The eternal question. Everyone wants to know from the beginning of the automotive industry – where are the limits of speed and power accessible by a conventional four-wheel car?
Bugatti Tops the List
The history of Bugatti high-performance automobiles dates back to 1909, when Italian-born Ettore Bugatti founded the company in the then German city of Molsheim, Alsace (now France). It had success and recognition, but World War II left the company in ruins – the original incarnation of Bugatti ceased operations in 1952. It was revived 35 years later, in 1987. However, the world’s economic decline left the company bankrupt even faster. Changes came in 1998 when Volkswagen AG acquired the brand. It took seven years for the re-renewed company to built its first regular-production vehicle named Bugatti Veyron 16.4. And from that time, Bugatti cars are universally recognized as the fastest cars in the world.
Bugatti Veyron 16.4 set the world record in 2005 reaching the speed of 253.81 mph (408.47 km/h). German inspection officials recorded and verified the achievement.
Bugatti’s second record was set in 2010 when Bugatti Veyron Super Sport World Record Edition reached the speed of 267.857 mph (431.074 km/h). The record attempt was driven by former Formula One driver Pierre-Henri Raphanel and was verified by Guinness World Records. However, all production versions of Super Sport had an electronic limiter that limited the speed to 257.87 mph (415 km/h). The aforementioned limiter has put the record under review. Additional verifications conducted by Guinness World Records with a number of external experts confirmed that a change to the speed limiter does not alter the fundamental design of the car or its engine, and the record was approved.
Hennessey Makes a Move
In 2014, a Hennessey Venom GT sportscar based on the Lotus Exige and made by American tuning house Hennessey Performance Engineering exceeded 270.49 mph (435.31 km/h). However, the record does not qualify under the Guinness World Records – the run was in a single direction only. Besides, Hennessey had to build 30 vehicles in one year to qualify. They were able to build 16.
2014 Hennessey Venom GT © Axion23/CC BY 2.0
Previous Record Holders
1949 Jaguar XK120 was the first production car to break 124.6 mph (200 km/h). Unlike modern hypercars, it was built in huge numbers – 12,000 vehicles found the owner. The number is significant if you look at the productions cars that set the record after Jaguar XK120. Three of them (1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL, 1958 Aston Martin DB4, 1968 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona) have been sold in numbers more than 1,000, six sold in the triple digits (1963 Iso Rivolta Grifo A3/L 327, 1967 Lamborghini Miura P400, 1974 Lamborghini Countach LP400, 1984 Ferrari 288 GTO, 1986 Porsche 959, 2005 Bugatti Veyron 16.4), and the five (1959 Aston Martin DB4 GT, 1965 AC Cobra Mk III 427, 1987 Ruf CTR, 1993 McLaren F1, 2010 Bugatti Veyron Super Sport) were in double digits.
1950 Jaguar XK120 OTS at 2015 Le Mans Legends © Kevin Decherf/CC BY-SA 2.0
To establish the top speed for production cars at least since the 1990s an independent road test with a two-way run in opposite directions is required (that’s why Hennessey Venom GT does not qualify). The mean of the top speed for both runs is taken as the car’s top speed.
