Fastest production car

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This is a history of the world's fastest mass produced, street-legal cars (as opposed to concept cars or modified cars).

The first automobile ever produced was the Benz Patent Motorwagen, built in 1886 by Karl Benz. Unique and consequently the fastest, it established a record speed of 16 km/h (10 mph). More than a century later, in September 2007, the SSC Ultimate Aero TT registered the latest record, for a production car, of 411.76 km/h (256.15 mph).

It is of note that the base model of many of the vehicles listed is vastly lower in maximum speed than limited edition or very rare production models, which may or may not in themselves not fall into the category of 'production car'.

[edit] Record Holders

Date	Car	Speed		Comment
		km/h	mph
1901	Mercedes 35 hp	85	53
1903	Mercedes 60 hp	96	60
1921	Bentley 3 Litre Super Sports	160	100
1926	Bentley 4½ Litre	160	100
1929	Mercedes-Benz SSK Murphy Roadster	210	130.5
1929	Bentley 4½ Litre Supercharged	222.02	137.96
1932	Duesenberg SJ	217	135[1]
1953	Pegaso Z-102 Supercharged	244.62	152[2]
1954	Mercedes-Benz 300SL	250	155[3]
1955	Ferrari 410 Superamerica	261	162.2 [4]
1955	Mercedes-Benz 300SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé	273.58	170	A road-legal version of the 300SLR racecar
1962	Ferrari 250 GTO	279.06	173.4 [5]	A homologation car of which just 36 were produced
1968	Ferrari Daytona GTB/4	281	175[6]
1970	Monteverdi Hai 450	283	176 [7]
1970	Lamborghini Miura P400 SV	288.07	179	150 built, technically the first Supercar, the term was coined by a distinguished auto journalist reviewing the car. (385HP)
1984	Ferrari 288 GTO	304	189[8]	272 built, was to compete in the new Group B Race series, but the series was soon abandoned and the 288 GTO never raced thus all 272 cars built remained purely road cars. (400HP)
1986	Porsche 959	317	197[9]	268 built, one of the first high-performance vehicles to use an all-wheel-drive system.(450HP)
1987	Ferrari F40	324	201[10]	1350 built, the F40 was the last car commissioned by Enzo before his death and was debuted during Ferrari's 40th anniversary. (470HP)
1987	RUF CTR	339	212[11]	Only 29 built, Ruf made only 29 CTRs from chassis bought from Porsche; most of the CTRs produced were converted from existing customer's Carreras, (468HP)
1991	Bugatti EB110 GT	340	213[12]
1992	Bugatti EB110 SS	347.6	216[13]
1993	Jaguar XJ220	349.2	217 [14]	Official speed recorded in 1993 at Nardo test track driven by Martin Brundle.
1994	McLaren F1	371	231[15]	At factory rev limit, recorded at Nardo test track driven by Jonathan Palmer.
March 31, 1998	McLaren F1	386.4	240.1	This was achieved in Germany on the Volkswagen proving ground by Andy Wallace using the XP5 prototype, which is essentially the same as the production version except for the notable lack of a rev limiter.
February 28, 2005	Koenigsegg CCR	387.87	241.01
April 19, 2005	Bugatti Veyron	408.47 [16]	253.81	Recorded by German governmental inspection officials on April 19, 2005.
October 9, 2007	SSC Ultimate Aero TT	412.28	256.18[17]	Verified by Guinness World Records on October 9, 2007 as the fastest production car.[18]

[edit] See also

• List of fastest cars by acceleration
• History of the automobile
• Land speed record

[edit] References

• Wood, Jonathan - The Ultimate History of Fast Cars - Parragon Publishing, 2005 - ISBN 1-4054-5467-9
• Brown, Langworth, and Auto Editors of Consumer Guide - Great Cars of The 20th Century - Publications International, 1998 - ISBN 0-7853-2523-9

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