Koenigsegg Ghost Squadron 2018
Last weekend many people around Baden-Baden rubbed their eyes in wonderment. No miracle as 17 Koenigsegg sports cars rolled through the otherwise rather contemplative town and the adjacent Black Forest mountains, always closely followed by some interested car photographers. Few observers immediately knew what to do with the Swedish sports cars, which is not surprising as the Swedish company only built slightly more than 140 cars so far, that are spread around the world.
Since 2016, Koenigsegg has been organizing an Owners Tour, which has led through Sweden for the past two years and this time led to the roots of the Koenigsegg family. Company founder Christian von Koenigsegg comes from a German aristocratic house, which still has lands and a small castle near Ravensburg. There the ‘Ghost Squadron’ called tour drove on the second day almost without any public. We accompanied the tour on Saturday, the first day of their trip, through the Black Forest.
Already on our arrival at the Park-Hotel Brenners in the early morning hours, we were greeted by the great sports cars, which lined up outside the front door in various colors and waited for the start of the tour. The compilation of participating cars was interesting at first glance. From the very first production model, the CC8S from 2002, the offered range went over the CCR, the CCX and the CCXR, which made 1,018 PS in 2007 thanks to E85 compatibility, to the Agera, whose production recently expired with two Final Edition cars. These two, named ‘Väder’ and ‘Thor’ by their respective owners, also participated in the Ghost Squadron tour. In addition, company founder and CEO Christian von Koenigsegg and his wife participated with the company’s current hybrid megacar, the Regera. At most, as a cherry on the cream only a Koenigsegg One:1 was missing, the first vehicle with which the Swedes achieved one megawatt of power.
Like all Koenigsegg models, the more comfortable Regera can be opened up by removing the carbon hardtop and placing it in the front boot. Apart from Christian von Koenigsegg, this option was also used by various other owners, including ex Formula 1 driver Adrian Sutil. The first section of the well-prepared roadbook, available to co-drivers on iPads, led to the Schwarzenbach Dam, where some beautiful group pictures were shot with a drone.
Afterwards the group continued to the lunch stop at Relais & Château Hotel Dollenberg in Bad Peterstal-Griesbach, where the cars were lined up in front of the hotel. However, at least the British participants of the tour were in a hurry to get back to the actual hotel in Baden-Baden, as their national team competed in the quarterfinals of the World Cup. Also the Secret Classics team skipped the remaining checkpoints of the day and drove back to Brenners Hotel, to watch the returning cars on the streets and capture them on pictures.
Again it was noticeable how much Koenigsegg’s vehicles stand out in flowing traffic, even if they are painted in rather restrained colors such as dark green, dark blue or black. It is just in the truest sense of the word a supercar, which will get its attention at the latest by their incomparable V8 sound.
As already described, we only joined the tour on Saturday and left the participants in peace for the second part, so they could fully enjoy their trip to the Koenigseggwald and to castle Koenigsegg. There they were allowed to have lunch with members of the Koenigsegg family and then to gather for another group picture on the well-kept castle lawn, whereby probably one or the other meticulously maintained blade of grass had to suffer a little.
Also in 2019 there will be another Owners Tour from Koenigsegg. As in previous years, the details are kept top secret and issued shortly before takeoff to a few initials as well as the participants. Where exactly the powerful fleet from Sweden will appear next can not be said for now.
Images: Matthias Kierse, Koenigsegg (group shot on the dam)
