegg Agera RS in 2017.

Koenigsegg’s factory driver Sonny Persson was on hand for the attempt, with the Råda military airstrip as the location of choice – despite not being the ideal surface.

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But what drew most intrigue from those taking to the internet to watch the Regera smash out the record was actually the sound of the Regera’s 820kW twin-turbo V8, assisted by three electric motors for a total of more than 1119kW/2000Nm.

The sound, most obvious in a BTS video posted to Facebook, has been mistaken for a CVT gearbox, when it is actually Koenigsegg’s ‘Direct Drive’ transmission (KDD).

The brand explains: “the KDD provides direct drive to the rear axle from the combustion engine without the need for a multitude of gears or a variable transmission, all of which have inherently high energy losses.”

While the electric motors provide most of the shove on take-off, the engine kicks in to provide the bulk of acceleration, putting its power directly to the ground via the rear wheels.

“As the Regera only has one gear we had to make use of it from standstill to the record top speed of 403km/h (or 250mph) limited by rpm,” Christian von Koenigsegg says.

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“The car reaches its top speed like there is no tomorrow, but then there are no more gears. This actually suits the philosophy behind the Regera, which is ‘whoever gets to 400km/h first wins’.

“The proven numbers now show the greatness of the Regera. Having said that, we know we can improve these already impressive numbers on a track with better conditions.”

Koenigsegg’s belief that the car could be faster is based on the fact the Råda runway is actually disused, meaning there were “bumps” that had to be avoided, while the traction wasn’t ideal.