Bugatti Veyron record stripped

GUINNESS has stripped the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport hypercar of its top-speed world-record after it was discovered a speed limiter had been deactivated for the attempt.

In accordance with Guinness’ rules, any vehicle attempting to become the world’s fastest production car cannot be modified from standard.

By deviating from this rule, the vehicle used to set the record effectively wasn’t one of the minimum 50 production examples necessary to comply with the strict guidelines.

The ‘standard’ Veyron Super Sport has a factory-limited top speed of 415 km/h but it managed to top-out at 431 km/h during the record attempt.

The announcement from Guinness has prompted other supercar manufacturers to pounce on the orphaned record.

American sports car tuner Hennessey is arguing that their Lotus Exige based Venom GT deserves the now unallocated world record claiming to have previously achieved a top speed of 427.6 km/h.

However, the result was recorded using Hennessey’s own data-logging equipment and, until a figure can be recorded by Guinness, the speed will remain unofficial.

A spokeswoman for Bugatti gave a somewhat apathetic response stating: “It’s not a hard blow if we loose this title. The Super Sport is more than just a world-record car”.

Perhaps the lack of concern is very much a case of Bugatti knowing something we don’t, as shots of a new convertible Veyron variant were leaked today.

Bugatti has officially released a tantalising image of an aircraft hangar door ajar accompanied by the promise that it will reveal “the latest example of exceptional performance” adding to speculation that the mysterious car may be lined up to debut at the upcoming Shanghai motor show.

If reports that the super drop-top has already been pushed to 409 km/h are true then Bugatti is in the running for the fastest production convertible world record – so the trophy cabinet may not stay empty for long.