spectacular performance, Koenigsegg needed to give it some serious brakes. According to the Highway Code, the braking distance for a car at 60mph is 73 metres. With its 362mm discs gripping to the CCX’s 20-inch alloy wheels, the Koenigsegg stops at the same speed in just 31 metres. And if you opt for the 382mm ceramic discs, the distance is even shorter.



Unlike many sportcars, the Koenigsegg is also available in a convertible or coupe option. With the CCX you can remove the carbon fibre hardtop and store it under the front lid. Now that’s really practical!

The CCX is a wild beast that didn’t kill The Stig, but it forced him to leave the track and hit a tyre wall for the first time in Top Gear’s history. The mystery man was trying to beat the track’s lap record of 1min 18secs held by the pulsating Pagani Zonda. But Stig could only hit 1min 20.4secs before his next attempt resulted in the CCX eating a tyre wall.

Top Gear asked the Koenigsegg be fitted with a spoiler, so it went back to Scandinavia and the Swedish engineers worked their engineering voodoo. The result – Stig lapping the track in a record-breaking 1min 17.6secs.

Koenigsegg has even tried to help the green cause with the more environment friendly CCXR – a CCX designed to run on a high-octane biofuel, boosting power by 25 per cent to an astonishing, Veyron-rivalling 1018bhp.

The CCX proves the small guy can take on the big boys. While the gearbox on a Bugatti Veyron took 50 engineers more than five years to perfect, Koenigsegg – run by Christian Koenigsegg – employs just 30 full time members of staff.

And unlike Bugatti, Ferrari and Lamborghini, Koenigsegg hasn’t got much of a history. The car maker was founded in 1993 with the CCX unveiled in 2006 to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the first CC prototype coming out of research and development in 1996.

But if you want one of these Swedish delights you’ll have to fork out £407,000.

I know I would.