Some records are made to be broken and not just, as is the case with Barry Manilow?s Greatest Hits, through the use of a large hammer. The speed record for “production cars” has slowly crept upward over the years, but it now seems to have been pushed even higher after Koenigsegg drove an Agera RS to 277.9 mph on a closed section of Nevada highway over the weekend.
That?s 10 mph faster than the top speed that Bugatti achieved for a Veyron Super Sport (with its 258-mph speed limiter removed). Koenigsegg?s new record is even more impressive for having been recorded on a stretch of public highway rather than the more sterile environment of a test track. And if you were wondering just what four and a half miles a minute looks like, and how narrow a four-lane highway becomes at such velocities, timing partner Racelogic (the run was recorded and measured using a VBOX HD2) has helpfully supplied in-car footage taken on the 11-mile section of Nevada?s Route 160 between Las Vegas and Pahrump that was closed for the record attempt to take place on Saturday and Sunday. We?re mightily impressed by the fearless commitment shown by factory test driver Niklas Lilja.
According to Koenigsegg spokesman Steven Wade, peak speed was even higher?and you can see that in the video?but the record is taken from a two-way average over the same road. The car did 284.6 mph on the first run and then 271.2 mph on the return; the difference is explained by a rising gradient on the second ...