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The Bugatti Veyron beaters
The £830,000 Bugatti Veyron is the world’s fastest car, capable of 253mph.
Each week we’re bombarded with news of another ‘Veyron-bashing’ automotive beast.
But who are the real contenders for the fastest car crown? Adrian Hearn looks at the new breed of hypercars.
Acabion GTO
The most insane production car EVER, the 360kg Acabion GTO is known as a 2+2 concept – driving on four wheels at low speed and two wheels when the numbers get big.
It uses a turbocharged superbike engine producing 1,500bhp per ton. The result is a claimed 0-224mph time of 20 seconds and a 342mph top speed.
However, Acabion have limited the top speed to a more conservative 292mph. And at 62mph, it manages 75mpg.
Just 26 will be built between 2007 and 2011 with each model taking three years to make and costing a cool £1 million.
Bristol Fighter T
With the Fighter T, secretive British car company Bristol has fitted an 8-litre V10 producing 1,012bhp and 1,036lb/ft of pulling power.
Accelerating from 0-60mph in 3.5 seconds the Fighter T has a top speed of 270mph, or so they claim.
But Bristol has electronically limited the hypercar’s top speed to 225mph.
270mph British supercar announced
HTT Locus Plethore
A Canadian hypercar? You better believe it. The Locus Plethore has an 8.2-litre V8 producing a claimed 1,300bhp.
And it shares similarities with the legendary McLaren F1, boasting a carbon fibre shell and a central driving position, meaning it can accommodate a driver and two passengers.
HTT Tech said earlier this week the completed Plethore prototype would be ready for testing by the end of the year, so watch this space.
Canadian hypercar more powerful than Veyron
Koenigsegg CCXR
Krazy with a capital K, the Koenigsegg CCXR is green and mean. The Swedes have taken the 245mph CCX – which Top Gear’s The Stig famously crashed – and converted it to run on biofuel, meaning a 25 per cent power boost to a whopping 1,018bhp.
Knowing the power and ruthlessness of its tamer 806bhp sibling, Top Gear treaded carefully with the CCXR when testing it before passing the monster on to a Koenigsegg engineer.
Who then crashed it at 120mph.
Sexy green machines
Koenigsegg unveil world's fastest green car
The incredible Koenigsegg CCX
SSC Ultimate Aero
‘Life begins at 250’ is the slogan of little-known American car maker Shelby SuperCars. They’ve put a 1,183bhp twin-turbocharged engine under the hood of carbon fibre body. The result is 0-60mph in 2.78 seconds and a claimed top speed of 273mph.
But while the Veyron’s interior oozes finesse, the Ultimate Aero’s grey inside looks like it has been taken from an Eighties Volvo.
But it doesn’t drive like an Eighties Volvo. It was recently speed tested hitting 241mph using just 70 per cent of the throttle.
In the next effort, recorded by Guinness, the speed will be measured with satellites and onboard sensors by a company called Dewetron, who normally test the speeds of missiles and planes.
Look at the Wheels on That: SSC Ultimate Aero
9FF GT9
Porsche tuners 9FF have taken a 911 and made it angry. In cooperation with German suspension company H&R, they’ve beefed-up the stockbroker’s favourite to an incredible 987bhp.
And 9FF – unlike some of the less-known names – have serious credentials.
In the past, they built an 840bhp Porsche which hit 241mph, and with the GT9’s added power, it could displace the Veyron from the supercar throne when it’s tested later this year.
Verdict:
There’s a good chance the Veyron’s record as the fastest car in the world will be beaten sooner rather than later. These rival cars have copious amounts of power crammed under the bonnet of vehicle weighing less than a supermodel’s lunch.
But the Veyron took years of research and development with the gearbox alone taking 50 mechanics five years to perfect.
It’s the perfect hypercar, beautifully engineered, while many of these rivals have just had large engines strapped with massive turbochargers put under the hood of a giant go-kart.
On a straight, the Veyron may be beaten, but as an overall petrolhead’s car, it’s going to take more than a top speed to beat.
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