The Koenigsegg Jesko; Koenigsegg’s latest hyper-car is currently on a world tour. A week and a half ago, it landed here in Dubai in a cargo plane straight from Hong-Kong. It was unloaded and transported to Al Ain Class Motors- an exotic car showroom in Dubai.

Me being the Koenigsegg fan-boy that I am, had to go see this marvel of Engineering; Koenigseggs new fastest car with the most advanced technology and the most advanced design on any modern day vehicle with everything from its “Light-speed” transmission to it’s 1600 horsepower twin-turbo V8.

Al Ain Class Motors being the exotic car dealership that it is, did not only have the Jesko on display but had many other incredibly rare- once in a lifetime cars and I decided to take pictures of them so I could share their stories with you.

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The Koenigsegg Jesko

The koenigsegg Jesko (named After Jesko Von Koenigsegg, Christian Von Koenigsegg’s father who played a very important role when Koenigsegg was founded) is the successor to the Koenigsegg Agera. Currently, only 1 of these cars exist. The car was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show 2019 and all 125 cars were sold out on the day of its unveiling. Koenigsegg is currently working on a variant of the Jesko with the aim of reclaiming the throne of fastest car in the world after the Bugatti Chiron SuperSport 300 stole the show from the Koenigsegg Agera RS by setting a blisteringly quick top speed of 304.773 mph (490.5 mph).

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The Koenigsegg CCX

The Koenigsegg CCX is the first car Koenigsegg designed with the purpose of entering international markets by ensuring the vehicle met almost every international (especially Californian) vehicular restrictions. This beauty made 806 hp to the rear wheels at 7,000 rpm. This beautiful and perfectly maintained example is 1 of 40 CCXs built. This was the car that popularized Koenigsegg.

The Bugatti Veyron Vivere by Mansory

The Bugatti Veyron is an icon itself with a variant (the SuperSport) being the fastest car in the world at one point setting a record of 431.072 km/h (267.856 mph). A quad-turbo W16 sends 1200 hp to all four wheels at 6400 rpm. This specific example of a Veyron has been completely redone by Mansory; a car modification company based in Germany. They do everything from full carbon body Aventadors to completely redone interiors. The Mansory Linea Vivere sports a beautiful Carbon Fiber body with white accents (Matte or Gloss depending on the commissioners preference). The interior on the Linea Vivere also has all of its silver/metal accents replaced with forged carbon fiber pieces making the interior a truly spectacular place to be.

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The Porsche Carrera GT

One of my favourite cars in the world and also the most legendary Porsche to ever exist. The development of the Carrera GT can be traced back to the 911 GT1 and LMP1-98 racing cars. Due in part to the FIA and ACO rule changes in 1998, both designs had ended. Porsche at the time had planned on a new Le Mans prototype for 1999. The car was initially intended to use a turbocharged flat-6, but was later redesigned to use a new V10 engine, pushing the project back to planned completion in 2000. The V10 was a unit secretly built by Porsche for the Footwork Formula One team in 1992, but later shelved. The engine was resurrected for the Le Mans prototype and increased in size to 5.7 L (5,733 cc). The project was canceled after two days of testing for the first car, in mid-1999, mostly due to Porsche’s wish to build the Cayenne SUV with involvement from Volkswagen and Audi, thus requiring engineering expertise to be pulled from the motorsports division. It was also speculated that VW-Audi chairman Ferdinand Piëch wanted Audi’s new Le Mans Prototype, the Audi R8 not to face competition from Porsche in 2004. Porsche did keep part of the project alive by using the 5.5 L V10 from the prototype in a concept car shown at the 2000 Paris Motor Show, mainly in an attempt to draw attention to their display. Surprising interest in the vehicle and an influx of revenue provided from the Cayenne helped Porsche decide to produce the car, and development started on a road-legal version that would be produced in small numbers at Porsche’s new manufacturing facility in Leipzig. Porsche started a production run of Carrera GTs in 2004, shipping the units with an MSRP of US$448,000. The first Carrera GT went on sale in the United States on 31 January 2004. Originally a production run of 1,500 cars was planned. However, Porsche announced in August 2005 that it would not continue production of the Carrera GT through to 2006, citing discontinuation was due to changing airbag regulations in the United States. By the end of production on 6 May 2006, more than 1,270 GTs had been sold, with a total of 644 units sold in the United States and 31 units sold in Canada. In the United Kingdom, 49 units were sold.

Chevrolet has been making the Corvette since 1953 and it’s been an American icon for power and luxury.

The recipe for the corvette has always been pretty simple, LS V8 in the front, long nose, power going to the rear, no downforce, and a delightful exhaust note. This has been chevvy’s go fast recipe for corvettes till the C7. The C7 made many many boomers mad as it didn’t look classic and old school anymore. It was now a proper modern sports car. Yes, sports car, not a super car. A super car is exotic, its from Italy, England, Germany, Japan and others. A super car is light, it attracts crowds, its got high tech features like rear-wheel steering and active aero, and it uses advanced materials like carbon fiber. The Corvette just isn’t any of these, it doesn’t have any aero except for that wing on the C7 ZR1, its heavy (the ZR1-the track focused car -is heavier than the regular car), it doesn’t really attract any crowds, its made of simple sheet metal with a metal chassis and its from America and its got a very basic GM style black leather interior.

Don’t get me wrong, the Corvette is a great budget option to get into the high horsepower, high speed territory but don’t expect to be anywhere near as fast as other super cars in a straight line and much less on a race track with turns.

So, that brings me onto the C8. During the time of writing this, there’s about 9 hours till the C8 is officially revealed to the world even though we know a lot already. The C8 is chevvy’s first attempt at a mid engined super car.

As you can see from these spyshots, the car is very clearly mid engined with a much shorter nose and a longer, sloping tail. Of course, there are some more leaks that show the car in its launch color

So, what’s the problem now? Chevrolet is finally making the corvette a mid-engined super car right? Well, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that and kudos to them for trying but here’s what you probably haven’t noticed. The biggest problem with a mid-engined car is the fact that there is no fresh air coming directly to the engine as it sits behind the cockpit whereas in a front engined car, all the air that hits the nose can be directed to the engine to cool it. Now, getting air in isn’t the only problem and it seems like GM have done a pretty good job at carving out large holes in the sides just in front of the rear wheels to let the V8 breathe. The real problem that I see with the C8 is venting, and more specifically getting heat out and venting air for more downforce. If you take a look at the following picture, you’ll see a pretty straightforward rear end that looks like an elephant sat on the back end of a Camaro.

So, what’s wrong with that back end then? Well, going back to the point of releasing hot air from the engine bay, have a look at the rear end of the C8 and you’ll see 2 tiny vents which might even be fake vents on the far sides. Compare this to any other mid engined super car and you’ll see the “lack of venting” I’m talking about.

All its competitors are completely open in the back either for releasing heat from the engine bay or for better aero with a diffuser and a wing which brings me straight to my next point; Aero. Have a look at how the McLaren 720 is perfectly sculpted to use air to its advantage by having an active wing that shoots up under hard braking to provide a large airbrake, has a double layered door with a huge air channel going straight through it and looks like it would slip through the air at high speeds. Now compare this to the C8 which has a very very stupid looking rear wing that is honestly probably just there so the rear end doesn’t look empty(er). Furthermore the diffuser is incredibly rudimentary with no fins to control air flow and it doesn’t really look like there’s much aero around the rest of the car. It just looks like a turbulent mess to be completely honest.

Lastly, it just doesn’t look that good now does it? Look at a McLaren, look at a Lamborghini, or even look at a Ferrari, they all have smooth, beautiful, and sexy lines running all around the car. The C8 looks like the design team at Chevvy was given a pen, a ruler, and 1 piece of paper and were told to never draw a single line on that paper without using the ruler and that’s how the C8 came to be. I mean, look at those tiny 1 inch tail pipes.

To conclude, it’s still a corvette, it’s going to have a basic GM interior, and its still not exotic nor is it using any exotic materials. The main reason people buy corvettes is because they can’t afford to buy a proper super car from the likes of Mclaren, Porsche, Lamborghini or Ferrari but now, everyone is expecting the corvette to be a good amount more expensive so I don’t really see many C8s selling around the world. In all honesty, chevvy should have put more effort into the C8 because if they’re changing their recipe, at least add some good ingredients.

In motorsport there are many financial barriers that have prevented talented drivers going further into the sport. This can be seen in Formula 1 (F1) because, in recent years, drivers have been accelerated through the ranks by having extensive financial backing and even connections within the sport. These drivers now have one of the twenty-two spots on the grid and they might not necessarily have the talent to be in Formula 1. F1 is supposed to be the top level of sport and only have the best of racers, however by letting people who are willing to pay a lot more money we can see that the sport is not all about the talent.

A career in racing usually starts in go-karting, where highly competitive children compete for the top spot in racing. These children are are competing on a very fair standard and have minimum advantages over their opponents. Most karts are relatively equal and have the same engine. This is where the cost comes in, because to compete on an international stage it will cost over $150,000 to cover the cost of traveling, the kart, mechanics, spare parts and race entry fees for one season. Due to the fact that most karting championships do not offer sponsorships, this money usually comes from parents paying. This might be considered to be ‘worth it’ if you are a top runner, however winning the karting championship does not mean you are going to be offered a drive in formula 1. Most of the top racers are equally as talented in terms of driving and they are racing vehicles that simulate racing at its most pure form. Today, every racer on the F1 grid has come from karting.

Let’s say you have spent your $150,000 and won the karting championship, now you are ready to move on to the next step, which is single seater racing. There are many single seater championships that you can race in, one of them is Formula 3 (F3). F3 has a collection of talented racing drivers who could afford to move on to the next step toward racing in F1. However, most of the drivers are still not established because it is a very drastic change from karts to cars. This means for their first season most drivers are still paying for their own careers. One season in European F3 cost around $750,000 and most people compete up to two years in this category. After the first year, if you race very successfully there is a chance you can be taken up by a major team and have a greater chance of making it to Formula 1. However, even if you win the F3 championship there is still no guarantee that you are going to F1.

Now that you have spent over up to $2.25 million of your own money and dropped out of university, made some major sacrifices and been the best racer in each category you can now be considered by one of the F1 teams to join Formula 2 (F2), which is the ranking before Formula 1. This ranking usually only takes sponsored drivers who race in equally competitive cars in front of the F1 crowd. In this category most people are then recruited to Formula 1. However due to the competition and fact that F2 drivers do not get paid most are forced out of the sport and have join other categories of racing that are willing to pay.

This traditional route makes it nearly impossible for drivers to get into Formula 1, even if they have the talent to be competitive in racing. On the grid there are some drivers who have made it using other routes, an not necessarily have talent to be considered one of the best drivers in the world.

Max Verstappen was the youngest driver when he joined at the age of 17 and is predicted to be a future champion. Max was quickly pushed through the rankings, without necessarily having the talent. At the age of 16 Verstappen won the world karting championship. He then moved on to Formula 3, where he had a short and mildly successful career. He was signed on the team not because of his performance in F3 which can be seen as he did not win the championship, however his father raced for the same F1 team in 2003 where the team was called Minardi. This connection allowed Max to race in the team and show what he could do. This shows how Max Verstappen was accelerated through the ranking to get a spot in F1.

Another example of this is Lance Stroll. This young driver raced in many categories before joining F1. He was a semi-successful driver however he was never expected to be a F1 driver. This is until his father, Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll, agreed to pay $40 million for one season as a full time driver for Williams Martini Racing. This allowed Stroll to compete in Formula 1 without having to wait and succeed in all the categories before Formula 1.

Using this knowledge, we can see that in the current situation in Formula 1, the financial barrier is so great that most talented drivers are not able to compete past go karting. This has lead to people being able to pay their way through the sport and not necessarily being the most talented. A solution for this problem would to make a cheaper competitive platform where racers could have a chance to compete for a seat in F1. Nissan has made a program called the GT Academy, which uses a Playstation game to find a potential driver. This competition then lets people who do not have the money still have a chance to become a racing driver.

Welcome,

My name is Romit Sen and I’m a 17 year old octane addict. I’ve been in love with super sedans, hot hatches, ultra-luxury sedans, SUVs and everything in between since I can remember.

I lived in India from 2001 to 2008, then moved to Oman. Spent 10 years there and then moved to Dubai in January of 2018. After moving here, I’ve been attending many more events ranging from the Emirates Custom Show in Abu Dhabi to the every other thursday Roll Racing DXB at the Autodrome. Not only do I love looking at and listening to cars, I love driving them (to the extent that I can given I don’t have a licence yet). I love karting and going to the dunes in side-by-sides as much as I can given the workload of a high-school student.

Some things you should know about me?

• I take just about everything with a grain of salt. Take for example the “Devel sixteen” with its claimed “5000 Horsepower” coming from its V16. Further claims include it blasting from 0-60 in 1.8 seconds (from a rear wheel drive drivetrain) and a top speed of 348 miles per hour (560 kilometers per hour). Why do I take something as astounding and record breaking as this with a fat grain of salt? Well, it costs $1 million, 3 people placed an order for it when it was first unveiled at the 2013 Dubai Autoshow and not a single one has been recorded moving over 50 km/h. Have a look for yourself below. It does, admittedly, look pretty sexy so props to the designer.

• Second, some of my favourite brands include but are not limited to Mercedes, McLaren, Koenigsegg, and Porsche.
• Lastly, some brands I dont like (due to mixed reasons ranging from their business practises to their actual cars themselves) include the likes of Ferrari, BMW, Devel, and Maserati.

These loves and hates will be explained in later posts and of course, if you would like any car related advice or just want to get to know me better, shoot me a message with your email down below.