► New production car top speed record
► Koenigsegg Agera RS records 277.9mph
► Recorded on a closed motorway in Nevada
The world has a new fastest production car: the Koenigsegg Agera RS. The physics-cheating Swedish manufacturer’s 1341bhp supercar recorded a staggering top speed of 277.9mph on a closed stretch of Highway 160 in Nevada.
277.9mph – and that’s the average. In one direction, factory test driver Niklas Lija exceeded 284mph. The speed in other, uphill, upwind direction was 271mph.
You can watch the Agera’s record-breaking run recorded via VBOX data-logging above.
What is the Koenigsegg Agera RS?
It’s the final, ultimate model in the company’s long-serving Agera line. (Its replacement is in development – and it’s unlikely to be slower…)
Engine is a 5.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 with 1341bhp, chassis is carbon, price is well over £1m. You can read more about the Agera RS here.
The car used in the record was a customer car – the same one, in fact, that recently broke the Bugatti Chiron’s 0-249mph-0 record.
Where did the Koenigsegg record run happen?
Over two directions in an 11-mile stretch of Highway 160 between Las Vegas and Pahrump in Nevada, helpfully closed by the local authorities.
What has the Koenigsegg Agera RS beaten to take the record?
The Hennessey Venom GT, a 1451bhp Lotus Elise-based creation by a Texas-based engineering company, reached 270.49mph on the Space Shuttle landing runway at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in 2014.
Bugatti’s Veyron Super Sport reached 269.86mph at VW’s Ehra-Lessien test centre in 2010.
The latest Bugatti Chiron is currently limited to 261mph, but still has untapped potential. Tyres are the limiting factor, with the potential consequences of a tyre failure at 200mph+ fairly terrifying. The Koenigsegg reportedly ran standard Michelin Pilot Cup 2s.
Bugatti is expected to attempt an official top speed record with its Chiron in the near future, using a new tyre design from Michelin.
The day a production car cracks the magic, and frankly terrifying, 300mph mark, is getting closer…