All language subtitles for Apex.The.Story.Of.The.Hypercar.2016.1080p.WEBRip.x265-RARBG3_English

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[Harris] The first time a child
can run--you might remember

that first time that you ran
and you felt the air

accelerate over your hair
and your ears and you thought,

wow, that's a rush.

[Spinelli]
It's not about going fast.

It's about sort of being fast.

It's about--it's about kind
of elevating human experience

into places that we've never
been able to go before.

[Neil] You don't feel the car
very subtly, very gently

bringing you back into
kind of control.

This, I think is
the biggest change of

the hypercar era
is the accessibility of

a thousand horsepower
or whatever it is.

[Okulski] I'm not gonna say no
to an open runway

and a thousand horsepower car
so we go down. We go about 180.

Then, he tells me to slam on
the brakes and take my hands

off the wheel while I'm doing it
in a car I'd never driven,

in a place I've never been,
going 180 miles an hour.

But if the guy who has
his name on the car

is telling me to do something,
I'm gonna do it.

[Greenawalt]
Capturing that imagination,

the spirit,
what the enthusiast wants

and what an engineer
wants and what an artist wants,

it's really at
the cutting edge of everything.

And that what
makes it so amazing.

It's--it's beyond art.
It's beyond engineering.

It's beyond sport.
It's beyond racing.

It's all of those
things together.

[Roy] So as long as one
manufacturer is making a car

beyond what anyone else can,
a child looking at it will say,

"something better is possible."

[Koenigsegg] I think things
that are kind of impersonated

and embodies positive
emotions and that

you work closely with
and put your love into,

they kind of come alive.

And I think,
when you're in the car

and it's done the proper
way like most racecars are

and they really feel like
an extension of yourself.

[Levi]
What is a hypercar?

There may be no better way
to ignite an argument

than to try and define
what a hypercar is.

A car whose only purpose is
to inspire awe in every aspect.

The fastest,
the most powerful,

the rarest, the most striking,

the most thoughtfully designed,
the most cutting edge.

And even then, that definition
only takes us part of the way.

The hypercar, like
the supercar before it,

is the expression, in automotive
form, of tomorrow today.

These cars do things that,
from a power train

and energy efficiency
standpoint,

it was science fiction
ten years ago.

It's the car that's
the ultimate expression

of what they can do
with technology.

Really, it's like creating
the Iron Man suit as a car.

[Levi] A car whose price tag
pales only in comparison

to the desire it provokes
among those who can afford it.

[Harris]
They're big projects.

There are hundreds of millions,

if not billions of dollars
on the line.

They are very expensive
vehicles to produce.

A price class above
what anyone else

has ever made before.

[Spinelli]
It's the kind of hubris

that we tend to do as humans

when we want to take something
to the ultimate level.

The hypercar is really
the ultimate expression

of intellect and ego.

It's where those
two things meet.

It's the manifestation
of our human instinct

to be superhuman, to have
that Iron Man suit, you know.

As a philosopher might say,
it's to recreate God on Earth.

But, again, it's also about

an automotive,
global sausage fest

between these
major manufacturers.

And I don't think
there's any question that

part of it is just sheer ego.

So it's brilliant.
So you've got Ferrari

waving its bits about
and McLaren going,

"I've got a bigger one
that you," and then,

you've Porsche saying,
"We got two."

[Levi] Some of the biggest
players in the sports car world

have bet enormous budgets
and their reputations

on building hypercars.

The Porsche 918.

The Ferrari LaFerrari.

The McLaren P1.

These brands are locked
in a battle to define

what a hypercar is,
and the risk is very real.

After all, hypercars sell
not in the tens of thousands

or even thousands,
but in the hundreds or less.

[Neil] There is a market
or there is a business model

for small, highly technical
super sports car manufacturing

that doesn't have to grow beyond
50 cars a year.

You don't have to be GM
to succeed in the car business.

You don't have to even
be Porsche or Ferrari.

Just amazing
looking at these huge stands.

They've spent a fortune
on these things for two weeks

and then they tear
them down again.

It's just, uh,
shocking in a way, I guess.

[Levi]
Christian von Koenigsegg's firm

isn't a global multinational
corporation.

But the vehicles that bear
his name are globally known

for helping define
what a hypercar is.

[Neil]
Christian Koenigsegg is,

uh, one of the finest people
I've ever met,

an intuitive engineer.

Not a trained engineer,
but an, a person

whose intuition is incredible.

And in his own quiet way,
he is changing the car business.

[Levi]
Angelholm, Sweden is like most

northern European beach towns.

It's quiet and cold.

But to sports car fans,
Angelholm is synonymous

with Koenigsegg Automotive,
a company founded by a man

whose desire to build
the world's best sports cars

reaches all the way back
to his childhood.

For as far as I can remember,

I've been totally
fascinated by cars.

When I was about, yeah,
five years old, I went to the,

uh, movies with my father and
saw a Norwegian stop motion

animation movie, which, uh,
was really fantastically made.

And it's about
a bicycle repairman who

built his own car
on the Norwegian mountaintop

to race in kind of
a Le Mans style race against

the established teams and cars
and drivers and, of course, won.

And this is kind of a fairytale
story, but it's really made in

a fantastic way and
it's still shown in cinemas

in Norway today.

And every Christmas Eve,

they show it
on television in Norway.

It's kind of
a national icon there.

But I was really intrigued
by this movie and said that

looks like a lot of fun creating
and building your own car

with a lot of unique inventions
and then go compete with it

against the establishment.

So I remember that point
very clearly that

I felt I wanted to do what that
bicycle repairman was doing.

Yes, build his own car
with his little team

and do something
fantastic with it.

[Levi] It's a dream shared by
many like him who grew up

worshipping the automobile.

But the difference:
Christian has done just that.

This is an old picture from

when we built
the first prototype.

This was before, uh,
the ser-- this car,

and this was in '96.

This is Christian
and his co-workers

working on this car.

This was in Olofstrom where
Christian started the company,

and stayed there--
he stayed there for two years

preparing the first prototype.

I actually lived
in Olofstrom as well

with Christian
during this period.

And here's a picture
of us back then.

[Koenigsegg] I think it was 12th
of Oc-- uh, August, 1994,

I said now I'm going
to build the car.

So I--so then I did everything,
designing, drawing,

creating some kind of
business idea

I planned around it,
development plan.

And then I started
finding people around me

who could, who could help out.

Found a chassis engineer
and I found a designer

who could help me make
a model of my sketches.

But it took me two years
from the day I decided

to do it to have a full
running car prototype.

[Levi] With every new
high performance iteration,

Christian von Koenigsegg
and his team at Angelholm

keep pushing the hypercar
envelope further.

But it's his latest
creation that he hopes

will really leave a mark.

It's the Koenigsegg One:1.

The name refers to the perfect
power to weight ratio.

Horsepower to kilograms
of curb weight.

For every one kilogram
the car weighs,

its engine produces
one horsepower.

[Koenigsegg] This is the first
prototype One:1 car

that we're going to showcase
at Geneva Motor Show.

So this is
the company test car.

So as all other show cars
from Koenigsegg,

they start out as a show car
and then they become

our test car and demo car.

[Levi] It will be the first
production sports car

with one megawatt of power.

That's 1,341 horsepower

in a car that weighs
1,341 kilograms.

[Koenigsegg] Usually, we spend
a lot of energy and time

making our cars elegant.

In this case,
as it's going to be a road car

which is also very much
focused on racetrack driving,

we let aerodynamics take
the upper hand over elegance.

So it's going to look very
racy on the normal road,

but very at home
at the racetrack.

It might seem obvious,
of course, but the entire car

is made out of carbon fiber.

The monocoque, the chassis,
the body work,

all the aero features,
everything is carbon fiber

on this car,
even the wheels.

So as before with our
Agera R and the nor--

our more normal cars,
we have the most

carbon fiber intense
road car on the planet.

And that makes it lighter,

stronger, stiffer
than any other car.

[Harris] Carbon fiber is an
interesting one because

in so many ways, it is
revolutionizing our industry

and it will continue to do so.

But it isn't the answer
to all problems.

There's a feeling
in the industry at times

that you could solve third world
debt with carbon fiber.

You can't.

It's brilliant because
it's moldable,

because it's so light
and because it's strong

when it's moved in the direction
it wants to be moved.

Of course, it's not
in the direction it doesn't

want to be moved and
that has to be remembered.

In terms of forming
the structure of a car,

what we'd call a tub,
it's genius.

Almost all parts of
a Koenigsegg is made out

of carbon fiber, and we only
use the most extreme type of

carbon fiber material available,
which is called prepreg.

It's the same that's been
used in Formula 1 and

fighter jets and spaceships
and things like that.

[Levi] Exotic materials like
carbon fiber were once used

solely in the realms
of aerospace and motorsport.

But by the 1980s,
a new paradigm would emerge

and it would
change everything.

[Okulski] In the past, the top
of the top was the supercar.

Everything else was a sports car
or a super sports car.

[Roy]
Supercars were sports cars

incorporating race technology
that were street legal.

The F40 was street legal.

[Spinelli]
So the F40 was a car

that came together
where Ferrari used

all of its racing resources,

where they cared about
the aerodynamics.

They put it through
the wind tunnel

and they made sure that
it had the, you know,

the down force to make it

stable on the road
at 200 miles an hour.

You know, the F40 was a
really groundbreaking car,

even though it was sort
of built on the 288 GTO,

which was the car
I had on my wall.

It was like my personal
favorite supercar of the time.

The F40 took that platform
and just kind of threw it up

the technology ladder and set
its racing and road cars

at a level that nobody
had seen really before.

The ten years before
the F40 came out

were a hugely fertile time
for racing technology.

You had giant advances
in aerodynamics,

material science had
come a really long way.

You had materials like,
you know, composites, you know,

carbon fiber, Kevlar,
really lightweight materials.

[Levi]
In the early '90s,

the Ferrari F40 brought
Formula 1 racing technology

to the street.

A decade later, the next wave
in hypercars would focus

on absolute power and
straight-line speed.

Enter the Bugatti Veyron,

the first series production car
to break 250 miles per hour.

[Brungs]
I think we created this segment

of hypercars.

We were the very first
to develop a car

with a top speed of over 400

and we were the first
with a car

with a performance of
more than 1,000 horses.

And we were the first to go
in a price segment above

a million euros.

The Veyron is the application

of technology
against psychology.

If you're able to buy
one of these cars,

it's not only your--
it's not your first car.

It's not your second car.
It's not your tenth car.

It's probably your 100th car
in your collection

and being able to throw
down millions of dollars

really means nothing to you.

This was a steep change
in the way people

felt about an investment
in a car.

And people were used to
spending millions on the arts

or spending millions
on airplanes.

You know, you have to have
a plane situation

to be one of the people
that has this car.

You have to be able to ask
somebody, one of your friends,

and say, what's your
plane situation?

Took some time, but people
understood that the substance

of the car is really worth

and justifies the price
of over a million.

It is completely unnecessary,
but, I mean, our car

is not made for transportation
from A to B.

Our car is an A to A car.

It is like you buy
beautiful clothes.

It's like you want
to go for the best.

What the Veyron does, giving
the customer the possibility

of driving in a speed category
where he has not been

with his supercars before.

Obviously,
left something to desire

for the other manufacturers.

[Brungs] Other players in
this arena, they actually

are very thankful to us
that we opened this field,

this field of cars of above
a price tag of a million.

And for them, this also
opens a market

and opens the possibility
to build ultra sports cars.

[Levi] The Koenigsegg
headquarters occupies

a base once used by
the Swedish Air Force.

Runways from which fighter
pilots once took to the skies

patrolling Sweden's
sovereign perimeter in jets

mainly built by Saab are
still across the property.

[Ohlsson] The guys here,
they tried to stop the Germans

from flying here, helping
their aircrafts from U.S.

and from England.

And this first division,
they always start

early in the morning when
the mist was still there.

And everybody just heard
and stopped.

They heard them land.
They couldn't see them.

So they said,
"They must be ghosts."

So that's, it's taken up
as the division badge.

[Koenigsegg]
They came to us with great pride

and showed us
their ghost symbol

and asked us, "Would
you do us the honor

"to put this on your cars?

"It would be a
shame for this to die

"just because
we have to shut down.

"And you're doing something
very different,

"but it's still kind of
extreme, fast-moving,

"fighter jet-like
kind of creature

"so we would be very happy

if you would put
this on your car."

So we said, with great honor,
we accepted their symbol,

and ever since,
we've been putting a ghost

on each car we build.

For every car we build in that
factory will have a ghost.

If we build cars elsewhere,
we will not put the ghost

on the cars because they're
not in that premises.

So we're out at
the Koenigsegg runway,

which has been very
instrumental for us

in the creation of our cars
and what we do.

So our factory's
actually a former

fighter jet squadron hangar.

And here, we can go 24/7
any day, any time, to test

whatever we want to test
with very little planning.

As soon as we come up
with an idea

for an engine tweak,
an gearbox tweak,

brake pads, brake discs,
aerodynamics,

whatever, really, we
can just go out and test.

And that's quite unusual even
for large car manufacturers

to have that opportunity,
and that has really shaped

what we're doing and
it's the reason why our cars

can be so extreme
as they are, as we, anytime,

can go out and
test drastically.

[Levi] While the Koenigsegg team
has yet to finish

their first One:1 hypercar,
one of the biggest names

in the global automotive market
is already in production

with a hypercar of their own.

Porsche's legacy of
high performance cars

spans six decades.

But as the first mover
in unproven territory,

Porsche is shouldering a
big technological risk,

a hybrid electric hypercar.

At a factory in Stuttgart,
Germany, Porsche has planned

a run of 918 cars built
at a rate of four per day.

In the hypercar market, that
quantity is unprecedented.

[Harris] Are these big,
risky decisions or not?

When we get to
the big car companies,

the proper car companies,
the Porsche, McLaren

and the Ferrari,
that's different.

The Porsche is the riskiest

because the Porsche is using
more complicated technologies.

It's a much more complicated
calibration device

and it's coming from a
brand that requires

a higher level of finish
and development, let's say.

I'm not demeaning the other two,
but the Porsche has to meet

all the standards of
durability of a Boxster.

There's lots of rich people
in the world now,

but to sell 918 when
there's another two hypercars,

three hypercars on sale at
the same time is a real gamble.

[Levi]
918 cars,

nearly triple what
Porsche's closest rivals

have planned to build,

and each one with a price tag
of just under $1 million.

And they would go on to
sell every single one.

Here at the Formula 1 circuit
in Austin, Texas,

Porsche factory driver
Patrick Long is behind

the wheel of a 918 Spyder
for the first time.

[Long] Yeah, the beauty of this
918 is that you're dealing

with a lot of
aerodynamic downforce

so that initial attack
on the brake is similar

to the race car,
and you're able to do that

with some added help from ABS
and hybrid charging.

Um, that generation
of electricity

really helps in
stopping the car.

The most stunning feature
is its packaging density.

It's the same size
as a Carrera GT.

It has four-wheel steering,
all-wheel drive,

a very elaborate
multistage hybrid system

with a crazy battery.

But you can't get a
postage stamp under the skin

anywhere because every
centi--every millimeter

is filled with something.

[Levi]
The man behind the 918 project

is Dr. Frank Walliser, who
was able to take the 918

from concept to production
car in only four years.

[Harris] Frank Walliser,
what a great guy.

Always smiling,
under massive pressure in 918,

massive pressure.

You know, Porsche won't
thank me for saying it,

but it was a project that wasn't
that loved internally.

It caused massive strife.
It was expensive.

Did they want to make it?
Should it have been a hybrid?

They were under huge pressure,

and Frank marshaled
the whole thing brilliantly.

[Walliser] And we really started
with the development

in, let me say, October of 2010.

And we had, uh, around
200 people together

starting on the project,
working on everything.

We had a highly motivated team
that had a clear target.

We want to make the best
super sports car of the world.

When I think about the 918,
I think it was perhaps

the most technically complicated
car that will ever be built.

To get everything in and in
a beautiful enveloping shape

that's also air efficient,

that you've got room for
the struts, it's insane.

The thing is insane.

Porsche always starts
with racing, right?

So Porsche starts with
what works on a racetrack.

What can we learn on
the racetrack that we can apply

to the road cars and what,
in some cases,

do we learn from the road cars

that we can apply
to the racetrack?

[Walliser] We could really
carry over a lot of technology

from racing now to a street car
and definitely will come

from this street car then
to other street cars thereon.

And it just makes it--
makes it interesting and--

and, yeah, important for us.

It's--it's an important
car for Porsche.

But what's happened
is as they developed

these hybrid packages,

they found so much more
performance from them.

And they found a way
of augmenting torque,

of creating a new way of
building performance cars.

And I think the discovery
process has been enlightening.

You know, watching
Frank Walliser of Porsche

go through his battles
visually as I met him over

the three-year period,
you know, he started out going,

what do I do with
this electricity?

And then, at the very end,
he's confidently saying,

this car is faster around
a track because it's a hybrid.

Okay, competition is
always nice.

Uh, it shows you it's
the best what we can get.

You know who's best
and it's objective.

And I think with our car,
with the layout of the car,

considering
the fuel consumption,

the performance in
day to day usability,

it's definitely
the best package.

[Harris] The P1 just feels like
it was just

plunked on here from another
planet to me, and I love that.

I just stood behind it
at night with light

shining in the back of it.

It's just completely porous
and it's tiny

and it's small, and I think
so much of that appeals.

I think you need to see
the effect this has

on a crowd of tourists as they
come out of the Yasmarina Hotel

to understand how important
the motorcar is in our lives.

And this is the ultimate
expression of a motorcar.

And even if you don't like cars
or are not interested in them,

when you see that shape,
you're drawn to it.

These are magnetic objects
that, alongside things

like space shuttles and
very fast fighter jets,

represent the ultimate
expression of what human beings

can do with the materials
that we drag out of the ground.

[man] We, obviously,
add the power and torque

from the electric motor
to give it additional,

you know, head-on performance.

But where the car
is totally transformed

is by using the hybrid power,

the electric motor power
to torque fill.

The only thing that comes
close is a Formula 1 car.

[ tires squealing ]

[Levi] McLaren developed the P1
at its cutting edge

technology center
in southeast England.

Designed by world famous
architect Norman Foster,

the MTC is home to
McLaren's Formula 1 team,

which is based just a few
steps away from where

McLaren's road cars are
designed and built.

Company boss, Ron Dennis,
is said to have

a particular eye for detail.

And so McLaren cars reflect
the sensibility of the place

in which they're built.

[Mackenzie] This production line
is the P1 production line,

and at the moment, we're
building the P1 production cars,

the 375 cars, and
also the P1 GTRs.

So we're making a track variant
of the car for customers to--

to play to their heart's
content on the circuit.

It really is about the, um,
the best technology.

Our target for the P1 is to
produce the best drivers' car,

the best technology that
was available on the day.

The McLaren P1 is
a savage automobile.

Uh, it has
the brightest response

of any of the three cars.

It has the most,
even though LaFerrari

doesn't have a seat and
you're sitting in the tub,

the P1 is, I would say
probably has

the quickest reaction time,
but it's mostly just light.

It feels like
a titanium foil or something.

I mean, it's just
an amazing car.

So P1 is about
ultimate performance,

ultimate drivability,
ultimate driver engagement.

Obviously, the price tag
is high.

That enables you to really
work with technology

and put that new technology
into these vehicles.

The fact you have
two driver modes in the P1,

the fact you have a comfort
mode for road driving,

with the press of a button, the
car lowers by 50 millimeters.

The aerodynamics, the wing
raises by 300 millimeters,

and there you get a car
focused for the track.

We were sold out
before a customer

had actually driven the car.

Independently, three OEMs
decided performance hybrids

were the right thing to do
in the ultimate segment

in this time period, which
is quite incredible.

I actually think
each car is better

because the other people
were doing the same thing.

This current batch of
ultimate segment cars

has been a great point
in history. Yeah.

I think the three manufacturers
coming out together,

presenting these cars,
it's great.

The question is:
when are we gonna get

that next step?

And it's probably gonna
be eight to ten years time.

It's gonna be when
we get that next batch

of hypercars coming out.

The question is:
what is the technology?

What is going to be
the differentiator

for those batch of cars?

One thing about hypercars
is it's not only

about the cars
and the technology.

And we can nerd out on them
all we want, but it's really

about the performance that
people want to know about.

Which one is faster
than the other?

The Nurburgring is basically
the whole history of motorsports

on one single road.

I mean, it was built in
the '20s in the Eifel Mountains.

It's the most demanding
racetrack in the world.

It's 22 kilometers,
144 corners.

It's the ultimate test
of any car, really.

I mean, because it tests
every part of the car.

[Roy]
Nurburgring is the only constant

context of
measurement capability

of cars in the history
of the automobile.

It's the only place
that manufacturers

have gone consistently
over time to test vehicles.

The Nurburgring is, of course,
an amazing track in Germany

in that it--amazing
in that it's long

and it has an incredibly
storied history.

But it's become much
more than that.

It almost has become the soul
of the auto enthusiast.

It is one of the last tracks

that's truly dangerous that
we still see commonly used.

The curbs are really high and
you have to know which curbs

you can hit and
which you can't.

It's going to unsettle
the car very quickly.

The tarmac is rougher in some
sections than the others,

so you want to have a
suspension that is loose enough

to take that, but stiff
enough to keep the body,

you know, really level.

There's sections of
the track where you might

have rain and another section
where it's sunny and warm.

All of these things come
together to make a single lap

in the Nurburgring almost
a race in and of itself.

Some of it's video games.

Some of it is
a self-fulfilling prophecy

where certain manufacturers
had success there

and were touting the number
and then more would

and more would and
it became the benchmark.

You know, they say
Nurburgring tested,

and you see the cars
being tested there

because there are people with
video cameras just sort of

hanging around the track
on industry days.

But what's happening
now is that, you know,

people really, really
want to know which

of the hypercars is fastest.

You have four cars that are
all competing with each other,

with the LaFerrari, the P1,
the 918 and now the One:1.

Everyone wants to say
that their solution

is the fastest thing
around there, and right now,

the 918's the only one
that's published a time.

[Spinelli] So right now,
we know that Porsche is

about at seven minutes,

right, so that's
the time to beat.

No hypercar maker
wants to be slower

than seven minutes
at this point.

You know, McLaren's
out there now

and they haven't given
a lap time yet.

And everybody in the world is
waiting for McLaren to, like,

you know, say whether or
not they beat Porsche.

I mean, it's really created so
much drama in the car world.

[Levi] But while the enthusiasts
and automotive press

are waiting for
McLaren's lap time,

Christian von Koenigsegg
is back in Sweden

working to get
the first One:1 finished.

Even though the car's
not done yet,

its purpose is to be
the fastest car ever made.

And that means it must
tackle the Nurburgring

with an official lap time.

Nurburgring is definitely
on the agenda, so that's coming,

I think, sometime, uh,
midsummer, end of summer,

we'll get into that seriously.

[man] And do you actually start
testing in the summer there?

Uh, that's the plan,
yes, to start tests

-in the summer in Nurburgring.
-Cool.

Do you want to say anything
about lap times now or anything?

-No.
-[ laughs ]

I have no idea.

Nurburgring is definitely
a very interesting track

to test at and, uh,

I don't see why we shouldn't
be the fastest.

We should be the fastest.

That's what our
calculations tell us.

-Cool.
-So we'll see.

[Serkwanski]
And when Christian first came up

with the idea, it was just,
you know, we just--

okay, let's do it.

Yeah, and now we're
standing here and the car is,

uh, yeah, it's getting ready,
so it's gonna be great.

We have a lot of
testing to do.

They're gonna be thousands
of kilometers on tracks,

finding the perfect setting.

I mean, the idea is,
of course, we wouldn't be here

if we would've been aiming
for second position.

Then we could have gone
home many years ago.

So, of course, we're aiming
to be the quickest

around the Nurburgring for
street legal production cars.

And, uh, I mean, even
if you haven't been there

with the Agera R, we are very
confident that even that car

will set a very good lap time.

And even though this
is a limited edition,

it's still a production car,
and that will be even quicker.

These hypercars are
amazingly engineered.

They're breaking new ground.

They're trying new things.

It's experimentation.
It's engineering.

It's--it's computer modeling.

All of those things go
into just shaving a hair--

a hair's bit of time off
of that Nurburgring record

or off of that zero
to 60 time.

[Levi] For over a decade,
Dan Greenawalt has been

on a mission to take the cars
that only a few thousand people

in the world own
and make them accessible

to the masses via video game
consoles like Microsoft Xbox.

[Greenawalt] So this is actually
a laser scan.

There's millions
of points of data in here.

Even though it looks
like it was modeled,

this is actually
just a laser scan.

[Levi] He's the creative
director of Turn 10 Studios,

the maker of Forza Motorsport.

And in their small offices
outside Seattle, Washington,

the team is working
to accurately replicate

and simulate the driving
performance characteristics

of these hypercars.

[Greenawalt] We've really been
trying to establish a vision

for car culture
and gaming culture

and be on the vanguard of
what those two things mean

and what they're going
to be in the future.

So new media, which is
video games and Facebook

and Twitter and everything else,

has really changed
how car culture works.

And some people lament it.

You know, the magazines
are kind of going away,

but new things have emerged.

There's a lot of things
that have come up

that are filling the void.

But what's really speaking
to a group of players

or a group of car enthusiasts

that are becoming
car enthusiasts?

What makes them into
car enthusiasts?

Is it racing?

It's hard to watch racing.

It's hard to even get it
in the United States.

But I see it as
the responsibility of games

like ours,
a franchise like ours,

to get a younger generation
into cars,

to replenish our ranks
as enthusiasts.

There's a hand-in-hand
relationship there

that I think video games
are taking the spot of a lot

of the magazines.

Where what was on the cover
of the magazine,

what's on the cover
of the video game?

What was the highlight story?
What's the highlight race?

Now, you're getting
to interact.

You're getting to experience it.

But moreover,
today's generation,

you're getting to create
your own media out of it.

You get to be your own magazine.

You can paint the car.
You can put videos on Twitch.

You can have people
watching your--your--

subscribing to your
channel on YouTube.

It becomes an ecosystem
where the group fuels itself,

and that's why I'm not too
pessimistic about the future

of automotive when it comes
to the next generation.

And as a result, the car
companies have fundamentally

changed their relationship
to video games.

They now see us
as an essential way

of communicating to
a younger customer.

They've empowered us
to actually stoke passion

in a new generation.

[Levi] The Geneva show is
less than two weeks away.

Christian and his team
at Koenigsegg are pulling

another all-nighter to get
the One:1 show car ready

in time for its very first
public appearance.

No one but the team has
ever laid eyes on it.

It has to be perfect.

[Berglund] The sub-assemblies,
we have front

and rear bumper.

That's the sub-assemblies
and polishing area.

The roof is--as well,
has had polishing.

It's been done over there.

Yeah, of course.
And in some--some...

-Interior...
-Yeah.

Interior is, uh, in
sub-assembly as well.

But, uh, some panels are
starting to come out now,

and, uh, we are finishing
the electrics tomorrow.

And after that,
we can put in the interior.

We were running
a little bit late.

We started a little bit
late with this car,

so we have to push
really hard now in the end

to actually get the car done.

This is, for me, the most,
uh, hard one.

I've been working really hard
with this new car here.

And this is
even harder than when

we showed off
the Agera first time.

[Koenigsegg]
One week to go with

three weeks work to do, so
people just stay here working,

sleeping a few hours at home

or coming and going or just
pulling 24-hour shifts.

So it's--it's really super
dedicated people that brings

all their energy and love
into this to get it done.

Geneva is, for us, the most
important event every year.

It's the most international,
prestigious car show

on the planet
from my perspective.

It's a small show,
but, in the size,

it's somehow small,
but everyone is there.

If you're not there,
you know, not in the industry.

[Koenigsegg]
Like, one or two days earlier,

it looks like this is
never going to happen,

but we're really used to that

because it's the same
every year when we do, uh,

a new project for Geneva.

It just--everything kind
of just comes together

at the last point in time.

And it's happening today again
and it looks really great,

and I'm--I think everyone
is feeling good about it.

It's just working out well.

[Berglund]
He's the guy that thinks

that nothing is impossible,

and that's, uh,
how he is working.

It's the same as working
here as working for Christian.

It's not for everyone.

Uh, he puts a lot of pressure.

Uh, not pressure in a bad way,

but pressure as in
he has high expectations

with the people he works with.

Uh, of course, because
the product needs to

meet a very high standard.

The--that spirit goes into
the people who works here and

into me, and it's really fun
because he's always motivating.

[ speaking Swedish ]

I think we chose...

I think we chose
this perfect shape here

exactly what it has to be
because we get flush there

and then...

[Berglund] And, uh, people
may not always think that way

or not just a toy
or a thing you buy,

actually buy a story,
a dream that we try to create.

[Koenigsegg]
But that's just so emotional

and the car looks just--

I just want to get in
and drive it.

That's all I can say.

It just gives this
fantastic feedback and it--

it's ready to go
kind of thing.

I know what's gone into it.
I know it's so for real.

Um, it's just going to--

just going to shine.
That's all I can say.

[ engine starts ]

If you have the power
to influence your own work,

that is very motivating
to people.

And I think that's
what happens here.

Breaking new grounds
and doing the impossible

all the time and, uh,

that's because he truly
believes they can do it.

And then, when someone
believes in you, you can do it.

[Levi] All roads to
the hypercar lead here,

to this glittering center
of global wealth

on the western shore of
Lake Geneva, a city of royals

and celebrities
and the very, very rich.

It's here the auto industry
puts on its most

exotic face every year.

It's where Italian
design houses parade

their automotive
haute couture.

[Harris] The Geneva Motor Show
is the one motor show

that you have to go to.

Uh, it is compact and small,

and anything that's relevant
is there.

And car manufacturers
will delay the launch of a car

often to make
it happen at Geneva.

[Levi] The Geneva Motor Show
is where you go if you want

to find the auto industry's
most exciting,

most outrageous
and rarest of birds.

How are you?

I'm in the house.

-Good to see you again.
-Oh, yeah.

-Are you running?
-Yeah.

[Koenigsegg] It's a very
interesting place here

because it's, uh,

everyone kind of lowers
their guard, in a sense.

I mean, they're showing off
their product like we are doing,

but there's also an opportunity
to meet up and talk in a--

in a fairly casual way.

And, uh, it's more of
an even-playing field.

I mean, we're a tiny, tiny
manufacturer from Sweden,

but we'll get to talk to
the big boys and the execs

at the big companies, and
they treat us with respect,

which is really nice for us.

And I guess they think we're
kind of an interesting flair

at a place like this as well.

So a lot of interesting stuff
is going on here,

apart from showing off cars.

There's also mingling and
meeting contacts and so on.

I'd like to congratulate
you, doing the One:1.

-Oh.
-It's just a fantastic car.

-Thank you so much.
-Brilliant. Well done.

So let's see.

There, they have
the super charger.

Have a quick look.

I really like Tesla.
I have a Model S.

It's, uh, definitely
one of my favorite cars.

Uh, they've done a fantastic
job, but, uh, kind of

just pushing forward
the EV awareness

and the technology and
what you get for your money.

I mean, even though
they're expensive,

they're a great value for money.

No one is even close
to supplying

what they're
supplying presently.

Actually, we can stop
just quickly here.

So it's kind of like a door,
but it's not a door.

It's just panel.

This is just insane.

A Ferrari V8 trike or something.

And you have these intake
tracks in your face.

Imagine the sound of that.

Oh, did you see that cool
thing down at Porsche,

this concrete thing
with all the model cars?

-No.
-You need to shoot that.

That's super cool.

This thing caught my eye.
I really like this thing.

I wanted one in my living room.

It's so cool.

All these model cars casted
into this concrete block.

Just something about it.

I don't know exactly
what it is, but...

[Levi] The Geneva show is
a triumphant moment

for Christian von Koenigsegg
and the One:1.

And there's something else
to celebrate as well.

Koenigsegg's entire run of
cars has already sold out,

sight unseen.

The enthusiasm amongst
the world's hypercar buyers

bolsters Christian's optimism
for the car and for his company.

A strong showing
at the Nurburgring later

in the year will only add
to the One:1 mystique,

but only a few feet away, a
longstanding rival looms large.

It's multimillion dollar
display booth projects

one of the world's
most powerful brands.

A name that has
always been synonymous

with the highest caliber
of sports car:

Ferrari.

[Neil] LaFerrari is about
holistic driver experience.

Not about zero to 60,
although it crushes.

Not about top speed,
although it's 217.

Uh, not about cornering,
although it pulls

a staggeringly casual 2Gs.

[Harris] The roads around
Maranello were not great.

There really are
very few good roads.

There's that one Ponte Samone
road that we've used for years

and I think I've driven
every single corner sideways

and I've probably nearly
crashed on every single corner.

So we drove the LaFerrari
there and after about

quarter of an hour,
it was clearly apparent

that that was not the canvas
on which you could

paint any of the performance.

It was just too much
to really enjoy yourself.

[Neil] You have a great company
with a great history

and about 8,000 of
the smartest people in Italy

working at the campus
there at Ferrari.

And only the best and
the best of them got to--

promoted to LaFerrari.

There's a mixture of
emotions when you come

to a place like Maranello
because we have heritage.

In fact, we have
unparalleled heritage.

This is the home of fast cars.

It's the home of the supercar.
It's the home of the hypercar.

This is supercar valley,
so within a 20 mile radius,

we have Pagani,
we have Lamborghini, we have--

we used to have Bugatti
and many others that have tried

and failed to compete
with the red one,

which remains the daddy
of them all.

So we have history and heritage,

but also we have this
very forward-looking sense

that they're trying to take
a type of motoring that perhaps

is unacceptable to people,
that perhaps need to change and

they're making new technologies
to take that forward.

[Neil] What comes out of Ferrari
is so technically refined

and reified, you know,
so cost unconstrained that

when you put it all
together as they have,

it's just a superb
driving experience

and there's a real--as
I say, it's a real honor.

It's like being--my job
is like being the art critic

in Florence, you know,
in the 15th century

'cause everybody is
fucking great, right?

You know, everybody's
a--everybody's a genius and,

uh, I mean, there's
no shit anywhere, right?

-Every car is great.
-[man] Awesome.

Now you should ask me
about the Pagani.

[Harris] If you had to imagine
in your mind

the autocratic
charismatic creator

of probably the most
impressive hypercar brand

to emerge on its own
in the last 30 years,

you couldn't actually
make up Horacio Pagani.

He is--he's perfect.

You know, he made
his bones in, I think,

military supply and then bikes.

Really, you know,
frankly, he didn't even

study carbon composites
that long.

I mean, he had
a ten month internship

at Lamborghini ages ago,
but the guy's self taught.

Total autodidact.

A guy who doesn't do e-mail,
doesn't do CAD drawings,

doesn't speak English,

which is the universal
language of engineering.

He's the Italian
Argentinean who says

he doesn't speak English, but
understands everything you say

and can speak English
perfectly but chooses not to.

I love that.

There's a creative energy
to him that comes out in his car

when you--especially when you
go all the way to the Huayra.

Isn't he a mystery?
Isn't he an enigmatic figure?

He's the living, breathing
expression of his cars.

He's tangible and I love that.

He is the ultimate hypercar
owner--business owner.

You know, he's the man.

[Greenawalt]
There's this yin and yang.

There's this
push and pull between

engineering and artistry.

And I think when you look at
Koenigsegg and--and Pagani,

you've got a bit of
a opposite in some ways

that Pagani is really
this artistry at its finest

and Koenigsegg's really
engineering focused.

[Levi] Back in Sweden,
it's business as usual.

The Koenigsegg team
is on the runway testing cars

for customer delivery.

After two years of development,
the One:1 is finally

ready to stretch its legs.

[Koenigsegg] Well, right now,
we have five of our One:1s

in the same room,
so they're kind of going out

a little bit at once.

We've been building them
parallel to our testing program

where we've had our test car
running for almost a year now.

And we're just at
the finalization stages of that,

so we've already delivered one
to the customer,

and the other ones
are ready to go out the door.

So it's an exciting moment.

I hope we don't see as many
of them here at the same time

ever again because
it's getting crowded, so.

September 2014, Koenigsegg goes
out to the Nurburgring

and they're testing a lot of
the components that are going

into the One:1, they've
put into an Agera test car.

We were there
for almost three weeks

and did a lot of miles
and, uh, got up to good speed.

And things go wrong.

Things can go wrong.

One corner just, you know,
messed up can cause tragedy,

and that's kind of what happened
with Koenigsegg.

Yeah, we went off the track
at relatively high speed,

but everyone was okay.

A little bit shooken up.

The car was
a little bit damaged.

Uh, but we checked
the car afterwards,

technically looked all fine.

Uh, our test driver said,
yeah, it was--could've been--

honestly it could've
been something--the track,

as--as a whole, felt slipperier.

Well, we don't know for
sure exactly what happened,

uh, from the incident.

I mean,
the actual thing that caused it,

uh, because, yeah, on the,
uh, on the industry board,

you have limited,
you know, you can't video

-as much and all that.
-[man] Yeah.

Uh, but--so there are
a few different things

that could have been the cause.

Uh, but we focus on the new,
uh, new challenge.

So, uh, so we'll see.

You know, there is
pressure to do this.

I mean, these guys are under
pressure to get that lap time

and not only to test the car and
to test the components of it,

but to get the lap time, to
make a good showing out there.

We're very keen to get back on
the ring with this car because,

uh, when the weather gets
better, we're gonna be there,

really, to see what the car
can do, uh, officially.

[Levi] But another tragedy will
soon make Christian rethink

his ambition to break
a Nurburgring record.

I often feel there's something
to the danger of driving

that defines a lot of things.

I think some of the Nurburgring
is that it's really dangerous.

It's not like other tracks.

And we still have,
you know, Le Mans.

There's--there's still
deaths occasionally there.

And other FIA tracks.

But the Nurburgring is
dangerous on a level

that you just don't
see popularized

or publicized quite as much.

[Levi]
March of 2015,

a fatal crash during a race
at the Nurburgring.

The death seems to be
a final straw for officials,

ushering a series
of unprecedented

restrictions at the track.

[Koenigsegg] When we started
getting info like, uh, yesterday

or the day before, that,
uh, there are, uh,

speed restrictions on the--
on this area

called the Flugplatz
where this, uh,

I don't know if you saw
this some GPR

crashed out in the audience
a couple of months ago

in a--in the--in a GT race.

So--so they're
restricting that area

to 250 kilometers per hour,
and we knew that for a while,

but that--that's not
a big issue.

We--we can live with that.

And then, there is another
area called Schwedenkreuz

or something which is
restricted to 200, 215.

We could also live with that.

But then, we started hearing
that, uh, long straight

is restricted to 250 kilometers
per hour and that's where

we can go 400 kilometers
per hour.

So that--that--that's a
big restriction for us, uh,

but we said okay, maybe
we can get around that

or we'll see how fast we can go.

And then, they said, we're--
they're not--no one

is allowed to go for all-out
records anymore this year.

So, uh, all of those
things together kind of

put a lid on it today.

So we're kind of scrambling
to get everything out

and get ready and now they said,
hang on, hang on.

What are we doing here?

If we're not allowed to,
what--what are we doing?

So, um, yeah, so that's where
we are, basically, suddenly.

[Levi] For the One:1, the ban
on hot laps at the Nurburgring

now makes an attempt
at a lap record impossible.

[Koenigsegg]
We've--we've already kind of

done a record at Suzuka,

and we have to keep on going
and taking record

at all the other tracks we're
allowed to take records at.

[Levi] Disappointed,
but still confident,

Koenigsegg sets his sights
elsewhere.

[Koenigsegg] We can try
to go back to Spa again.

I mean, we didn't even try
to go for a record there.

We can drive probably
four or five seconds faster

than what we did already.

[Serwanski] I have a very close
relationship with Christian,

and he knows that I make
the decision

what's safe to do or not.

So he's just gonna be--

do whatever you feel
comfortable with.

Go as quick as you can,
of course, but he knows that

I do the balancing
between pushing boundaries

and not putting cars at risk.

Because anyone can go out
and be super quick,

but what's the risk?

You can take, you know,
world champion of something,

say, go, go and do,
you know, a lap record.

And he might make it
and he'll probably be quicker

than I am, but he maybe
will not make that at all.

And the question is: is it
worth it if you make it? Yes.

Is it worth it
if you don't make it? No.

[Levi] Spa-Francochamps, an hour
west of the Nurburgring,

a racetrack built in
the same motorsports era.

Spa is smaller
than the Nurburgring,

but it challenges drivers with
high speeds and blind corners.

[Serwanski] It's been
a long process and, I mean,

it's--we're never done
because, as Christian says,

perfection is a moving target.

So there will always
be new things.

I will always figure out
something new,

the suspension
or the air or something.

So there's not really
a goal for it.

We just want to make it
as good as possible

in the given timeframe.

[Levi] If the Koenigsegg One:1
were to set a lap record at Spa,

it would truly be
in a class by itself.

But Spa has its own dangers

and its own rules
and regulations.

[man]
Uh, just went red.

[man over radio]
Fuck.

There was a red flag
in every corner.

And I'm also standing
halfway out on the track

waving yellow and red flags, so.

Okay, well, we'll--
we have to check what is--

what is the problem.

What was going on
at the end there?

Yeah, they put marshals
in the middle of the track.

Yeah, and there was red flags
all over the track.

In every single post,
there was a red flag

and there were red lights.

By the time I got to the end
of the straight first time,

the whole track lit up for red.

And they had marshals
physically on the track

to prevent me from going.

[Koenigsegg] I mean, what--what
we're doing with hypercars

or now megacars or call them
whatever you like, uh,

I always ask myself,
what am I doing for humanity?

I mean, how is--how are these,
let's say, "luxury,"

super expensive sporting goods

or whatever they are,
how do they influence,

uh, everyday lives of
humankind in a broader sense?

And--and I think it does,
actually.

Uh, well, number one thing is,
of course, uh, everyone thinks

I'm living my dream,
which I agree,

and I think that is
important thing

to show that it is possible,

that it's important to dream
and to realize your dream

that--that really works.

That is one very important
part of it.

But also, the technology
we develop, uh, we've seen

many things already trickle
down into more normal cars.

Combustion engine philosophies,

how--how it interacts
with the transmission

and the clutch
and all of these things

that are really on the edge
in our industry,

is trickling down
to more normal cars.

It's like a, yeah,
the Bugatti Veyron had

one of the first
dual clutch transmissions.

Now you're finding it in kind
of the--any--every Volkswagen

around the world,
more or less.

So, uh, that is just
happening and it's one of

the few industries where
that's going quite quickly

from high end to low end.

Christian is an inventor,
I would say.

Uh, that's his passion.

That's what he lives and
breathes, to invent new things.

And at the moment,
he's focused on race cars.

Uh, but it could
well be anything.

[Spinelli] Hypercars are built
by people where there's

a sort of cult of personality
around that person.

I mean, whether it's
Enzo Ferrari

built the Ferraris.

Ferruccio Lamborghini wanted
to best Ferrari, right?

He--he--there was a rivalry.

Um, guys like
Horacio Pagani and, uh,

Christian von Koenigsegg
come along

and they put their names
on the cars for a reason,

because they're personal, but
it--this is where the ego part

kind of comes in where
it's--they want to

bend the world to their will
to create something

that is just a--not only
the highest expression

that they can come up with,
but the coolest thing

that they've probably ever
dreamed of.

And that they can actually
put it together and--

and fabricate it, you know,
is kind of an amazing thing

for a car guy
or just for a kid who grew up

wishing that they could do that.

I get the feeling
that Christian's that guy.

I think he knows what he wants.

He wants to experiment
with technologies.

He wants to display
what he can do and he wants

to then sell it to people

and he wants to go
really, really fast.

In the end, having a bloke
who wants to go

really, really fast
is a fantastic basis

for making a hypercar company.

[Levi]
So what is a hypercar?

If we believe those who build,
buy and obsess over them,

a hypercar is,
in automotive form,

a vision for the future today.

So what is the future
for the hypercar?

Like others,
Christian von Koenigsegg

is betting on
electric propulsion.

His next hypercar
will be called the Regara,

and he'll push technology
and horsepower even further

using both an internal
combustion engine

and an electric motor.

[Harris]
Where is it going?

We're moving away from
fossil fuels inevitably.

BP, a couple of weeks ago,
went out and said it reckoned

there was 58 years of oil
left in the ground.

So, okay, I don't believe
in peak oil theory,

but, you know, we are reaching
a point where extracting

it's costing too much.

We have to change.

Human beings, the human race
has always responded

to times of profound change.

That's when we do things.

We--if you tell us we ought
to do something to mitigate

against a risk in the future,

and we'll be lazy
and we won't do anything.

But if you tell us we have
to change, then we will.

That's why at times
of world war and conflict,

we tend to invent things
much faster

and build things much faster
because we have to do things.

We have to respond.

So I think this
gradual process is okay,

but I think it will
ramp up fairly soon.

Once--once the oil becomes
too expensive to get

out of the ground,
then you're going to see

the electrification
of the motor car.

It's inevitable.

[Greenawalt]
Engineers are smart.

We're gonna keep figuring out
ways to make cars go faster.

My body can't take a lot of
the stuff that these cars

can do now, and at some point,

Lewis Hamilton's body is not
going to be able to take

the stuff that
these cars can do.

That's the place
we're heading to,

and I think it's exactly
that idea that kind of comes

into our head that
what--it's what makes

hypercars so fascinating.

A car can't do that.
It can't do that.

And then, it does.

So the--so the hypercar
is the most, you know,

important manifestation
of this democratizing force.

The--it's the mani--it's
the ultimate manifestation

of freedom,
technology and art.

It is the apex of all
these ideas in one statement

of what is possible,
however irrelevant

that item--that thing is.

It is--it's meaning
transcends its irrelevance.

It's about being
something that you're not.

And what you're not is a, you
know, 250-mile-an-hour beast

that can kind of storm
across a landscape

and do superhuman things.

[Levi] And that leaves
only one question.

Will humanity's desire
for speed endure?

Is it just an anomaly
of human evolution,

temporary, a fad?

Or is it our desire for speed
that makes us human?

If someone who didn't
know anything about cars

asks me why hypercars matter,
the only possible answer

is, like jazz,
if you have to ask...

*