Miracle Detail - Koenigsegg CCX detail at MPH show

With permission from Paul Dalton here is his newest detail:

The Koenigsegg ccx....what is there to say about possibly the worlds most desireable car.....

The aggresive stance and tight lineage make you realise why this car is what it is....A status symbol of technology , power and design....no more no less!!

Today is the Mph show at Earls court with Clarkson and co and the star car has to be the ccx.....I have been asked to come along with Paul from Miracle Detail to give a helping hand as he needs to get the car detailed for the general public and only has 5 hours.....





The car is on the stand at the Broughtons dealership who are possibly Europes finest displaying some of the most exotic and famous supercars that have ever been made...

Tommy the Koenigsegg representative informs me that there are currently only two in the uk at this time.....

He explains that the CCX is basically a new car and integration of the CC family. It has been re-engineered to comply with strict US regulations that have come into force and to keep up with market demand...He also said that Koenigsegg were also very positive that the current car kept its original distinct and current symmetry of the cc family. They believe it is important to avoid trends and instead enhance the aerodynamics for the future making its lines tighter and more aggresive which i think they have achieved.

I asked what CCX actually stands for and he replied Competition Coupe x. The CCX marks the completion and test drive of the first CC maiden prototype which rolled out from the research and developement department in 1996.

Christian Von Koenigsegg i am told dreamed of this car from a very early age and is possibly one of a very few number of people in this world who can say they have fulfilled that boyhood dream.......My childhood dream was to go into space and i ended up at Disney , his dream has proven to the world that things are achievable with determination and a solid desire to succeed and a good team around you!!!

Koenigseggs dream as he has stated....

" When i started to develope the Koenigsegg supercar i had only one goal at heart - to build the best performing supercar in the world , coupled with a cool Swedish design , safety and quality. I was among a few who were not surprised when we managed the world speed record for production cars as we hand build the most powerful emission controlled engines in the world and combine these with class leading passive safety , cornering and breaking capabilities..... The mix of absolute performance combined with creature comforts and unique styling is what makes the Koenigsegg supercar truly unique among its own breed."

The car was prewashed outside as strict rules and regulations are present at such venues so no car batteries connected , no fuel onboard and obviously no pressure washers inside....The car was bought in and Paul was concerned about contamination from outside to inside due to all the other vehicles and the time sat outside in London.....

He decided to be safe he would reclay the car on the stand...

Clay bar used today was actually supplied by John from Clean and shiny and is the new polyclay.



Paul worked his way round the car after giving it a quick detail...





The claybar after the bonnet...



The rest of the car was then clayed





and then wiped off and quick detailed again







The car was then inspected for blemishes and swirls and some were evident but difficult to see due to the magnificent colour of the car but Paul spotted them...





It was at this stage inspecting the car that i noticed a ghost on the rear screen and asked Paul what it was.....

He informed me that it was a symbol placed on the car to honour the Swedish Fighter Jet Squadron No.1 which left its premises to Koenigsegg after being shut down in 2003....The ghost was the squadrons symbol. The Koenigsegg crew feel that they have taken over the legacy of the squadron and therefore show this by marking their latest creations with it....Ferrari obviously have the horse while Lamborghini have the bull , Spyker have the propellor and Koenigsegg have the ghost which is uber cool to me!!



Now i had wasted another valuable five minutes Paul decided to take some readings from the car to evaluate the paintwork and to get some idea of how to tackle it...



If i remember correctly the car was reading around the 120 micron mark across the board....



The car was then taped up....





We then decided to take a quick peek under the bonnet to see what powers this car......

This car is propelled to 62mph in 3.2 seconds....



The top speed of this car is 242 mph and does a standing quarter mile in 9.9 seconds reaching a speed of 146 mph achieving that.



Basically an all aluminium engine is what is at the heart of this Swedish supercar...I believe it derives from Fords 4.6 litre quad cam v8 but in the Developement Tommy informed that all parts were modified to the extent that it can be considered a Koenigsegg engine.A highly advanced Rotrex supercharger system literally boosts the output of the v8 to 655 bhp in the base model....



The other thing about this engine is that it can run on US octane 91 fuel and therefore comply with Californias emissions regulations which is some feat. In order to reach this goal though extensive rework had to be done to certain items like the cylinder heads which now have larger valve areas and more optimally flowing cylinder head ports..Dual smaller injectors per cylinder were integrated aswell as new camshafts , a new carbon fiber individual runner intake plenum , a new engine management system and obviously updated fuel.

The Koenigsegg technicians also incorporated the most powerful internal piston coolers in the industry bringing down the piston temperature by as much as 80% more than competing systems.



This car also has a ram air engine booster....Between the raised speedster bumps there is a new type of vortex generator implemented as a booster .. Due to the fact that there is a fresh air intake right below the rear window the vortex generator redirects the air directly into the air intake and thereby creating a positive pressure in the air box.





The other thing about the Koenigsegg i love is the electronics which i chatted about for ages but was totally baffled....The car has fully functional digital intelligent fuse and relay unit. This obviously means that there are no actual fuses or relays in the car...The unit is programmable and is canbus connected to a display unit which sends crucial information to the driver. The main advantages i was told are that it is more reliable , light weight , and fully programmable with future upgrades available....

The whole engine just looks like work of art and every piece just exudes quality....



The CCX engine also incorporates the first engine block design that is specifically created and cast for Koenigsegg with the Koenigsegg shield embossed on the left and right hand side...

Now we had a good look at the engine Paul decided that he had better get machine polishing....





Paul used various different 3m products while doing paintwork correction depending on which panel he was working on...





VIDEO OF PAUL DOING PAINTWORK CORRECTION.





The products were breaking down beautifully in here with perfect conditions and a few people watching in awe...





When Paul had finished paintwork correction on certain panels he asked me to go over them with Swissvax cleaner fluid to give the car a massive wet look and also to prepare it for his new wax he had bought along.. His wax we are using today has 76% Carnauba by volume and from seeing it used before it is absolutly jaw dropping ...Im sure a press release will follow shortly...



I basically worked my way around the car following paul



and buffing off instantly on each panel



I love cleaner fluid as its such an easy product to work with and easy to remove.....It was also leaving a beautiful finish on the car now Paul had made the paintwork perfect and glossy...Paul continued to correct the paintwork



and i carried on polishing and buffing off...



It was at this stage we decided to quickly look inside the car before waxing....

In corporation with Sparco and the Koenigsegg test driver Loric Bicocchi , Koenigsegg have developed a new seat design for the CCX. The structure of the seat are still carbon fibre but now fully padded front surface and with a tilting backrest..



Look at the fantastic embroiderry on the seats....



It is known that the tempur padded CCR seats can be fitted in the CCX as a special order....There is also a further 50mm headroom inside the CCX over most supercars making it the most spacious on the market which obviously helps the taller driver. Amazingly i found out the car at its highest point is still only 1120mm above the tarmac....



Christian Von Koenigsegg had a clear understanding of what he wanted from the interior on this car....He proposed that he wanted a typical interior from a scandanavian point of view and the philosophy behind it was clean sober lines and a minimalistic dash and switches and instruments...

I never actually realised that the Tempur used in the seats is the same Tempur used by NASA Spaceshuttles to spread the g-forces on the astronauts backs during take off and the same product on mybed that my head hits every night!! Basically i suppose to anyone who is not familiar with Tempur it is a slow motion foam that redesigns itself to the shape its bonded to then returns to normality once it is unbonded......



On the centre console Koenigsegg wanted a simple yet effective design.



As you can see looking like an old fashioned telephone dial it is gathered in a way that is logical and not scattered all over the interior dash..




Now it was time to start waxing......

Pauls new wax was used today and paul asked me to help with the waxing...







VIDEO OF WAXING







Paul checking his new wax to see if it had cured....I think it was around 10 minutes which is good considering the high carnauba content



Whilst waiting for the wax Paul decided to wax the wheels....

Now these are a set of wheels..





The wheels are so cool and sport Michelin pilot sport 2,s on them....Fronts are 19" and i believe rears are 20".

The optional ceramic 382mm front discs are coupled to 8 - piston callipers and in the rear the 362mm size is retained with 6 piston callipers..



The optional industry first carbon fibre wheels save another 3 kg per wheel compared to the already lightweight magnesium wheels that come as standard. The ceramic discs save another 2 kg per wheel giving the Koenigsegg CCX lower unsprung weight than any other supercar......The CCX weighs around 2601lb (1180kg) compared to the Bugattis 4300lb (1950 kg). The power to weight ratio is also in the Koenigsegg,s favour as it sports 765bhp per tonne compared to the Bugattis 513 bhp per tonne. Love to see those 2 head to head!!!



Look at the attention to detail...



The wheels were waxed and left to cure so Paul got on with removing the wax





Paul went round the whole car and i just tidied up any intricate areas i felt would help...



All rubber seals were dressed with swissvax seal , glass was cleaned and treated , interior was spotless anyway but window tops etc were checked and cleaned , exhaust was cleaned and then finally given a quick rebuff after half hour ......

The car looked stunning and the crowds were trickling in and seemed to head straight to the Koenigsegg and Broughtons stand......

THE RESULTS























WALKROUND VIDEO





























































Anyone wishing to view Pauls Gallery can do so here: http://www.miracledetail.co.uk

And anyone wishing to view Broughtons website or interested in any of the cars for sale view here : http://www.Broughtons.co.uk

 

I love Paul's little groupie that always tags along!

PS: I think it would take me 5 hours just to put the whole write-up together!

 

the car looks like you can put wings on it..and it would fly..that car is freakin Saaaweeet

So whats up with PDs new wax..is it available and would you know the price range..

 

its not available yet but keep an eye out.

 

what a great detail, they both do fantastic work.
I always love reading these posts.
and im really excited to see the new wax. I am def going to have to order the cheaper one

 

Ok, I dont know what to say after watching him work that rotary. I saw a few things I want to try,

1. He used waaaay less product than I do.
2. He worked it waaaay longer and over a larger area
3. The speed seems waaaaay higher than what I usually do.
4. He is using a smaller flat pad, I use a larger VC pad

My rotary seems to steer quite a bit more than that video. My movements are slightly more fluid also. I would like to go play with the rotary more but after using the Flex, F-it.

 

yes he's quite smooth and yes the motions are a pretty large are but remember I don't think there was much correction. Just a ton of polishing. But the work time on it was long 2 plus minutes.

 

the car, not paul


Thanks for posting this awesome write up, I read the whole thing. Some big $ detailing going on there., and what an insane car....

 

What a detail and what a vehicle.

I agree I love seeing these two guys work, they do incredable vehicles and incredable details.

Paul has very interesting techniques....have you guys noticed how he seems to jerk the rotary around (not as much in this video but in other videos he does)...well that is actually a really good technique...the trick is that if you jerk it around that way you actually do better correction...I now use that jerking technique and it works like a charm.

Thank you for posting this Phil and the wax looks very interesting

 

ok...
:rollinglaugh:

 

hahahaha yea I walked right in to that one didn't I hahahahaha :rollinglaugh: :rollinglaugh:

 

My thoughts exactly. He could have been using ultrafina and that product has a super long working time....but I hated it muchly (my new word). When he works it on the flatter ledge of the door, that is kind of simalar to my technique, but still now quite.

One thing I noticed is how centered he got that pad! It was dead on! I need like 2-3 tries to get it even close to that.

 

I know what you mean, but keep in mind he has over 13 years of experiance :coffee:

 

:S I don't even know how you do it! I usually just put it on, hit the trigger and move it accordingly. I wonder if he is using some kind of centering tool.

 

i would be very curious to see what it is. the pads he uses dont have a centering hole... i dunno i guees, like carlos said, its just alot of practice :coffeehave to use this one since it dosent get used enough... coffee should never be forgoten)

 

I've learned quite a bit from Paul's videos but one thing that I pay close attenion are the pads Paul uses and the size. Size makes a difference when polishing, I found this out he hard way lol.

oh and 8inch pads are not meant for me lol, it's all a personal preference I suppose...but one thing about Pal and Marc (his friend) is that they use nothing but the best tools/products.

 

Really...where abouts? Do tell.

 

it works for him, he is making oney, doing a good job. If it aint broke...

 

hahahahaha :rollinglaugh: :rollinglaugh: well since you put it that way yea I see what your saying...but at the same time I'm a firm beleaver that you get what you pay for...but having said that expensive is not always good...sometimes it's just a waist of money.....well that's just my $0.02

 

I think im but im not sure, that thats the polish bieng broken down, not holograms