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Koenigsegg CC850
Koenigsegg CC850 Debuts: Modern CC8S With 1,385 HP And A Manual Trans
The new Koenigsegg CC850 is an homage to the company's first car, the CC8. It has over double the power and a strange automated manual transmission.
www.motor1.com
Koenigsegg says its twin-turbocharged 5.0-liter V8 engine is sourced from the Jesko, generating 1,385 horsepower (1,033 kilowatts) in this application when running E85 fuel. On normal gasoline, the power drops to only 1,185 hp (884 kW). Maximum torque is 1,022 pound-feet (1,385 Newton-meters) and oddly enough, the CC850's weight is 1,385 kilograms (3,053 pounds).
Now for the really interesting part. As with the engine, the Jesko's nine-speed "Light Speed Transmission" is ported to the CC850. However, look inside the thoroughly updated cockpit and you'll see a manual gear lever in a gated six-speed box. It's not just a showpiece to sequentially change gears as you would in the Jesko, because there's also a clutch pedal for the driver to operate. But here's the thing – it's essentially an all-electronic affair. Koenigsegg ties a clutch pedal operation and mechanical gear changes to the multi-clutch nine-speed gearbox.
The result is something Koenigsegg calls the – wait for it – TWMPAFMPC transmission. That alphabet soup of a name stands for The Worlds Most Powerful And Fastest Manual Production Car. In manual mode, the CC850 drives like a car with a normal manual gearbox. The clutch is required to shift gears, and if you bog the launch like you did learning stick on your brother's Ford Escort, it will stall.
Only six speeds of the nine-speed transmission are available at any given time, however, the specific gears will vary depending on the drive mode. As such, all nine speeds will be accessible. You'll just have to switch modes to get to them. Or, if you just want to cruise, move the lever all the way to the right for automatic mode. In that position, drive is down with all forward gears available. Reverse is at the top.
It will also be supremely rare, as Koenigsegg will build just 50 examples to commemorate the 50th birthday of the company's founder, Christian von Koenigsegg. Pricing and availability will be announced later.