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Let's talk hyper-cars, shall we? Today's focus is the Mercedes-Benz Project One hyper-car, the Bugatti
Chiron Super Sport rumors, the new Hennessey Venom F5, and the Koenigsegg Agera
R top speed runs.
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| Mercedes Project One (photo courtesy of CarBuzz) |
Enter the new Mercedes-AMG Project One, a name that sounds
surprisingly close to Koenigsegg’s own One:1. The name seems
unoriginal, believe it or not, so does the actual car. The styling looks like something out of
McLaren’s Woking studio. Look at the similarities. They’re going for the
F1 car look, but we all know the air duct at the top
will be reduced to just the inlet hole, and the aggressive look of the whole
thing will be toned down if it ever reaches production, which it most likely
will not. It’s powered by an electric
turbo 1.6 liter V6 coupled to an electric motor at the crank of the V6. Mercedes pegs system output at greater than
1,000 horsepower, an ambitious target for a company that has not yet topped
800 in a production car. Top speed is said to be somewhere around 218 MPH, and
acceleration to 60 MPH should be well under 3 seconds. Mercedes is fashionably late to the electric hyper-car game, with the 918, LaFerrari an
d P1 entering the market in 2015. This only detracts from the Project One's originality--or for that matter--what it has left of its originality.
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| Bugatti Veyron Super Sport (allcarseveryday) |
Next is the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport, or whatever name Bugatti
is going to designate for the faster Chiron. The Vitesse (convertible) version of the
Chiron must come first; expect that in the next year and a half. Three years from now will be the "Super Sport" version, so we have some time to wait.
The old Super Sport added 183 horsepower over the stock Veyron, and top speed
increased from 253 to a certified 267.7 MPH. The new Chiron makes 1,479
horsepower from the heavily revised quad-turbo W16, with 1,180 pound feet of
torque at 2,000 rpm. Top speed is technically 288 MPH, but is governed at 261
for safety reasons. The Chiron has not yet made official speed runs to obtain
either number, however. Based on the Veyron patterns, the Chiron "Super Sport" should end just shy of 300 MPH for the final number, that is, if Bugatti can
eke out any more juice from this already very taxed engine. I have a feeling
that Bugatti will wait to see what the F5 will do before it makes any plans for
an upgraded Chiron.
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| Koenigsegg Agera R (photo courtesy of CarBuzz) |
Speaking of which, this November the Koenigsegg Agera R
finally made good on its claims of 273 miles per hour, achieving an average
277.9 MPH in both directions on a closed Nevada highway. It has yet to be
recognized by the Guinness Book of World records, where the Veyron Super Sport
still holds the top spot.
This spot may be short lived as the Hennessey Venom
F5 rolls onto the scene. Hennessey built this vehicle from the ground-up, qualifying
it for a production car record holding spot, as opposed to the F4, which was
loosely based on a Lotus. The F4 managed to hit 270.49, but the world record
book refused to acknowledge that because it wasn’t an average two-way speed.
I’m sure Hennessey is eager to test the F5, as it has 1,600 horsepower from its
twin-turbo V8. At $1.6 million, it’s safe to say the 24 examples being made are
going to only the richest of the rich. These lucky individuals may get to test
the F5’s claimed 301 MPH top speed, which I’m sure has Bugatti and Koenigsegg
in a permanent state of fear.
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