Bugatti now has two world records under its belt: the production car land speed record and the production car land speed record for an open-top car.
While the first record, which stands at 267.8 mph, was set almost three years ago by the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, the second was set only this month by Bugatti’s aptly named Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse World Record Car.
The World Record Car was driven to a top speed of 408.84 kilometers per hour (254.04 mph) on the Volkswagen Group’s Ehra-Lessien test track, renowned for its 5.6-mile straight, by Chinese racing driver Anthony Liu.
This video captures all the action from Liu’s epic run and is proof that the Veyron has been engineered to such a magnitude that the car’s stability and cabin ambience remains pleasant even when driving roofless at speeds faster than that of a passenger jet at takeoff.
The World Record Car isn’t exactly a new model, as it is essentially a Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse with its speed limiter removed. The Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse’s top speed was limited to 233 mph in the interest of safety
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It features the same quad-turbocharged, 8.0-liter W-16 engine found in all Veyrons, but its peak output of 1,183 horsepower (1,200 in metric figures) and 1,106 pound-feet of torque matches that of the Veyron Super Sport.
The record-breaking car was recently presented at the 2013 Shanghai Auto Show and will spawn eight additional examples, each priced from 1.99 million euros (approximately $2.61 million). Unlike the Veyron Super Sport, which had its speed limited to 10 mph below the 267.8-mph record when sold to the public, all eight examples of the new World Record Car destined for public sale will be able to reach the 254-mph record for an open-top car.
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