When Lewis Hamilton Ditched His $1.3 Million Ride for $3.5 Million Koenigsegg Agera HH and Ran Out of Fuel
Lewis Hamilton flaunts a huge supercar collection under his belt. From classic Ferraris and Mercedes to Pagani Zonda, the Briton loves his automobiles. His collection also includes the $1.3 million worth McLaren P1. However, 8 years ago, Hamilton chose the $3.5 million worth Koenigsegg Agera HH for the Gumball 3000 in 2015. This move didn’t end up well as the Mercedes man ran out of fuel in the race.
Gumball 3000 is a rally organized by the namesake aspirational lifestyle brand, usually taking place on public roads. According to supercarblog.com, back in 2015, Hamilton didn’t participate in the European leg but raced in the Los Angeles to Las Vegas leg of the rally.
For this leg, the British driver borrowed from David Heinemeier. Hamilton started this leg from LA to Sin City but got stranded when he ran out of fuel. Later with the help of one of his fellow participants, the seven-time champion borrowed some gas and made it to a scheduled pit stop.
Heinemeier who owns the $3.5 million one-off supercar that Hamilton drove, is also a programmer. The Dane created the open-source web application Ruby on Rails. He is also a professional racer, competing in Endurance and Le Mans events often.
Heinemeier has competed and won the GTE Am class of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He also achieved a best finish of 2nd in the LMP2 class at Le Mans, making his racing CV a decorated one.
The level of thrill Lewis Hamilton seeks from his supercar hobby
Lewis Hamilton may have screened the specs and performance potential of the Koenigsegg Agera HH before opting for it. Its Le Mans-winning owner may have been an easy influence for the F1 champion. Still, the 1030 hp powertrain capacity may have lured the Briton further.
The Agera HH goes from 0 to 100 kph in 2.9 seconds and has a braking distance of 30.5 meters (100 to 0 kph). The fuel consumption of the model is at 12.5 liters per 100 km which probably may have cost Hamilton as he ran out of gas.
Similar to the Agera HH though, Hamilton has a lot of supercars in his collection such as the McLaren P1. The Mercedes AMG One which is famous for being the road car giving F1-like experience is also one of them. The $2.7 million AMG One is a rare limited edition supercar from the Silver Arrows.
Besides, these two cars, the Briton also owned a Pagani Zonda 760 LH. Hamilton sold this supercar worth $11 million as he did not like it very much. The seven-time champion also has a Ferrari LaFerrari and two other classic Ferrari supercars.
Back in the day, Lewis Hamilton appeared at many exhibition racing events such as the Gumball 3000. He made his debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2007 in his F1 debut year, driving the McLaren MP4-21.
In 2014, the Briton was again at Goodwood when he drove the 2012 Mercedes W03. Fast forward to the present day, Hamilton doesn’t appear much at such exhibition events and focuses on his F1 career.
