In a whoosh of bright orange, a hot, little Bugatti blew the car speed record to smithereens.
At a racetrack in Ehra-Lessien, Germany on Saturday, driver Pierre Henri Raphanel put the pedal to the medal, driving the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport straight into the Guinness World Records book. The car hit an average top speed of 267.8 mph, which is a record for a production car (a car that is mass produced, rather than a one-off car), London’s Daily Mail reports.
“We took it that we would reach an average value of 425 km/h (264 mph), but the conditions today were perfect and allowed even more,” Bugatti chief engineer, Dr. Wolfgang Schreiber, told the paper.
The car hit 265.9 mph when driven against the wind and 269.8 mph with the wind.
The previous speed record for a production car was 253.76 mph, set in 2007 by the Shelby SuperCars Ultimate Aero car, in Nevada.
The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport has 1,200 horsepower and 1,500 Newton meters of torque, an increase of 200 hp and 250 Nm over the standard Veyron. Made of an all-carbon fiber structure, it possesses four enlarged turbo chargers and intercoolers that boost the power of its 16-cylinder engine.
The Veyron Super Sport 16.4 goes from zero to 62 mph faster than you can say whiplash - in 2.5 seconds – and races from zero to186 mph in a mere 15 seconds.
The car will go into production this fall, but Bugatti is manufacturing only five models of this World Record Edition. With a special black exposed carbon and orange finish, the models look just like the one Raphanel raced into history.
But don’t expect to get your speed-loving hands on the car: All five have already been sold. Though, Bugatti does plan to make another a handful of other Veyrons with a top cruising speed of 258 mph.
At a racetrack in Ehra-Lessien, Germany on Saturday, driver Pierre Henri Raphanel put the pedal to the medal, driving the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport straight into the Guinness World Records book. The car hit an average top speed of 267.8 mph, which is a record for a production car (a car that is mass produced, rather than a one-off car), London’s Daily Mail reports.
“We took it that we would reach an average value of 425 km/h (264 mph), but the conditions today were perfect and allowed even more,” Bugatti chief engineer, Dr. Wolfgang Schreiber, told the paper.
The car hit 265.9 mph when driven against the wind and 269.8 mph with the wind.
The previous speed record for a production car was 253.76 mph, set in 2007 by the Shelby SuperCars Ultimate Aero car, in Nevada.
The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport has 1,200 horsepower and 1,500 Newton meters of torque, an increase of 200 hp and 250 Nm over the standard Veyron. Made of an all-carbon fiber structure, it possesses four enlarged turbo chargers and intercoolers that boost the power of its 16-cylinder engine.
The Veyron Super Sport 16.4 goes from zero to 62 mph faster than you can say whiplash - in 2.5 seconds – and races from zero to186 mph in a mere 15 seconds.
The car will go into production this fall, but Bugatti is manufacturing only five models of this World Record Edition. With a special black exposed carbon and orange finish, the models look just like the one Raphanel raced into history.
But don’t expect to get your speed-loving hands on the car: All five have already been sold. Though, Bugatti does plan to make another a handful of other Veyrons with a top cruising speed of 258 mph.
