A small fire did break out after some mangled carbon fiber ended up on the hot exhaust, but was put out by the driver thanks to the on-board extinguisher.
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Upto the point of the crash, the driver never had to brake hard enough to approach the limits of adhesion and trigger ABS.
The whole scenario was traced down to a faulty ABS sensor in the front left wheel.
Upon impact, safety systems like airbags and fuel shutoff worked, as they were created to do. The Koenigsegg One:1 is no different, so after taking the wreck back to the factory, Koenigsegg’s examination of both the auto and the on-board telemetry revealed that a fault with the front left ABS wheel sensor signal can be blamed for the car’s high-speed rendezvous with the fence at the Nurburgring.
According to the automaker, the supercar had a front axle brake lock-up while it was going at a speed of 106 miles per hour on a section of the track known as Fuchsröhre. And what it found is that the crash was due to a glitch with the Antilock Braking System.
The One:1 sustained “severe” damage to its exterior panels and subframes. What I do know is that there will be a lot of people that will be looking at Koenigsegg to see how fast it can rebuild the vehicle and how much improvements it will make on the safety systems of all seven One:1 models in existence today. But it’s nice to see that performance does not come at the sacrifice of safety and that the One:1 can withstand far more than the law mandates. Koenigsegg didn’t give out an exact date on when the One:1 will be rebuilt, but in true company fashion, it left the door slightly ajar for a possible return to the track within this year. This feature, according to Koenigsegg, allows the rear wheels to continue spinning in the event of an ABS malfunction that results in the front wheel locking up.
The company also said they issued a software update to prevent this failure from happening to any other cars.
Modern Koenigseggs already have an Active Systems Warning regime in place, which is well ahead of legal requirements. What this does is constantly monitor all active systems including, the front aero flaps underneath the bumper, active ride height system, active rear wing and the active rebound dampening system.
The good news continues.
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That rebuild will take some time however, so it’s going to be a while before team Koenigsegg is back at the “Ring chasing records”. Make sure to read Koenigsegg’s full analysis, as it leaves no question about what happened and their plans for a comeback with chassis no. 107, the auto involved in the crash. Or download our app from the iOS or Android app stores today.
