New Koenigsegg CCGT1 revealed

The new Koenigsegg CCGT1 is here, and making sense of its seemingly contradictory brief could scramble your mind faster than deciphering precisely how CvK’s nine-speed manual gearbox works.

It is a road-legal car, yet it has ten times the output of a typical road car. It has been created chiefly for circuit use, while paying tribute to a racing machine that never actually competed.

For a moment, though, none of that really matters. It is a new Koenigsegg, complete with an enormous rear wing. Such occasions are rare, and they tend to arrive carrying serious intent, a compelling backstory and a ferocious twin-turbo V8.

The Koenigsegg CCGT1 continues an unfinished GT1 story

This CCGT1 follows that formula precisely. Dedicated Koenigsegg followers – and there are plenty of them – will remember the original CCGT. Developed for the GT1 class in 2007, it looked set to be quick, formidable and dominant, until the FIA revised the regulations. The Swedish machine was then put aside before it had completed a single competitive lap.

The new model picks up where that car left off, beginning with styling that clearly recalls its predecessor. It uses the CC850 – CvK’s gift to himself – as its foundation, meaning it has a 5.0-litre twin-turbo V8, fuelled by petrol and fed through a huge roof intake. On standard fuel, it develops 1,263bhp; with E85 biofuel, that figure rises to an immense 1,578bhp.

While the CC850 uses the ingenious and head-spinning nine-speed ‘manual’, known as the ‘Light Speed Transmission’, the CCGT1 brings another piece of ingenious, mind-bending engineering. Its new shifting interface is called ‘Koenigsegg Sequential Shift’ (KSS).

We are assured that it uses a genuine clutch pedal when pulling away, plus ignition cuts to permit clutchless gear changes, “just like the original CCGT”. In essence, it is a motorsport-style sequential transmission, operated by a huge motorsport-style sequential gear lever.

Track-focused aerodynamics and transmission options

Buyers can, naturally, select the CC850’s ‘regular’ ESS six-speed gated manual instead, should uncompromising GT1-style driving not appeal. Although, to be fair, the whole car is an exercise in uncompromising GT1-style driving. Its bodywork is constructed wholly from carbon fibre and bears little resemblance to the CC850 beneath it.

The clearest visual reference to the CCGT is the vast rear wing. It offers 30 degrees of adjustment and combines with an enormous front splitter, active underbody aerodynamics and a shaped floor to produce 800kg of downforce at 249km/h.

The cabin has an appealingly stripped-back, distinctly fighter-jet-like atmosphere. There is a switch to prime the fuel pumps, a covered ignition control and a red starter button. Ahead of the driver sit Koenigsegg’s third-generation ‘Chronocluster’ instruments, an analogue G-meter apparently powered solely by fear and human tears, that colossal gear lever, ultra-light carbon-fibre seats with six-point harnesses, and a fire extinguisher. There is a touchscreen as well, but... no.

Koenigsegg CCGT1 Track Pack and Ghost Fibre

As mentioned earlier, it is road legal. However, Koenigsegg is offering an official track pack for the first time, adding a carbon roll cage, HANS-compatible seats, a racing steering wheel, racing exhaust, air jacks, more aggressive suspension, improved aerodynamics and better tyres. You understand the idea. Actually, you receive more than that: the package also includes a dedicated track day with full factory support.

Crowning the package, quite literally, is a material Koenigsegg calls ‘Ghost Fibre’. This white-fibre finish first appeared on the 2009 Trevita and is said to provide ‘ballistic’ protection – precisely how intense are these track days? – along with sound insulation and reduced weight.

“This is something truly special – our first creation that's designed deliberately as a track-optimised circuit scalpel as well as an extraordinary daily driver,” said Christian von Koenigsegg. “It has been so rewarding seeing the original CCGT come back to life over the last few years. This seems like an appropriate way to celebrate.

“I'm very excited to drive and explore its full capabilities, and I can't wait for the wider Koenigsegg family to do the same. To also showcase our newly developed Ghost Fibre for the first time is truly exiting and builds on the history of the Trevita project, that was launched in the same era as the CCGT.”

Just 70 examples will be made, and every one has already been allocated. Yes, that seems entirely logical.