What Is The Fastest Street Legal Sports Car?

Since the inception of the automobile era, there have been millions of automotive enthusiasts who have tried to make their cars go faster. Speed has been an obsession of the human race from the times of just horses, then chariots and now, the automobile. While determining the fastest street legal sports car in the world is difficult as there is no sanctioning body to govern these tests, the Guinness Book of World Records has intervened to try and settle this argument. They have established a two pass system that is recorded and analyzed to determine the car's top speed. In recent times, due to the advances in automotive engineering and the understanding of aerodynamics, there have been several production sports cars to lay claim to the title of the fastest street legal sports car.

As one of the first sports cars to breach the 200 mile per hour barrier, in 1993, the Jaguar XJ220 reached a top speed of 213 miles per hour, thus becoming the first verified fastest production car in the world. While the Jaguar's reign as the fastest street legal car was short-lived, it has become an icon in the super car collector world. The Jaguar was displaced by the McLaren F1 in 1994. The McLaren F1 reached a top speed of 231 miles per hour. Since 1994, there have been numerous claims to the title of fastest street legal car, however, it wasn't until 2005, when the Koenigsegg CCR officially toppled the great McLaren. The Guinness Book of World Records recorded a top speed of 250.7 miles per hour for the CCR. To be the first production automobile, although very few were made, to top the 250 mile per hour barrier, was a tremendous success.

The success of the Koenigsegg was short-lived as well, as the Bugatti Veyron came on the market. At 253.81 miles per hour, this all wheel drive super car had the distinction as being the fastest street legal sports car for a couple of years. While still considered by many to be the penultimate of automotive technology, the Veyron has been overtaken at the top spot. In 2007, the SSC Ultimate Aero became the world's fastest street legal sports car with a verified top speed of 256.14 miles per hour. Barely enough to overcome the high standard set by the Veyron, the SSC has done just that. This record still stands to this day, however, modern technology will again prevail and another super car will be manufactured to not only top that 256 mile per hour speed, but to make the drivers and enthusiasts skip a few heartbeats in the process. As we await that automobile, we have an answer to the question of what is the fastest street legal sports car, and it is the SSC Ultimate Aero.

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Fastest Cars in the World