The Jaguar XJ220 was the fastest production car in the world at the time of its debut, topping out at 213 mph with a twin-turbocharged V6 engine. It was a sensation – a half-a-million dollar sensation with celebrity owners from Elton John to the Sultan of Brunei (of course). 281 cars were built.
Tom Walkinshaw Racing was there from the beginning to aid in development. They developed the XJ220C race car that competed at Le Mans in 1993 – where it won the GT Class with drivers John Nielsen, David Brabham, and David Coulthard. That win was later revoked because the car that competed didn’t have catalytic converters.
Anyway, TWR built 6 road-going versions of the XJ220C dubbed the XJ220S. Power was upped from the standard 542 horsepower to a staggering 680 bhp. Top speed also jumped, this by 15 mph to 228 mph.
There are only a few of these cars, so they don’t sell too often. The last one I can find was at a dealer a few years ago for $295,000.
• 5th Place—Jaguar XJ220 1993 (runs at 217 Mph, 349.4 Kph)
In 1992, the famous British F1 driver Martin Brundle made an attempt to beat the record being held that year by the Bugatti EB110 SS 1992. He was able to break the record of the fastest production cars ever by driving the Jaguar XJ220 at 341 Kph on the Nardo Circuit. An interesting twist to the story caught the world’s attention. The Jaguar XJ220 was installed with catalytic converters that limited the potential output of the car, which became a disadvantage for other people who were aiming to beat the record. But by removing the converters, the rev limiter was increased to 7900 rpm from 7200 rpm, hence, improving the maximum speed. Brundle attempted to drive the Jaguar the second time with a higher speed with the mentioned specification, pushing the car to 349.4 Kph, which became a new record held by the Jaguar XJ220 for the next two years.
• 4th Place—McLaren F1 1994 (240.1 Mph, 386.7 Kph)
McLaren’s F1 made a mark in the history of supercars as one of the most famous car models in the world and also one of the fastest production cars ever. Not talking about the production models of the car, the F1’s attempt at beating the record was divided into two parts. First was the 1995 attempt, wherein a street legal car managed to beat the record holder Jaguar XJ220. The top speed held by the McLaren F1 was 372 Kph, and if the rev limited restriction of 7500 rpm was removed, some people claimed that it could have done a lot more.
The record on the world’s fastest production car, however, was set by the McLaren f1 in 1998, when race car driver Andy Wallace drove the standard road car from McLaren F1. The drive resulted to a max speed of 386.7 Kph, and that record was held for the next 7 years.
• 3rd Place—Koenigsegg CCR (240.1 Mph, 387.37 Kph)
he glory held by McLaren F1 ended after 7 years on February 28th, 2005. The record as the fastest production cars ever was broken by Koenigsegg CCR at 387.37 Kph. The standard Koenigsegg CCR was driven on the Nardo Circuit by Loris Bicocchi. The standard model aluminum V8 engine on 4.7 liters and was mated to a six speed manual transmission. The maximum output of the Koenigsegg CCR was at 806 horse power, with a 680 lb/ft torque. To be able to achieve such high performances, the Koenigsegg engineers installed a twin-screw supercharger from Lysholm, plus an exhaust system made of titanium which is known to be capable of highly improving the car’s overall performance.
• 2nd Place—Bugatti Veyron 2005 (253 Mph, 408.47 Kph
The Bugatti Veyron is not only a fastest production cars ever record holder, but also as one of the most filmed supercar. The record breaking Bugatti Veyron has an 8.0 liter W16 engine which is quad-turbocharged producing an optimum power of 987 horsepower, allowing it to accelerate from 0 to 62 mph in 50 seconds. The top speed achieved by Veyron was a whopping 408.47 Kph on the Ehra-Lessien grounds for testing.
1st Place—SSC Ultimate Aero 2007 (256.18 Mph, 412.28 Kph)
As of this moment, the SSC Ultimate Aero is the record holder of the fastest production cars ever, running at a maximum speed of 256.18 miles per hour or 412.28 Kph. This supercar is powered by a 6.35 L engine producing a whopping power of 1183 horsepower at 6,075 rpm with a torque of 1094 at 6,150 rpm. The rear drive mid-engine car boasts of forged 3 piece alloy wheels with Michelin Pilot Sport tires and huge ventilated discs on its front and rear wheels. The car broke speed records with its impressive acceleration of 0-100 kph in just 2.78 seconds, able to reach a quarter of a mile within 9.9 seconds at a speed of 144 mph. The top recorded speed reached 257.41 mph or 414.31 kph. Aside from these extraordinary figures, the SSC Ultimate Aero is a hypercar that comes with state of the art technologies plus ultra high end equipment such as navigation systems, LCD screens and a rear view camera.
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