CHIMERA: a fearsome fire breathing monster that's part lion, part serpent and part, er, goat, according to those crazy ancient Greeks. Not sure how one of the least terrifying creatures on the planet made the cut, but from where I'm sitting the comparison is a good one. The Jesko's whipcrack V8 is clearly the flame spitting big cat, the ingenious simulated manual gearbox has to be the cunning serpent and, let's face it, I'm the goat... and not in a Ronaldo kind of way, more a weak link at the centre of a Frankenstein-style hypercar mashup. The Chimera (I'll save you the Google, it's spelled differently from the TVR Chimaera) is "like performing a heart transplant from one animal to another, but putting it in a different place", Christian von Koenigsegg explains, keeping the grisly animal analogies rolling.
What you're looking at is an Agera RS. Well, it was an Agera RS, belonging to the president of the FIA - Mohammed Ben Sulayem - who one day had an idea. Could you cram the 'big turbo' 5.1-litre flat-plane crank V8 from the Jesko, plus the CC850's trick simulated manual gearbox (that piggybacks the already trick 'Light Speed' nine-speed auto) into the more petite frame of the Agera RS? Normally this would be destined to languish at the bottom of the suggestion box for all of eternity, but when it's Christian you're dealing with there's always a chance he's up for some self-flagellation. This is a man who would replace his own organs with in-house designed and manufactured components if he could improve the efficiency and flow rate. And sure enough, he accepted the challenge, justifying it by using the Chimera as a test bed for the ongoing CC850 gearbox project.
Denne historien er fra September 2024-utgaven av BBC Top Gear UK.
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Denne historien er fra September 2024-utgaven av BBC Top Gear UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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