It is generally known and accepted by the automotive world that the Bugatti Veyron is one of the fastest production car in the world, with the Super Sport variant tops the chart. Leaving cars like the Koenigsegg Agera R and the SSC Ulitmate Aero behind with its colossal top speed of 429 km/h, the massive W16 engine produces 1,200-horsepower and coupled with complex aerodynamic truly gives the Super Sport the edge and rights to claim such title; or is it?
After three years of being crowned as the fastest production car in the world, this prestigious title is being stripped off from the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport by the Guinness World Records. Why? It seems that the car they used to make the record-breaking run back in July 2010, which was also featured on Top Gear, had its speed restrictor deactivated.
This speed restrictor could be found on each of the 30 cars sold to the public, but an enquiry made by Driving.co.uk revealed this dirty little secret Bugatti has been hiding all these years. “It has come to the attention of Guinness World Records that there was an oversight in its adjudication of the ‘Fastest Production Car’ which was set in 2010 by the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport”, said Jaime Strang, the PR Director of Guinness World Records.
“As the car’s speed limiter was deactivated, this modification was against the official guidelines. Consequently, the vehicle’s record set at 431.072 km/h is no longer valid. Following this, Guinness World Records is reviewing this category with expert external consultants to ensure our records fairly reflect achievements in this field”, he added.
But Bugatti is not going down without a fight, and a spokeswoman from the company claimed that “Guinness knew the Veyron’s speed limiter was deactivated but that for safety reasons, cars subsequently sold to customers have their speed limiters activated (at 415 km/h)”.
So if the Super Sports is out of the game, who do you think stands a shot in grabbing the title; could it be the Swedish missile Agera R or the American muscle SSC Ultimate Aero? Or could this be Hennessey’s Venom GT queue to set its foot into the record books?
