Tag: veyron SS

The Guinness World Records office has been kept busy the last fortnight what with one Veyron losing the title of ‘World’s Fastest Production Car’, and another winning the title of ‘World’s Fastest Convertible’. Now Guinness has announced that the world record for fastest production car has been awarded back to the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport.

The record had been taken away after Guinness decided that the car used to achieve the 267.8 mph record speed didn’t qualify as a production car, since it had a deactivated speed limiter unlike the one sold to the public. With the speed limiter, the production Veyron SS was capable of hitting a ‘disappointing’ 258 mph.

Guinness gave the following statement to ‘Sunday Times’ of the UK explaining why the Veyron SS was given the title back,

Following a thorough review conducted with a number of external experts, Guinness World Records is pleased to announce the confirmation of Bugatti’s record of Fastest production car achieved by the Veyron 16.4 Super Sport. The focus of the review was with respect to what may constitute a modification to a car’s standard specification. Having evaluated all the necessary information, Guinness World Records is now satisfied that a change to the speed limiter does not alter the fundamental design of the car or its engine.

So Bugatti now owns both World’s Fastest Production Car and World’s Fastest Convertible speed records. But with the Hennessey Venom GT making waves, SSC’s Ultimate Aero TT and the awaited Tuatara as well as Koenigsegg’s claims of the Agera R capable of hitting 270 mph, expect this battle to heat up quickly.

If you’re the proud owner of a Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, you may want to look away. Guinness World Records have declared that the Veyron SS is not the world’s fastest production car as per the title it was awarded in 2010. The people at Guinness apparently overlooked the fact that the recrod-setting car had been modified with a deactivated speed limiter, which allowed the Veyron SS to hit a record 267.8 mph (431.07 kmph).

Guinness World Records states that the record-setting car must be mechanically identical to the one sold to customers. Here’s what  Jaime Strang, PR Director of the company had to say about the matter:

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. 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.

Bugatti is defiant of Guinness’ decision, saying that the production models only have a speed limiter for its customers’ safety and that Guinness was aware of the deactivated limiter on the test car. The production models are limited to ‘just’ 258 mph.

Bugatti’s record was challenged by an American car maker, Hennessey, which claims that its absurdly fast Venom GT should be the world’s fastest production car with a clocked speed of 265.7 mph. However the Venom GT’s speed hasn’t been recorded in the right conditions, which includes an average of two timed runs in opposite directions among other factors. Due to this, the record is most likely to be reverted to the previous holder at 256.1 mph, the Shelby SuperCars Ultimate Aero TT.