Koenigsegg has once again rewritten the record books at Laguna Seca. The Swedish automaker is no stranger to breaking lap records at the circuit, having done so multiple times before, including twice in 2024. After briefly losing the top spot last year to Czinger’s 21C by just 0.11 seconds, Koenigsegg has reclaimed it by more than half a second, even surpassing some dedicated race cars in the process.
The car behind the new record is the Sadair’s Spear, an all-out track weapon powered by a twin-turbocharged V8 producing a massive 1,625 hp (1,212 kW) on E85. It’s lighter than the Jesko and features significantly more aerodynamic downforce. But here’s the twist, they didn’t exactly have ideal conditions when it showed up for this attempt.
Laguna Seca’s strict noise restrictions, driven by complaints from nearby residents, meant the car had to meet a 90 dB sound cap on the day of the run. The Sadair’s Spear is far louder than that, so engineers were forced to fit an oversized muffler. The result wasn’t pretty and also added weight, disrupted balance, and created a pendulum effect hanging out past the rear bodywork.
As if that wasn’t enough, Koenigsegg had only one set of wheels available for the car, and they were aluminium rather than the carbon fibre ones customers receive, adding even more unsprung weight. Still, despite those setbacks, the car managed an astonishing 1:24.16 lap time, verified by Racelogic.
While that’s slower than the McMurtry Spéirling’s otherworldly 1:18.413, the McMurtry isn’t a road-legal production car, so Koenigsegg holds the official record for now. The Sadair’s Spear even edged past a Huracán EVO GT3 race car and a Nissan 350Z hybrid that was quicker than the Lamborghini.
Czinger and McMurtry may be chasing speed through radical new technologies, but Koenigsegg proved once again that pure mechanical power and precision engineering still have the final word on the track.