With the release of the new 1500hp Bugatti Chiron there were a few cars that got lost in the back ground and we wanted to shed a little light on those, who knows there might be something out there worth talking about. As a matter of fact what if I told you there was another 1500hp hypercar that was also released, and what if that car also happen to be a hybrid. What if this car was so far advanced from anything else on the road that the technology used could change how vehicles actually move down the road because it no longer uses one of the absolutely critical pieces of the puzzle, the transmission.
That’s right, Christian Von Koenigsegg and his team felt that the transmission was too heavy and bulky and prevented them from putting the engine and other things exactly where they wanted them so they figured out a way to remove the gearbox completely. Now explaining exactly how hey have done that would take a novels worth of information as well as brain power that i’m not sure im qualified to use, in public at least. But to give you the basic idea they have incorporated three electric engines, on top of the twin turbo 5.0L V8 that puts out just shy of 1100hp, one motor on each rear wheel and then the 3rd connected to the crankshaft of the engine. The main purpose for the #rd engine is to be a power generator, starter motor and maybe most importantly a torque assist. So when driving at lower speeds a hydraulic coupling disengages the V8 engine and only the two electric motors, one 241hp motor on each rear wheel. But when you start to get into higher speeds that coupling engages the V8 engine and then its like a rocket ship all the way to a rev limited top speed of 250mph. Because the driveline is in a way directly connected to the crankshaft of the engine the top speed is limited to the redline. Same with the power ratings also, there is a total of 697hp from the three electric motors (241hp at each wheel and 215hp on the crankshaft) and 1085hp from the TT V8 if you add those together like you would do on a normal hybrid situation you’d have 1782hp! Again due to being limited by the redline of the engine, that’s how they came up with “only” 1500hp and 1475lb-ft of torque. But because Christian has never cared about who had the highest top speed, he only cares about who can get to that number the fastest, ” it’s more important who gets to those ludicrous speeds first, not who reaches the most ludicrous one.” said Koenigsegg at Geneva.
Something else Koenigsegg said really put things into perspective for me, and that is “the Regera has about the same electric power as the Tesla Model S P85D, but weighs 1,300 pounds less and adds an 1,100 horsepower gas engine on top. So if you thought the Tesla was quick, this Regera is going to break your mind.
I’ll be honest I had totally forgotten that the Regera was going to be debuted at this years Geneva Auto Show. I spent almost my entire day yesterday researching everything I could find on the new Chiron and was completely fascinated with how luxurious, beautiful and yet fast enough to peel your face off. But now as I really go in depth with this new Regera I am literally blown away with how technologically advanced this car is. If you would have handed me $3 million dollars last night that I had to spend on only one car I would have chosen the Chiron without a moments hesitation. But if the same situation were to happen right now I honestly don’t know what I would choose. Koenigsegg released the Regera as a concept last year at Geneva but apparently have made a total of 8,000 changes to this production version.
One thing I have to say is I really wished they had done something different with the rear end of the Regera. It looked terrible in the sea foam green concept version released last year and it might even look worse on the cherry red production version released yesterday. Its really sad too because the rest of the car is absolutely gorgeous. If you look at it from the front its a work of art, you look at from the side and it starts to look a little funky towards the back but overall still looks good, but then you look at it from the back and it’s ruined. The worst angle would have to be looking at the back quater panels. So I guess if it were to come down straight to looks it would be a no-brainer for the Chiron. But we all know there is a lot more to it then looks alone. Just think there is some rich dude out there somewhere that has to make that decision for real, not just in fantasy land. I hope there is going to be some 1 mile drag race videos between these two in our near future.
“the Regera has about the same electric power as the Tesla Model S P85D, but weighs 1,300 pounds less and adds an 1,100 horsepower gas engine on top. So if you thought the Tesla was quick, this Regera is going to break your mind.