Skip to content
FastestThings

Cars

Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport

A two-way average of 431.072 km/h at Ehra-Lessien, with TÜV and a Guinness representative present. The press header date is ambiguous, so no calendar day is stored.

Post on X (opens in a new tab)

Top speed

Published as 431.072 km/hPublished as 431.072 km/hPublished as 431.072 km/h

Two-way average of 427.933 km/h and 434.211 km/h at Ehra-Lessien, Pierre Henri Raphanel, TÜV and a Guinness World Records representative present. The release is headed MOLSHEIM 7/4/2010, which does not fix the calendar day, so no test date is stored.

OfficialBugatti (opens source in a new tab)

In context

  • 4.1× a cheetah's timed top speedSourced · Cheetah, 29 m/s. Sharp 1997, mean of three timed runs over 201.2 m
  • 1.3 football fields a secondConstant · American football field, 100 yd (91.44 m)
  • London to New York in 12 h 55 minConstant · London to New York, 5,570 km great-circle

Worked out from the sourced figure above, which stays the ranked number.

This list

Why it's so fast

A car is fast when the force pushing it forward still beats the air, and when the tires and the gearing can use that force. A limiter is a different fact from an unlimited run.

  1. Drag and gearing

    Top speed is the balance point: thrust equals aerodynamic drag. The gearing has to still be pulling when the car gets there, or the engine falls off its power.

  2. What the sources signed

    A manufacturer claim, a magazine test and an electronic governor are not interchangeable. The measurement line says which one this page ranked.

A limited example is the Bugatti Chiron.

This is how the category works. A note written for this entry appears here once it is in the database.

Provenance

Every measurement

Claimed, measured and official figures side by side, each with its source. The ranked figure is marked.

  1. 431.072km/h268mph120m/s233knRanked figure

    Two-way average of 427.933 km/h and 434.211 km/h at Ehra-Lessien, Pierre Henri Raphanel, TÜV and a Guinness World Records representative present. The release is headed MOLSHEIM 7/4/2010, which does not fix the calendar day, so no test date is stored.

    Official
    Bugatti (opens source in a new tab)

Reference

Specs

Driver
Pierre Henri Raphanel
Venue
Ehra-Lessien
Passes
427.933 km/h and 434.211 km/h

Head to head

Compare Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport

Open the speed race

Spot a wrong number?

Every report is read by a person, and corrections are dated on the page.