The engines in supercars are notoriously fragile and short-lived. Mercedes’ upcoming engine may last a scant 31,000 miles, for instance. Koenigsegg, however, builds its engines so stout and so powerful that they could last for literal centuries.
The claim comes directly from mad genius Christian von Koenigsegg’s mouth, giving an interview with Road & Track’s Mate Petrany. He was speaking about the V8 his company has designed for fellow boutique carmaker Spyker, detuned from around 1360 horsepower down to 600.
It’s that detuning, Koenigsegg, rationalizes, that would give the engine its endurance:
So, it’s over-engineered for their needs, because the structure can take 1500 horsepower and they’re having 600. So, basically they have the same crank, connecting rods, camshafts, cylinder heads…but we changed what we needed to. The dry-sump lubrication, the exhausts, the intake for normal aspiration, bumping up the compression ratio, and the injectors are smaller because there’s no need for that kind of flow. We maintain the dual injectors not because they’re really needed, but because it makes it easy for us because we’re used to controlling dual injectors, and at the same time, with duals, the injectors can be super small, which means super accurate, so we turn it into a benefit, even though it’s an extra cost you might not need. And of course our engines are bulletproof with 1360 horsepower, our customers don’t kill engines, so that engine will last for I don’t know…200 years or something.
This is, of course, something of an exaggeration. We all know that the nukes will rain down long before those 200 years are up.