We’ve all seen Adrian Portelli’s Koenigsegg Jesko Attack plenty of times before, but did you know that there’s another one in Australia? Well I didn’t until Adrian made an Instagram post showcasing his black and gold car next to a blue one from Queensland at Melbourne Airport. The post was quickly taken down, but it was too late and word got around immediately that two of the most expensive cars in the country were going to be at Motor Ex. I’m not the biggest Koenigsegg guy but I couldn’t pass up this incredible opportunity.
The Koenigsegg Jesko Attack can produce a maximum of 1600 HP with the “Absolut” power upgrade and 1200 HP without from a bespoke twin-turbocharged V8 engine with a flat-plane crankshaft. It’s not often that a boutique car maker builds it’s own engine from scratch – it’s usually done by a different company. Take Pagani for instance. They get their engines from AMG’s engineering partner HWA, thus outsourcing the cost and development which can be hugely expensive for a company with a small amount of employees.
Koenigsegg chooses to do everything in house because it ensures strong quality control and a benefit to the local economy in Angelholm. Christian is very proud Swede and gets enormous pride out of building everything in his home country. This all sounds well and good but there’s two massive drawbacks – the price tag and the repair cost when something goes wrong. However if money is no object, you can well afford the purchase price and the cost of air freight to fly it back to Sweden. Luckily, there is a Jesko technician down here in Australia but the parts still have to come from Sweden of course.
No disrespect to Adrian but the blue Jesko looks a lot more attractive to me. The exposed carbon has it’s own allure I suppose and the gold accents are very neat but it’s a bit too raw for my own liking. I feel like you’re supposed to paint over the carbon fibre for the most part, leaving only the critical aero devices around the front, rear and side of the car unpainted. I have to say the quality of the metallic blue paintwork is very smooth and far more premium than anything I have seen on a “production” car. Now I say “production” because the car barely qualifies as one if you ask me. It doesn’t look like a street legal car that can be driven on the road – but it is and that’s exactly why you’d buy one. It’s fun to live on the edge.
Despite having an enormous amount of power, this car is rear wheel drive because a 4 wheel drive car robs steering feel in the front end and dulls the responsiveness somewhat. Thankfully, this car does come with traction control but even then you must respect the throttle pedal. Another common piece on both of these Jeskos are the full carbon five-spoke wheels with a centre-lock nut like a racecar. Carbon wheels are good for unsprung mass because it places less stress on the suspension components during hard cornering. This car may not be a full-on racecar but the technology most definitely is.
The Koenigsegg Jesko Attack is a slice of beserker energy in a world that soo often seems sanitised and soft. Being conservative and rational doesn’t excite the soul but getting behind the wheel of a 1600 HP car will always do so – even if you aren’t pushing it to the limit. Humans don’t just want to survive, they want to live and if you have the opportunity to experience mechanical insanity like this, take it and share it with the world. There is no reason why you shouldn’t.
DevMacCars 