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Lamborghini and Ferrari build cars that exceed 200mph. These can go significantly quicker than that…

Back in the late 1800s, during the dawn of the motorised carriage, the fastest cars in the world - such as Karl Benz's Patent Motorwagen - could achieve a heady 10mph.

On a good day. With a lightweight driver and a favourable wind. Today, nearly 140 years of development has pushed the very fastest cars past the 300mph mark.

The Benz’s brave driver could cover just 4.4 metres per second; while in 2019, with Andy Wallace behind the wheel, the Bugatti Chiron covered 136 metres per second.

It’s a fearsome prospect, and there are only a handful of places on Earth where cars of this calibre can reach their V-max, yet there’s no shortage of car manufacturers vying for top honours.

These include Bugatti, SSC, Hennessey, Koenigsegg and Zenvo, all of which hail from different countries around the world and are looking to become the successors to the current record holder. As a result, many of these cars are also the world's fastest-accelerating cars

With that in mind, here are the fastest production road cars by the numbers, judged against manufacturer figures when they were tested on an airfield or a dedicated test track.

1. Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+ - 304.7mph

https://zephr.autocar.co.uk/Bugatti%20Chiron%20Super%20Sport%20300%2B

The undisputed top speed champion is once again a Bugatti.

Limited to 30 customer cars, like the Veyron Super Sport, this purpose-built speed machine was taken to 304.773mph by British racing veteran Andy Wallace at the Volkswagen Group’s Ehra-Lessien test track.

Appropriately nicknamed Thor (because it brings the thunder), the Chiron Super Sport’s quad-turbocharged W16 engine produced 1578bhp in record-setting guise. It was given a new gearbox with longer ratios and front and rear bumpers optimised for high-speed runs.

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2. SSC Tuatara - 295mph

https://zephr.autocar.co.uk/SSC%20Tuatara

Mired in controversy from the outset, the SSC Tuatara’s initial claim of an ‘official’ 331mph top speed run was quickly debunked following accusations of misleading video ‘evidence’ and some belated admissions that there may have been ‘accuracy’ issues with the data logging kit.

However, with its twin-turbocharged 5.9-litre V8 developing 1750bhp when running on E85 bioethanol fluid, the Tuatara is clearly no slouch, as owner Larry Caplin proved when he logged a verified 295mph at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in early 2022.

3. Zenvo Aurora - 280mph (claimed)

https://zephr.autocar.co.uk/Zenvo%20Aurora

This quad-turbocharged V12 hypercar also packs three electric motors, giving it a combined output of 1850bhp.

That's enough for it to arrive at 62mph from a standstill in a claimed 2.3sec – 0.1sec quicker than the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport – and it will go on to hit 280mph, according to Zenvo.

Perhaps more impressive is the acceleration of the shorter-geared Aurora Agil model, which dispatches a 0-186mph sprint in roughly 10sec.

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4. Koenigsegg Agera RS - 277.8mph

https://zephr.autocar.co.uk/Koenigsegg%20Agera%20RS%20

When it used a customer's Agera RS to earn the outright world record top speed in 2017, Koenigsegg also took the record for the highest speed ever recorded on a public road.

Mercedes had held that particular crown since 1938, when a highly modified W125 grand prix car managed 268mph on a closed stretch of autobahn.

As an indication of 80 years of progress, the Agera RS was entirely standard, with Koenigsegg's optional 1MW engine package producing a colossal 1360bhp.

5. Hennessey Venom F5 - 271.6mph

https://zephr.autocar.co.uk/Hennessey%20Venom%20F5

Unlike its Lotus Exige-based predecessor, the Hennessey Venom F5 is a bespoke build from the ground up - a first for the American firm.

Featuring a carbonfibre tub and a twin-turbocharged 6.6-litre V8 that packs a monstrous 1817bhp and gearbox-shredding 1193lb ft, the F5 sprints from 0-250mph in just 15.5sec – half the time of the Bugatti Chiron.

Hennessey also promises a top speed of 341mph, although 271.6mph is as fast as the car has gone so far.

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6. Hennessey Venom GT - 270.4mph

https://zephr.autocar.co.uk/Hennessey%20Venom%20GT

It was the Venom GT (which also used the Lotus Exige as its foundation) that would go on to steal the record from Bugatti – although not without controversy.

In February 2014, on the 3.2-mile space shuttle landing runway at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, it recorded a one-way speed of 270.49mph.

However, Nasa wouldn’t let Hennessey attempt a run in the opposite direction, so it didn’t qualify for an official Guinness World Record.

7. Bugatti Veyron Super Sport - 267.8mph

https://zephr.autocar.co.uk/Bugatti%20Veyron%20Super%20Sport

Unhappy about losing the record – and at the hands of American upstart SSC – Bugatti gave the Veyron a substantial overhaul in a bid to reclaim the top-speed title.

The Veyron Super Sport was limited to just 30 cars, each one boosted to 1184bhp and featuring an aerodynamic overhaul to cope with the forces generated beyond 250mph.

In July 2010, Bugatti test driver Pierre-Henri Raphanel lapped the Ehra-Lessien oval at 267.856mph.

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8. Aspark Owl - 258mph

https://zephr.autocar.co.uk/Aspark%20Owl%20

It seems as if a new hyper-EV is launched every week, but few can lay claim to bragging rights like Japan's Aspark Owl can.

Like the Rimac Nevera, it claims a clutch of records: at 258mph, it's the fastest electric car money can buy, and it recorded a 192mph average speed over an eighth of a mile and 198.12mph in the quarter mile.

Aspark says the Owl is fitted with a “unique” battery pack and claims a 280-mile range – although its 64kWh lithium ion pack is smaller than those fitted by Rimac and Lotus.

9. Rimac Nevera - 258mph

https://zephr.autocar.co.uk/

If ever there was a car that put to bed the myth that electric cars were slow, it was the Rimac Nevera.

The Croatian hypercar has clocked 258mph, making it the joint-fastest electric car in the world. It’s also the world’s fastest-accelerating production car over the quarter mile (8.582sec), it can accelerate from 0-62mph in 1.95sec and it can do 0-100mph in 4.3sec.

If there’s a caveat, it’s that customer cars are limited to ‘just’ 219mph, but Rimac can override this to achieve V-max at official Rimac events.

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10. SSC Ultimate Aero TT - 256.1mph

https://zephr.autocar.co.uk/SSC%20Ultimate%20Aero%20TT

SSC, then known as Shelby Supercars, produced the Ultimate Aero for seven years – not an especially long lifespan but long enough to overtake Bugatti in the top speed stakes.

In September 2007, the 1183bhp, twin-turbocharged V8 hypercar used a temporarily closed two-lane stretch of public road near the company’s Washington headquarters to set an average top speed of just over 256mph. 

FAQs

Where are land speed records set?

There are only a handful of places on earth where these hypercars can truly stretch their legs. The Nardo Ring in Italy is a 7.8-mile-long circular track, and its banking famously allows cars to travel at up to 149mph with no steering input required from the driver. Bugatti uses its Ehra-Lessien facility with its 5.4-mile straight, while Hennesey prefers the space shuttle runway at the Kennedy Space Centre. Closed sections of autobahn and airstrips have also been used.

What was the first car to set a speed record?

The Mercedes Velo was the first production car, so became the unofficial holder of the world’s fastest car accolade in 1894. Some 1,200 Velos were built, and they could achieve a dizzying 12mph.

What was the first car to go 200mph?

Road legal cars had gone faster, but in terms of regular production cars, the Ferrari F40 was the first to break the 200mph barrier. Ferrari claimed a 4.1sec 0-62 time and a 200.88mph maximum. This, along with its stunning chassis and technological advances means it’s still considered one of the greatest Ferraris ever made.

Can a car go 400mph?

Short answer: not yet. Since 2019, the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport has been the only car proven capable of more than 300mph, but the Koenigsegg Jesko and Hennessey Venom F5 could yet beat it. Speeds like these pose engineers a stern challenge in terms of power, aerodynamics and even tyre wear, so it’s hugely complicated and expensive to achieve even a small gain. But still manufacturers keep trying, so the prospect of a 400mph hypercar is a very real one. Just one that we’re not going to see any time soon.

What is the fastest land speed record ever?

The current land speed record holder, rather surprisingly, doesn’t wear number plates. Thrust SSC was powered by two Rolls-Royce Spey jet engines – as used in the RAF’s Phantom II fighter – and achieved 763mph in October 1997, and in so doing became the first car ever to break the sound barrier. That its record has stood for more than two and a half decades is proof of the technical complexity, cost and danger of these runs.

Jonathan Bryce

Jonathan Bryce
Title: Editorial Assistant

Jonathan is an editorial assistant working with Autocar. He has held this position since March 2024, having previously studied at the University of Glasgow before moving to London to become an editorial apprentice and pursue a career in motoring journalism. 

His role at work involves running Autocar's sister title Move Electric, which is most notably concerned with electric cars. His other roles include writing new and updating existing new car reviews, and appearing on Autocar's social media channels including Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

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russ13b 5 September 2024

Instead of just discussing top speed an 0-60, servicing and maintenance requirements would be nice to hear about for a change. Assuming no failures to proceed, if you did 10,000 miles per year for 10 years, what would you have to load into the parts cannon?

growupp 25 September 2021

The earth is changing very fast pepole loves the speed here we have many cars those are very fastest car in the world, for knowing the fastest cars you must have visit the website

LouSiThames 24 July 2023
Learn to spell & form proper sentences.
russ13b 5 September 2024

You could be talking to a bot, and, English isn't everyone's first language.

whereever707 25 September 2021

 

Well, here we are nearly four years on, we've gone through 300mph, 0-60mph now under 2seconds. if you want to know more about cars checked it our websites.

 

 
 
LouSiThames 24 July 2023
Learn proper English