New Koenigsegg CCGT1 Is A Tribute To A Race Car That Never Actually Raced

Automakers love using Monterey Car Week to showcase their priciest, most difficult-to-obtain models, and this year, Koenigsegg is no different. And while the new Koenigsegg CCGT1 may not look wildly changed compared to some of the designs we've already seen, that's for good reason. It isn't meant to be a separate model. Instead, Koenigsegg says it started with a CC850, turned it into a street-legal endurance racer, and built it as a tribute to the CCGT racing project that the FIA banned before it could run its first race. 

For those of you who aren't up on your Koenigsegg lore, back in the mid-2000s, the automaker began developing a Le Mans GT1 racer that made it to the shakedown testing phase before the FIA changed its rules, effectively banning the CCGT from competition. Koenigsegg only built one CCGT before shutting down the project, but now that the original car's been restored and is old enough to race in the GT1 historic class, it was apparently time to build a tribute. 

As previously mentioned, it's important to note that Koenigsegg says it built the CCGT1 to be a track car that's also street legal and comfortable enough to drive daily. In fact, you can even get it with a gated six-speed shifter if you don't mind giving up a few tenths over the version with a sequential shifter. As founder Christian von Koenigsegg said in a statement, "The CCGT1 is a creation with two clear identities. On the road, it's a sublime Megacar that's both comfortable and incredibly capable. But its origins are rooted in endurance racing, and that's where the CCGT1 reveals its full character as a true celebration of the original CCGT – with or without its roof!"

While the original CCGT was limited to "only" 600 horsepower because of FIA regulations, the CCGT1's twin-turbo V8 makes 1,280 hp on regular pump gas and 1,600 hp on E85. Even in the EV era, that's still a heck of a lot of power. The aero package produces a claimed 1,764 lbs of downforce at 155 mph, while the rear wing boasts 30 degrees of automatic adjustment based on whether you want low drag, high downforce, or an airbrake. With the track package you also get racing slicks, a carbon fiber roll cage, HANS-ready racing seats, air jacks, data logging, and a few other racing goodies that Koenigsegg says help make the CCGT1 "the fastest-lapping Koenigsegg ever."

"The Jesko Attack was once our highest-downforce car," Koenigsegg's lead aero engineer Andreas Tjernberg Persson said in a statement. "Then came Sadair's Spear, which has 30% more downforce than the Attack. The CCGT1 sits between the two for peak downforce, but it has been specifically designed to provide accessible downforce at comparatively lower speeds, giving the driver an outstanding driving experience. That's what good aero design can do."

Koenigsegg

Since it's a Koenigsegg, the CCGT1 includes all sorts of other cool engineering tricks, including the reintroduction of carbon fiber with a white finish, a new Koenigsegg Sequential Shift interface for Koenigsegg's Light Speed Transmission, an optional Engage Shift System that promises an old-school manual shifting experience, and optional carbon-fiber wheels that "are among the lightest Koenigsegg has ever produced." But while the CCGT1 won't be nearly as rare as the original CCGT, if you haven't already reserved yours, buying one will be trickier than simply coming up with a few million dollars. According to Koenigsegg, all 70 examples are already spoken for.