In July 2010, Bugatti test driver Pierre Henri Raphanel clocked 431km/h at the Ehra-Lessien oval. The Veyron Super Sport was limited to just 30 cars, with each one seeing power output boosted to 882kW and aerodynamics overhauled to cope with the forces it would experience well beyond 400km/h. Not happy to have the record taken from them, Bugatti gave the Veyron a substantial overhaul in order to raise its top speed even further and have a new go at winning the title. In September 2007, the 882kW, twin-turbocharged V8 hypercar used a temporarily-closed two-lane stretch of public road near the Washington company’s headquarters to set an average top speed of just over 412km/h. SSC, then known as Shelby Supercars, produced the Ultimate Aero for seven years – not a long lifespan, but long enough to overtake Bugatti in the top speed stakes.
The result? A record-breaking 408.4km/h at VW’s Ehra-Lessien test facility. The car had to be put into its Top Speed Mode for the run, activated with a special key that retracts the rear spoiler, shuts the front air diffuser and lowers the ground clearance to just 6.5cm. An 8.0-litre quad-turbocharged W16 engine produced 736kW from the factory, with a seven-speed automatic gearbox sending power all four wheels. Bugatti Veyron 16.4 – 408.4km/hĪt the time it was the most expensive and most powerful road car ever built, but VW Group bosses wanted the Bugatti Veyron to be officially the fastest car in the world as well. The record wouldn’t stand for long, however just two months later, Bugatti would take the crown in spectacular fashion. Koenigsegg’s second-ever production model used a 4.7-litre twin-supercharged V8 to produce 596kW and urge it on to beat the McLaren by a single mile per hour.
The car to knock the F1 off the top spot did so at Italy’s Nardo Ring test track in February 2005. However, that figure required the rev limiter to be raised to 8300rpm – no production F1 has ever been recorded at more than 340km/h, though unmodified, the 6.1-litre V12 should be capable of a still astonishing 350km/h. Famously set by racing driver Andy Wallace at Volkswagen’s Ehra-Lessien test track in March 1998, the monumental British hypercar carried the title of World’s fastest production car for the best part of 15 years.
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