Top Gear involved in crash of only Koenigsegg CCXR in existence
The Top Gear crew has been behind some pretty spectactular crashes in recent history. Need we remind you of Richard Hammond's jet car crash that nearly took his life? Then there was reportedly an Enzo that got hit by a bus two years ago on its way to a photo shoot. The Stig even took a Koenigsegg CCX off road at the test track last year. Thanks to some less than safe driving by a senior engineer at Koenigsegg, we can now add another Koenigsegg to the list, the extremely rare Koenigsegg CCXR.
To refresh your memory, the CCXR runs on biofuel, B85 to be exact, which gives it more power than even the CCX. The CCXR is one of the few production cars in the world, as a matter of fact, that officially produces over 1,000bhp. It makes 1,018 bhp, and all that power was working against Koenigsegg's senior engineer when he attempted to take a blind right hand curve at over 120 mph and hit a highway cone. He and Peter Grunert, a member of the Top Gear team along for the ride, were spun around like a top before coming to rest again on the CCXR's scraped belly. Grunert tells us what he remembers over at Top Gear's website, which includes "One of the exotic, lightweight wheels with magnesium spokes bolted to a carbon-fibre rim had completely shattered," and "Behind us were the longest tyre marks I have ever seen: 265 metres of pirouetting rubber."
At least in this instance a Top Gear employee wasn't behind the wheel and can't claim responsibility for reducing the world's population of exotics by yet another vehicle. And truth be told, while the CCXR that bit it was the only one in existence, Koenigsegg is reportedly planning to offer owners of the regular CCX the ability to upgrade their cars to accept the biofuel.
Click th Read link to read Top Gear's harrowing account of the crash and see more pics of the wreckage.
Thanks for the tip, Drew!
[Source: Top Gear]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Niels 2:37PM (5/11/2007)
lol
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Vinny 2:44PM (5/11/2007)
Its E85 and not B85.... it runs on Ethanol and not bio-diesel.
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bmoredlj 2:50PM (5/11/2007)
"reducing the world's population of exotics by yet another vehicle"
???
Did the car explode? Or fall into another dimension?
It doesn't exactly look totaled, does it? Can't Koenigsegg just patch it up, put a paper cone around its neck and send it on it's way?
Or does it need to take the still fully-intact car pictured out back and scuttle it?
It's not like the Hope Diamond. They can always just BUILD ANOTHER ONE. Jeez.
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testa di cazzo 3:01PM (5/11/2007)
"They can always just BUILD ANOTHER ONE. Jeez."
well, not really. that's the problem. the super-exotics are tracked 1 by 1 according to their serial numbers. so when you total one, that one is gone forever. you could make another, but it's not the same, because you can't use the same serial number. that's the real issue...
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Turbofrog 3:03PM (5/11/2007)
But this hardly looks totalled, is the point.
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BKadalur 3:33PM (5/11/2007)
well, if they're going to get rid of it, i'll take it off of their hands.
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KC 4:03PM (5/11/2007)
Turbofrog, just because it does not look like something out of Michael Bay's new 'Transformers' (should be called the tale of the Junkions of the planet of junk) doesn't mean it's not totaled.
It was a one of a kind supercar going at least 120mph. There is undoubtedly structual damage and like what said ont hte Top Gear site the underside was a mess. One of the wheels (not to be confused with tires) exploded. It will likely never be driven again. It probably cannot be restored to factory specifications and due to weakened structural integrity. It's not an old Chevy Cavalier that was written off and restored for sale by a scrap yard. That car needs to be safe because it's one of the fasted street legal cars on Earth. You don't want one that might have a bent frame and damaged axial.
On the plus side though, it will probably still be able to fulfill 80% of what it was created for in the first place once they restore it cosmetically. It can still look good on autoshow floors and in pictures for magazines and calenders. Heck, it would even make an impressive sculpture in the lobby of Koenigsegg's corporate headquarters once it's life on the autoshow circuit is complete.
It's just a multi-million dollar model car now that's all.
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Daaoak 4:09PM (5/11/2007)
Time for .jalopnik.com to start making "Don't crack the KoenigsEGG"-t-shirts... :)
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Peter 4:27PM (5/11/2007)
The point is, we don't know whether it's totaled or not, that part is made up (once again...) by Autoblog.
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John P. 4:47PM (5/11/2007)
oh well, accidents happen. Having said that, i wouldn't loan the top gear guys a tricycle let alone some exotic.
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AntBee 5:09PM (5/11/2007)
Maybe man is not supposed to travel in road vehicles with that much power. They seem too hard to handle in the wrong hands. Look at how many super exotics are being crashed lately. Next up may be a Veryon, gods forbid! I'm just sayin'...
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paul34 5:17PM (5/11/2007)
I think many people here are missing the point.
Just because it doesn't "look totaled" doesn't mean it isn't. A carbon fiber monocoque works a bit differently than sheet metal. If you get even a good crack in it, you compromise the integrity of the whole thing - thus why its totaled.
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Peter 5:40PM (5/11/2007)
> thus why its totaled
It may be or may be not (and yeah it works a little bit different, it's for the most part an all or nothing kind of deal). The point is the original source doesn't say it's totaled. If Autoblog has a different source, stating otherwise, they should name it. If it's them talking out of their ass they could write "from looking at the pictures, we think that that car may very well be history". Or just report what they can verify. But this way it's just sloppy. At best.
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John Paul Rowan 6:11PM (5/11/2007)
I would not like to be that driver having to call that into corp. headquarters.
http://www.refinedrogue.com
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Nelson 7:05PM (5/11/2007)
I'm disappointed by the complete failure of the Dymag wheel. The TopGear article says that the carbon fiber rim shattered upon hitting traffic barrier which is what caused the wreck. Don't wheels sold for road use have to meet certain safety standards?
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bug 11:14PM (5/11/2007)
Well, serves them right.
Doing 120mph on a public road into a blind corner is INSANE. They're lucky they didn't kill anyone else on the road.
Go fast... on a track.
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dionysus 11:41PM (5/11/2007)
Poor car, poor engineer, poor egg.
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NSFW 2:58AM (5/12/2007)
Is it really a "production car" if it is "the only one in existence?" (Both quotes from the article.)
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Hosss 6:56AM (5/12/2007)
#10. This was a feature for Top Gear Magazine, not the TV programme as hosted by Clarkson, Hammond and May. The link between the two is historical only.
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Wunderbaum 2:20AM (5/13/2007)
You cant talk about Koenigsegg without mentioning Tommy Sharif......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo11XmjKq10
(the video is in a weird language, but you'll figure it out after 30 seconds...)
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