If every Orger donates $1,000....

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Thread started 10/23/12 2:48pm

PurpleJedi

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If every Orger donates $1,000....

...I can put a down payment on this car;

The Koenigsegg Agera R, built by an extraordinary man named Christian von Koenigsegg, in Angelholm, Sweden, last year laid waste to a bunch of Guinness production-car records, among them: zero to 186 miles per hour and back to zero in 21.19 seconds. The very car I'm driving, in fact. And it is, it feels like, a horizontal roller coaster: At rest, the Agera R always seems poised in space, then hit the gas, over the top, and straight down, bang, bang, bang go the gears. A plunging vertigo takes over, a forward free-fall. The momentum builds in inexorable squares of mass and you scream your face off.

The Agera R—$2.5 million or so, about 1,000 to 1,140 horsepower (depending on fuel), about 3,200 pounds—continues to crush passengers in excess of 1g of linear acceleration until somewhere north of 100 mph, at which point the car's aerodynamic shape begins to exert significant downforce (660 pounds at 155 mph). The rate of acceleration levels off but it's still going upstairs like crazy (124 to 186 mph takes 7 seconds). This is telemetry as pornography.

Mr. Koenigsegg estimates the car's top speed would clock in around 273 mph—faster than the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport's record of 267.8 mph—if, that is, he could find some stretch of Mars upon which to test it. On the company's conveniently located airfield, the prudent visitor gets on the brakes after touching 186 mph (I hit 190). The braking event from that speed requires less than 7 seconds and is likewise vigorous. It feels like your pants are going to fall off.

The Agera R's mugging of Newton begins with a bespoke, race-spec, dry-sump 5.0-liter, twin-turbocharged V8 weighing a mere 435 pounds and boasting some staggering statistics: 228 hp/liter of displacement; 737 pound-feet of torque from 2,700 to 7,300 rpm, with redline at 7,500 rpm; and a brake mean effective cylinder pressure (BMAP) of 28 bar, about 406 psi, which would blow most gas engines' spark plugs to the moon.

And the sound? Your ears are going to need condoms.

Sorry, it's about to get all geeky in here: The longitudinally midmounted V8 transfers power to the limited-slip e-diff through a Koenigsegg-designed seven-speed gearbox, with a twin-disc dry clutch and an 11-disc wet clutch arranged sequentially, working cooperatively, rather like a dual-clutch automated manual transmission. Still, under the best of circumstances, the Agera R's gearshifts are rough, and at light throttle and low speeds the car can buck and lurch like a poisoned pony.

The Agera R is hard-core in every way you'd hope: carbon-aluminum monocoque; stressed engine and gearbox; chro-mo subframes; pushrod suspension; adaptive damping, ride height and aero. For 2013 the company is offering astonishing, hollow carbon-fiber wheels—the front wheel with tire weighs less than 25 pounds. Other upgrades include a new spring-loaded, adaptive rear wing and the Triplex rear suspension, comprising a bidirectional hydraulic strut mounted horizontally between the pushrod rockers. My test car doesn't have the Triplex rear suspension. Mr. Koenigsegg says it improves the car's antisquat characteristics.

And speaking of squat: I know squat about how the Agera R handles. Considering the forces involved, the car is reasonably manageable on narrow, and wet, Swedish roads, just. It does have an amazing turning radius! You can turn this thing around in a drive-through. Mr. Koenigsegg assures me that his new car will pull in excess of 1.6 g lateral acceleration, and he is pondering a sub-7-minute go at the Nürburgring.

[eidted for compliance]

By St. Boogar and all the saints at the backside door of Purgatory!

JoeTyler	I wouldn't buy that thing cuz I don't have a garage and I don't want it to be stolen
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JoeTyler	PurpleJedi said: JoeTyler said: I wouldn't buy that thing cuz I don't have a garage and I don't want it to be stolen Okay then... If every Orger donates $1,100...I can put a down payment on this car AND rent a garage. now you're talking! unfortunately, I can only contribute with 10$
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dJJ	not my taste at all. I would not want to be seen in a car like that. 99% of my posts are ironic. Maybe this post sides with the other 1%.
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morningsong	Oh boy I needed a good laugh.
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free2bfreeda	only if it has kitchen and fold away bed in it. “Transracial is a term that has long since been defined as the adoption of a child that is of a different race than the adoptive parents,” : https://thinkprogress.org...fb6e18544a
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free2bfreeda	[deleted] [Edited 10/24/12 0:18am] “Transracial is a term that has long since been defined as the adoption of a child that is of a different race than the adoptive parents,” : https://thinkprogress.org...fb6e18544a
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