To this day, the official top speed record for a production car is 242mph as set by the Koenigsegg CCR. Of course, everyone knows that the Bugatti Veyron can reach 253mph but there’s yet to be an official recording so the Koenigsegg remains as top-dog. To achieve the record and conform to the Guinness World Record guidelines, officials need to independently scrutinize and ensure that the car is a standard production version. The top speed is then verified by an aftermarket dash logger and GPS tracker. The run in the Bugatti Veyron presented in Top Gear was conducted by the show with Volkswagen, there were no officials on hand to verify its achievement.
For these reasons, the record lies in the hands of Koenigsegg, however, the Swedish supercar may not stay long at the top if Shelby Super Cars and its Ultimate Aero TT have their way.
Back in March, SSC ran one of its cars down a stretch of Nevada highway with experienced road racer Rick Doria behind the wheel. Unfortunately, the attempt was called off after just two runs due to poor weather conditions.
According to SSC’s marketing director, Junus Khan, the Ultimate Aero has hit 241.4mph (0.6mph off the record) while undergoing transmission temperature testing. Khan notes that only 71% of the car’s throttle was applied, which means we’re yet to see all of the Aero's 1183 horses unleashed.
SSC uses independent data acquisition firm Dewetron to confirm its results and are hoping to break the official record very soon. After that, smashing the Veyron’s top speed does not seem entirely implausible.
