Koenigsegg Agera R a hard charger

The history of the car is filled with footnotes about failed garage projects.

In 1994, at 22, Christian von Koenigsegg was one of those dreamers. But the difference is that his car, the Koenigsegg CC, became the basis for a business that 17 years later is one of a mere handful of successful boutique makers. It helped that Christian's cars were extremely fast and kept breaking records. In 2005 one version, the CCR, toppled the nine-year-old top-speed record held by the McLaren F1.

That sort of thing gets you noticed.

Based at a former jet squadron base in Sweden, 50 workers hand-build small quantities of Koenigseggs to order and do a surprising amount of development work themselves. They even design their own engines.

Koenigsegg's newest car is the Agera R, revealed at the recent Geneva motor show. Agera means to take action in Swedish but that seems an inadequate moniker for something this extreme.

With an in-house-developed turbocharged V8 running on E85, a blend of 85 per cent ethanol and 15 per cent petrol, it produces extraordinary power and torque figures unmatched by other supercars. From just 5.0-litre displacement the unit pumps out 830kW and 1200Nm.

Since the car itself is small (4.3m long) and weighs only a tad over 1.4 tonnes, the Agera R can rival a fighter jet for performance. It reaches 100km/h in 2.9 seconds and 200km/h in a blindingly quick 7.5. Top speed is limited to 375km/h but can be unlocked for those special times when nothing but 400km/h-plus will do.

It took the might of Volkswagen behind Bugatti to get those sorts of numbers out of a Veyron.

The rest of the Agera R is equally uncompromising.

It's built from carbon fibre, kevlar and aluminium and is so low to the ground it's scarcely more than 1m high but a Lamborghini-like 2m wide.

Unusually, it has wider track at the front to compensate for the narrower 19-inch diameter front tyres compared with the fat 20-inchers on the rear. These are unique Michelins rated for warp speed, while the wheels themselves feature turbine-pattern spokes that increase downforce, helping grip.

Suspension is race-car style double-wishbones, with an additional damper and spring arrangement connecting the rear wheels that prevents squatting under hard acceleration, which is probably essential.

There's a flat underbody, of course, and an active rear wing that automatically adjusts without the help of hydraulics.

Inside, the cabin continues the theme of Swedish minimalism, but the materials are gorgeous aniline leather, carbon fibre and alcantara.

The instruments can be configured to your liking while the 120-litre cargo space is big enough to stash the detachable roof or hold a set of golf clubs.

Koenigsegg has even factored in the typical supercar owner's driving patterns and fitted an intelligent lithium iron battery - that's iron, not ion - that doesn't get drained when it's parked. Instead, it shuts down but stores just enough charge to restart the car when needed.

You can leave it for months and restart the car straight away.

Why you'd want to leave it for that long, though, is something any supercar dreamer would simply fail to understand.

KOENIGSEGG AGERA R

Engine: 5.0-litre turbochargedV8
Outputs: 830kW at 6900rpm and1200Nm at 4100rpm
Transmission: Seven-speed double-clutch, rear-wheel drive