The Koenigsegg CCGT was the Swedish carmaker’s Le Mans project after Christian von Koenigsegg targeted to enter the endurance race circuit to showcase his company’s exploits at the biggest stage.
The CCGT race car was unveiled at the 2007 Geneva Motor Show after years of work had been put into its development by Christian and his engineers at Ängelholm. Koenigsegg had undertaken this venture at a time when it was in the nascent stage as a commercial seller. Getting sales was the priority so the CCGT was more of a side project.
The development team was headed by Dag Bölenius and the Koenigsegg CCGT was designed to comply with the ACO and FIA GT1 Series regulations. It was based on the Koenigsegg CCR with some elements taken from the CCX.
As per the regulations, the weight of the car had to be more than 1100 kilograms. Koenigsegg CC cars were lightweight owing to their use of carbon fibre and kevlar. In fact, the CCGT initially weighed less than 1000 kilograms. So ballast was used to bring the car up to the minimum weight. Moreover, it also featured aerodynamics design to make it track-legal and the cockpit occupied more than 70 percent of the width of the car, which couldn’t exceed 2 metres.
The Koenigsegg CCX production engine was downtuned and fitted into the CCGT. The 4.7-liter supercharged V8 found in the CCX produced 806 hp. However, in order to act in accordance with the guidelines, Koenigsegg removed the superchargers and expanded the engine size to five litres to bring down the power to just over 600 hp.
After the production, Koenigsegg started testing the car and the results were admirable, with the engineers satisfied with the pace and control of the CCGT.
But two months later, Koenigsegg was forced to scrap the project after the Le Mans rules were changed. Use of carbon monocoques were disallowed and the minimum production number for the race cars was increased from 20 to 350.
Koenigsegg did not have the necessary resources to meet these new regulations and naturally, bid adieu to its Le Mans dream.
[Via Koenigsegg Weblog]
This GT1 machine belongs to one of the best chassis list that never raced, alongside the more sought upon F50 GT, especially since the CCGT got glocked by insidious reg-based opinions. Worse, was the FIA’s double standard that somehow allowed the rivaling MC12 to continue, yet sparing no chance to a (at the time) newcomer with one tiny round. Wherever CCGT settles right now, hopefully it remains happy, and uncapped of course.