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Bugatti Veyron reinstated by Guinness as “world’s fastest production car”

Motoramic

Bugatti has been in and out of the news recently, for both good and bad. Firstly, the brand was stripped of its title as the"world's fastest production car" after deactivating the restrictor that limits the car's top speed during its record run. Bugatti rebounded from that knock by announcing yesterday that its Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse secured the record as the "world's fastest convertible," managing a speed of 254 mph. Keeping with the good news, Guinness World Records announced today that it has in fact now reinstated the Veyron Super Sport as the "fastest production car in the world," returning the 1,200 hp hypercar to its rightful spot as number one.

Let's recap what happened here. This is Guinness's original statement declaring the stripping:

“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 Consequently, the vehicle’s record set at 431.072 km/h is no longer valid. As we are now reviewing this category with expert external consultants there is no current record holder.”

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This latest announcement from Guinness, received today, backtracks somewhat from their original statement, claiming that the deactivation was not as problematic as they initially believed:

"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 there you have it, the Veyron stands as number one. Again. And if we're honest, a restrictor that limits the car by a mere 9.8 mph to protect crazy customers attempting to surpass 258 mph is not much of reason to lose it in the first place. Not having that restriction, allowing drivers to potentially surpass what is deemed a "safe" speed for tires to withstand, remains even crazier.

As we've heard a lot recently, Hennessey Performance claim its Venom GT remains "the fastest production car available to the public" at 265.7 mph. But who cares? In the eyes of Guinness, the 267.8 mph Veyron remains king.