I started the day by going up from my bed, looked through the window and saw the sun is shining. Looked at the temperature and it showed only 2.5°C. ”
This is going to be a cold day”, I said to myself but it turned out to be warmer during the day but only 13-14°C.
I went to the bathroom and took a quick shower. After that I went to my computer and checked Germancarzone.com but it was time to go. I forgot to eat breakfast and just drove away.
Later I finally arrived to Ängelholm and stopped at the BMW dealer called Paulssons bil. I was the only one there and thought to myself. ”
Oh no, I hope it was 11.00 o´clock and it was here”. Finally after 10 minutes I see a BMW 850CSI coming and he parks his car on the parking lot. Just behind him comes another BMW 850 CSI, this one has Hartge rims. Both cars looked like being in good shape.
Another car comes, it turns out to be the first CSL ever , a 3.0 CSL. Big rearwing, stripes on the sides and a dark loud sound. Fun to see that old cars sounds nice. This is a classic. Another classic is coming, the old M6 from the 80´s.
I’m walking towards them and says ”
hi”. While I’m walking towards them, I hear that something is coming far away. A few seconds later I see three silver coloured M5 E60’s coming, two original and one Hartge. I noticed that the Hartge M5 sounded more than the two others, the sound was louder and darker, a very nice sound. They parked the cars, they’re getting out and we say ”
hi” and shake hands. They had driven from Göteborg and if you stay in legal speed it takes a few hours to drive from Göteborg to Ängelholm but they manage to do it in half the time. They told me that there hadn’t been much traffic and they hadn’t seen any police.
Anyway, we are waiting for Gustav to arrive with the BMW M6 and he finally arrive, just like with the M5’s you could hear the car far away and when he gets closer you can hear that the M5 and the M6 don’t sound the same. Its easy to hear that BMW tried to make the M6 sound different from the M5.
Gustav stops the car and gets out and tell us he has paper on what cars are coming. We notice that we are missing a Porsche 996 Turbo, the car finally arrive, followed by a 911 GT3. We didnt know there would be a a GT3 so it was a pleasant surprise.
A last guy arrive and its Patrik, a guy that works at Koenigsegg. He tells us that we are going to borrow their airfield and that we are going to use it for a couple of hours but first we are going to visit the Koenigsegg factory.
We decide to drive over there, I jump into the backseat of a M5 E60, Gustav takes the lead with the M6 and we are following behind him with the three M5 E60’s. First time I’m inside a M5 E60, its a comfortable backseat and exciting to finally drive away. We are driving in high speed. The sound from the V10 is marvelous, sounds much better inside the car than the outside. Much darker.
I dont know if he uses P400 or P500 mode but it’s going fast. Everytime he accelerate you can feel it in your back and everytime he change gear your head is going forward. The gearbox is fast and brutal but I bet it’s going to be tiring if you do this all the time. I notice another cool thing, when you’re braking in you hear this ”middlegas”. Something I heard before on racecars. The car is doing this by itself. Makes you wanna hear it over and over again, I love it. After a fun and a high speed adventure, we are finally here at the Koenigsegg factory.
We are all parking the cars, M5’s, M6, 850Csi and two Porsches in a row, an impressive sight. People are taking out their cameras and starting taking photos.
We are going inside Koenigsegg and Patrik tells us about the company. The guy that started Koenigsegg his name is Christian and he was 22 years old when he said he was going to build the fastest car in the world and at 22 years age, the project Koenigsegg started. Patrik also told us that a couple of months ago someone hacked their computers and when they traced it, it turned out it came from Italy. We, the people, started to speculate and asked him if it was Ferrari. He didn’t say anything, he just laughed.
He told us that the biggest market for Koenigsegg was the states and if I remember correct, most owners came from California. Also some swedes, a norwegian and russians were some of the customers.
Koenigsegg still hold the record for the fastest car in the world. Veyron claimed they done more than 400km/h but it hasn’t been verified yet so Koenigsegg is still number one. Koenigsegg is also trying to break 400km/h.
Koenigseggs goal is also to be the fastest car around Nordschleife. Porsche had the record with their Carrera GT, time 7.32 min but Pagani Zonda has now beaten the record with a half second. Koenigegg is going to Nordschleife this week and their goal is to beat both Carrera GT and Zonda F.
Before we get into the factory we have to sign some papers that we are following their rules, we are also only allowed to take photos if he approves it.
Ok, we are going in and he tells us that they are renting this place from the swedish airforce. Koeniggsegg has moved once before because the old place burned down and they lost millions. The new place is bigger and safer.
There are carbonfibre everywhere, we are allowed to lift it and it doesn’t weigh much, there are also some magnesium wheels and they dont weigh much either. Half finished Koenigsegg where there and Patrik told us the delivery time is 6 months. He tells us about the costs to build a car like this and it isnt cheap, very expensive.
We are passing a room and Patrik tells us there is a Koenigsegg LeMans but we aren’t allowed to see it cause it's a secret.
We’re ending the visit by looking at a finished CCR with 806hp, its orange and it belongs to a russian. Patrik told us, when this guy is out driving he always have 4 security cars following him around. He seem to be a very important person. We are allowed to take photos on this car.
The visit is over and we are going outside to the cars and start taking photos again.
I’m jumping inside the M5 E60 again. Patrik took the M6 and we are following with the M5. We are going fast, taking some curves in high speed. Im taking out my camera and starts filming. I thought it was going to be difficult, of course it’s a little bit jumpy but it’s okey. The driver told us we were going 170-180km/h but when I watched the movie on my computer, it looked slow but I promise, we drove fast.
We are finally here at the airfield, we are parking the cars and Gustav tells us there are going to be a photo session. The photo session takes a little bit longer than expected so me and the three M5 owners decide to go somewhere to eat hot dog and hamburgers. This time we weren’t going fast. You finally had the chance to feel that the comfort is very good and the chassi isnt very bumpy. The gearbox is set on automatic mode, no aggressive gearchanges, just soft and easy. Its hard to understand this car can be a monster after adjusting the settings. I asked him if it was difficult to learn all the settings but he said it was easy, besides he had programed his settings.
We arrive to the food stand. I see there are people there and everyone are looking. I would do the same if I saw three new M5’s coming. you felt a little bit special when people looked at you.
We order and starts to eat and I ask one of the owners what car he owned before the M5 and he answered Honda S2000 and BMW M3 E46 and I asked if he thinks it's a huge difference between the M3 and the M5. He said “yes”, a huge difference. The M5 is faster and more fun to drive and then he smiled. The guy with the M5 Hartge said that Hartge become very popular when the first pics where showned at M5board.com. Hartge has more orders then they are able to produce so it's a long waitinglist.
We are heading back to the airfield and the races are soon about to start. The owners are doing some tests so they know when they should start braking. If you dont brake you will drive into a fence and you dont want to do that with your expensive car.
I’m jumping into another M5, this time it’s the Hartge version the seats are pumping up and I feel the seats is getting tighter to my body. We are driving away, full attack, the gearbox on fastest setting and he starts to change gear. I feel the acceleration in the back and everytime he change gear, my head falls forward a little bit. We are reaching 250km/h on the speedo before its time to brake. I also manage to film one of the rides with my camera. While I’m filming, I listen to the V10 sound. A V10 in a 4-door-family-saloon car, you hardly think its true but it is.