Chris Okula - Contributor
Christian Von Koenigsegg is a mad scientist. We’re lucky Christian decided to use his powers for good turning his evil lair into a supercar factory, rather than a home for a doomsday device. His engineering Genius was able to take the Ford modular V8 and turn it into an engine worthy of a hypercar. Today that V8 is in all Koenigsegg’s designs and is easily one of the best engines ever built. This engine is strong and easily handles over 1,300 horsepower with no reliability issues. I’ve always wondered what an overbuilt engine like this would be like as a naturally aspirated unit and today my question has been answered. According to an interview with Road and Track, Koenigsegg will soon supply Spyker with an N/A version of its V8.
Don’t worry, I also forgot Spyker was still in business. But let’s take this opportunity to revisit the Dutch’s sparkliest supercar company. Spyker has always been more art than engineering crafting some of the most interesting looking supercars. They look like Paganis that spent too much time in an Amsterdam coffee shop, the squinting eyes and gaping mouth never did it for me. But looks are subjective so take my opinion for what it’s worth. The parting piece of the old Spyker was the exposed gear linkage of the manual transmission that made every gear shift art.
Although Spyker can build an interesting car, its’s very hard for a company that size to build an engine worthy of a supercar. That’s where Koenigsegg comes in. Since they build the best engines in the world this is the perfect match. According to Christian the engine will produce 600 horsepower at 8,000 rpm and last for 200 years. Christian arrived at the latter statistic by factoring in the over-engineered nature of his engines. Rather than develop a whole new engine, it’s more cost effective for Koenigsegg to simply use their current design and tweak for N/A duty. That means an engine that is built proof at over 1,300 horsepower is way overqualified to handle 600 unboosted horses.
According to the Spyker Press Release
The normally-aspirated, Koenigsegg dry-sump 5-litre V8 engine boasts 600 hp and 600 NM of torque. Koenigsegg has developed this engine specifically to meet Spyker’s needs and the Koenigsegg V8 will be installed in every Spyker C8 Preliator, both the Coupe, which was launched in March 2016, and the new Spyder unveiled today, and replace the Audi V8 powertrain as from car one. The Koenigsegg engine will be mated to a six-speed manual transmission.
This is a very exciting prospect and I look forward to the boosted Spykers tuners cannot wait to make. I can only assume Koenigsegg’s camshaft-less Free valve tech could also make its way to these engines. Now that Spyker has a worthy engine I expect big things from the Dutch supercar manufacturer we all forgot about. The C8 is sure to be a very interesting supercar and I can only hope to drive one.
Source: Road and Track
Photos: Spyker Press Release
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