Spend a little time traveling this planet and you’ll come up with dozens or maybe hundreds of ways to experience speed. Strap on rollerblades and cruise down Lombard Street in San Francisco. Jump off the Pont du Gard Aqueduct in France with a bungee cord attached to your back. Pay a relatively small sum to any airline and cruise to 567 miles per hour at over 30,000 feet. Or, better yet, hop in the number one car on this list in order to top out at over 255mph on tarmac. These are the fastest “production cars” on the planet; the vehicles that will affix your cranium to the headrest.
#10 - PORSCHE CARRERA GT: As the only V10 to make its presence known as one of the world’s ten fastest production cars, the Porsche is an oddball. The Carrera GT is also the only German-badged car in the top ten. Nevertheless, Porsche’s entry is a genuine beauty among stylistically-challenged cars. Carrera GTs topped out at 205 miles per hour and couldn’t accelerate from a stop very easily as a result of sensitive clutches. Still, the Porsche’s charms are legion. In this case, the willigness to build an all-rounder when the world was crying out for 400km/h is admirable.
#9 - LAMBORGHINI MURCIELAGO LP640: Its ancestors include the Miura, Countach, and Diablo. In fact, the regular Murcielago featured a V12 with 572 horsepower. That’s not crazy enough for Lambo, of course. LP640 versions of the Murcielago supersize the V12 to 6.5 litres. The end results include 631 horsepower, 487 lb-ft of torque, and 211 miles per hour at a price of “just” $384,200; quite low in this heady class.
#8 - PAGANI ZONDA F: Named for its owner, Horacio Pagani, the Zonda F is the most outlandishly designed vehicle in this top ten. Wing mirrors are perched high atop the windshield. Headlights are as bug-eyed as anything this side of a… bug. Inside, Horacio went crazy for quilted leather and machined metalworks. Don’t expect many other cars in this grouping to out-fun the Zonda F on a country road. Then again, all but two can top its 215mph top speed.
#7 - JAGUAR XJ220: Selling the lengthy XJ220 was Jaguar’s greatest problem related to their 1991 supercar. Engineering the 3.5L twin-turbo V6 to reach 542 horsepower on a dynamometer was a truly great struggle, too. Don’t forget the cost-cutting efforts that included the fitment of Citroen rearview mirrors. That wasn’t easy. On the other hand, hitting 217mph was actually anticlimactic.
#6 - FERRARI ENZO: Though we mocked it before ever reaching production for its name and design, the Enzo was no joke on the racetrack. Helped by its challenging style in drag tunnels, the Enzo used a naturally-aspirated V12 to reach 217 miles per hour while firmly stuck to the asphalt.
#5 - MCLAREN F1: Out of production since 1998, the McLaren F1 is still remembered as the greatest of drivers’ cars. Sure, newer cars have outclassed it on the drag strip. Older cars may even be prettier. Nothing comes close to the sheer pull, the draw of an F1. BMW supplied the 627-bhp V12. No turbochargers can be found in the engine bay of the McLaren. This is the fastest of the pure cars; a vehicle that deserves great prominence as an oldie that fits in with modern competition even if 240mph doesn’t cut it in 2009.
#4 - KOENIGSEGG CCX: Looking forward to 2011 or perhaps 2013, Christian von Koenigsegg will almost surely have placed his Swedish supercar atop this list. He might even do so with E85 fuel. The CCX’s engine is originally a Ford V8. But with dual superchargers and 806 horsepower, this engine bears little similarity to its American core. The 245mph Koenigsegg isn’t yet a household name. Get ready to hear it more frequently in the years to come.
#3 - SALEEN S7 TWIN TURBO: When America’s foremost Mustang tuner wanted to be recognized as a veritable manufacturer, Steve Saleen looked to 248mph to do the trick. As if the regular S7’s ability to theoretically drive upside-down in a tunnel wasn’t spectacular enough, the twin-turbocharged S7 sought out the assistance of 750 horses and a 3.70:1 final drive ratio in order to reach 248mph.
#2 - BUGATTI VEYRON: As a car which utilizes four turbochargers and sixteen cylinders in a W formation, one can’t act surprised when discovering the Bugatti’s prominent place on this list. Veyron supporters point to substantial sales measuring in the hundreds as reason to place the French car in the number one slot, ahead of supercars that sell in single digits. 253mph is possible with Volkswagen’s approval and appropriate tires. Normal everyday life is just that: normal. The Bugatti Veyron is ridiculously luxurious, comes with an automatic transmission, and sends 1,000 horsepower to all four wheels.
#1 - SSC ULTIMATE AERO: At 257mph, this Shelby-built supercar is a twin-turbocharged missile. Barely reaching “production” status, the Ultimate Aero remains in production with a sticker price of over $650,000. Compared with normal cars like the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry, the SSC is a lightweight at only 2,750 pounds. With 1,183 horses, it requires very little throttle to move along rather nicely.
Written by Timothy Cain