Skip to main content
Tech Radar TechRadar the technology experts
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
RSS
Asia
flag of Singapore
Singapore
Europe
flag of Danmark
Danmark
flag of Suomi
Suomi
flag of Norge
Norge
flag of Sverige
Sverige
flag of UK
UK
flag of Italia
Italia
flag of Nederland
Nederland
flag of België (Nederlands)
België (Nederlands)
flag of France
France
flag of Deutschland
Deutschland
flag of España
España
North America
flag of US (English)
US (English)
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of México
México
Australasia
flag of Australia
Australia
flag of New Zealand
New Zealand
  • Phones
  • Computing
  • TVs
  • AI
  • Streaming
  • Health
  • Audio
  • VPN
  • More
    • Cameras
    • Home
    • News
    • Reviews
    • Opinion
    • How to
    • Versus
    • Deals
    • Coupons
    • Best
Tech Radar Pro
Tech Radar Gaming
Trending
  • Amazon Prime Day
  • Smart Home Week
  • Nintendo Switch 2
  • Best VPN
  • ChatGPT
  • Best web hosting
  • NYT Wordle today
  • Best laptop

Recommended reading

MG Cyberster/Maserati Grancabrio Folgore
Hybrid & Electric Vehicles These are the top four electric sports cars I’ve driven – and they show electrification doesn’t mean boring
Best EV 2025
Hybrid & Electric Vehicles I review EVs for a living – these are the 7 best electric cars I’ve tested in 2025 so far
McMurtry Spéirling Record
Hybrid & Electric Vehicles Holy downforce! This fan-powered EV just became the world’s first to drive upside down – and it’s more than just a party trick
Forza Horizon 5 featuring sports cars and a plane
Gaming Best racing games 2025
A Crucial T705 SSD on a pink desk mat
Pro Fastest SSD of 2025
Zeekr 007 GT
Hybrid & Electric Vehicles Zeekr's new 007 GT looks like the ultimate family EV – with 10-minute charging and over 500 miles of range
Shanghai Motor Show 2025
Hybrid & Electric Vehicles The 5 most exciting new EVs from the Shanghai Auto Show 2025 that could launch globally
  1. Vehicle Tech

The 5 fastest production cars in the world

News
By Lewis Leong published 20 June 2016

You'll never go this fast, but it's nice knowing you could.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

The fastest cars in the world

The fastest cars in the world

Like the intro video to Forza 6 says, we don't know why we race but it's inevitable that we do. One of the reasons we do race is to see how fast we can go. Every year, car manufacturers try to one-up each other with a more powerful, faster accelerating and ridiculously priced cars.

One of the most revered speed metrics is top speed. Foot to the floor, how fast can a car go before hitting maximum velocity. The faster a car goes, the more engineering challenges arise. You have to account for aerodynamic drag, cooling, reliability and car makers even have to work with tire companies to create special tires that can withstand the blistering speeds.

Here is our list of the five fastest cars in the world. Race cars and jet engine powered land speed record cars need not apply.

Page 1 of 7
Page 1 of 7
Koenigsegg One:1 (273 mph / 440 kph)

Koenigsegg One:1 (273 mph / 440 kph)

The Koenigsegg One:1 may have an odd name, but there's meaning behind it. The goal of the car was to get 1 horsepower for every kilogram of weight, and the One:1 delivers just that. The entire car weighs just 2,998 lbs (1360 kg) and produces 1,161 horsepower using regular pump gas from its twin-turbo 5.0L V8. Use ethanol or race gas and that number jumps to a blistering 1,341 horsepower.

Koenigsegg One:1

The funny thing is that Koenigsegg didn't build the One:1 to be a top speed record breaker. It just happens to go 273 mph. Instead, the One:1 is built to go around corners. It features active aerodynamics that can generate over 1,322 lbs (600 kg) of downforce, carbon fiber everything (even its wheels) and a GPS that can set the suspension to the optimal setting for specific tracks.

Only seven One:1s were made and sold for $2.8 million (£1,936,108) each.

Page 2 of 7
Page 2 of 7
9ff GT9 Vmax (271 mph / 437 kph)

9ff GT9 Vmax (271 mph / 437 kph)

You may not have heard of 9ff, but the German tuning company created one of the fastest production cars in the world. The 9ff GT9 Vmax started out life as a Porsche 911, but you wouldn't know with all the custom work done to it. Its body is styled after the legendary Porsche GT1 LeMans race car to help direct airflow at high speeds.

9ff GT9 Vmax

The 9ff GT9 Vmax features a 4.2L twin-turbo flat six engine that puts out 1,381 horsepower and 855 lb-ft of torque. That's enough to push the 2954 lb (1340 kg) car to 100 kph (62.1 mph) in just 3.1 seconds. The car will reach 300 kph (186.4 mph) in a blistering 13 seconds, all the way up to its 271.53 mph (437 kph) top speed. That's faster than the Bugatti Veyron and on par with the American Hennessey Venom GT.

And the price for all this performance? $1.16 million (€895,000).

Page 3 of 7
Page 3 of 7
Hennessey Venom GT (270 mph / 435 kph)

Hennessey Venom GT (270 mph / 435 kph)

The Hennessey Venom GT was a controversial car when it debuted back in 2011. The car was involved in a public battle with the Bugatti Veyron to take the Guinness record for the fastest car in the world. The Venom GT managed to reach 270.49 mph (435.31 kph) in 2014, but was disqualified from the Guinness record because it only performed its top speed run in one direction and only sold 16 cars at the time, failing to meet the 50 car quota to be classified as a production car.

Hennessey Venom GT

That didn't stop the Hennessey Venom GT from breaking other records. The car was able to pull from 0-300 kph in 13.63 seconds, beating the Koenigsegg Agera R as the fastest accelerating car in the world in 2013. Hennessey also claims the car could exceed its recorded 270.49 mph top speed if there was a longer stretch of road, as the car continued accelerating when it ran out of runway.

Hennessey Venom GT

Powering the Venom GT is a twin-turbo 7.0-liter Chevy V8 pumping out 1,244 horsepower and 1,155 lb-ft of torque. Combined with its light 2,743 lb (1,244 kg) weight and you can see why the Venom GT is one of the fastest cars ever made. And the price? $1.25 million (£862,842).

Page 4 of 7
Page 4 of 7
Bugatti Veyron 16.4 SS (268 mph / 431 kph)

Bugatti Veyron 16.4 SS (268 mph / 431 kph)

The Bugatti Veyron is a legendary car for many reasons. It delivered astonishing performance when it debuted in 2005 and shattered the world record for fastest car. The ridiculous amount of engineering impressed, with its W16 engine (basically two V8s smashed together) and four turbochargers. The car produced so much heat that it required 10 radiators to cool it down.

Bugatti Veyron

The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport was a more powerful version of the standard Veyron, producing 1,200 horsepower and 1,100 lb-ft of torque. The Super Sport can reach speeds of up to 268 mph, though the car is limited to 258 mph to prevent its street tires from disintegrating at high speed. This performance earned it the title of fastest street-legal production car in the world by the Guinness Book of World Records.

Bugatti Veyron

Only 30 of the Veyron Super Sports were made and were valued at £1.2 million ($1,734,660). All this will be moot when the Veyron's successor, the Chiron, arrives with a 1,500 horsepower W16 motor that will be limited to 261 mph for "road use."

Page 5 of 7
Page 5 of 7
SSC Ultimate Aero XT (273 mph / 439 kph)

SSC Ultimate Aero XT (273 mph / 439 kph)

Shelby Super Cars, or SSC for short, doesn't have anything to do with race legend Carroll Shelby, but it's made a lightning quick car nonetheless. The SSC Ultimate Aero XT features a twin-turbo V8 putting out 1,300 horsepower and 1,004 lb-ft of torque. That's enough to push the 2,800 lb (1,270 kg) car to a theoretical top speed of 273 mph, though it only reached 253 mph (439 kph) during testing.

SSC Ultimate Aero XT

Yes, the Ultimate Aero XT is another tuner car like the Hennessey Venom GT, but it's impressive nonetheless. Just don't expect the levels of luxury, technology and sophistication that the Bugatti Veyron or Koenigsegg One:1 provide.

Page 6 of 7
Page 6 of 7
Wrap up

Wrap up

Although all the cars on this list can exceed 250 miles per hour, it's highly unlikely any of its owners will reach their car's top speed. But there's something to be said about knowing that your car can go that fast, and knowing how much engineering has been poured into the car to get it to go that quickly.

Mclaren P1

Personally, top speed doesn't mean much to me. I'm much more interested in how a car can go around a corner and for that reason, my favorite hypercar is the McLaren P1. It's predecessor, the McLaren F1, held the top speed record for over a decade (240 mph) but the P1 is a decidedly different beast. The P1 was made to attack a race track with its lightweight carbon body, active aerodynamics and state-of-the-art hybrid system.

Mclaren P1

It's amazing to see the different approaches to reaching top speed by different car manufacturers and tuners alike. Hennessy simply crammed in a powerful engine into a light car while Bugatti used an exotic engine fitted to a luxury car. The cars couldn't be more different but they shared the same goal: going faster than the other guys.

Page 7 of 7
Page 7 of 7
Lewis Leong
Lewis Leong
Social Links Navigation
Lewis Leong is a freelance writer for TechRadar. He has an unhealthy obsession with headphones and can identify cars simply by listening to their exhaust notes.
Read more
MG Cyberster/Maserati Grancabrio Folgore
These are the top four electric sports cars I’ve driven – and they show electrification doesn’t mean boring
Best EV 2025
I review EVs for a living – these are the 7 best electric cars I’ve tested in 2025 so far
McMurtry Spéirling Record
Holy downforce! This fan-powered EV just became the world’s first to drive upside down – and it’s more than just a party trick
Forza Horizon 5 featuring sports cars and a plane
Best racing games 2025
A Crucial T705 SSD on a pink desk mat
Fastest SSD of 2025
Zeekr 007 GT
Zeekr's new 007 GT looks like the ultimate family EV – with 10-minute charging and over 500 miles of range
Latest in Vehicle Tech
A Tesla robotaxi on the road next to the interior of a Waymo car
I’m not buying the Tesla robotaxi hype – here’s why it’s still miles behind Waymo
Tesla robotaxi
Tesla’s self-driving robotaxis have finally hit the road – and their first, invite-only passengers are unsurprisingly impressed
VW ID Buzz AD
Forget Tesla's robotaxis – this new VW ID Buzz will soon be the sleekest self-driving ride on the roads
An electric car being charged next to an illustration of two EVs being charged at a gas station
This breakthrough battery tech could help EVs break the 1,000-mile range barrier – and give you a 190-mile boost in under four minutes
A Mini Countryman in green
My week with the Mini Countryman EV made me realize it was perfectly ok to appreciate the finer things in life
Best EV 2025
I review EVs for a living – these are the 7 best electric cars I’ve tested in 2025 so far
Latest in News
Samsung Galaxy Unpacked July 9 event invite
Is the Galaxy Z Fold or Flip ready to be an Ultra? Samsung just set July 9 as it's next Galaxy Unpacked
DJI Mini Pro 4 with controller
DJI Mini 5 Pro leaks give us our first glimpse of the beginner drone and a potential release date – here’s what we know
Some dark Samsung earbuds, backlit, on black background
Galaxy Buds Core spotted: Samsung India adds a launch date for earbuds that move you 'to the core'
A still from The Waterfront showing Holt McCallany driving a boat
Is this Netflix’s new Virgin River? The Waterfront is this week’s most-watched TV show that everyone’s talking about
Caution sign data unlocking hackers. Malicious software, virus and cybercrime, System warning hacked alert, cyberattack on online network, data breach, risk of website
Aflac could be the latest US insurance giant hit by a Scattered Spider cyberattack
A Tesla robotaxi on the road next to the interior of a Waymo car
I’m not buying the Tesla robotaxi hype – here’s why it’s still miles behind Waymo
LATEST ARTICLES
  1. 1
    5 things AI does in movies and TV I'm still waiting on
  2. 2
    Samsung mysteriously opens reservations for the next Galaxy devices - and yes, it's probably the Fold 7 and Flip 7
  3. 3
    Is the Galaxy Z Fold or Flip ready to be an Ultra? Samsung just set July 9 as it's next Galaxy Unpacked
  4. 4
    AMD will launch PCIe 6.0 devices next year but consumers will have to wait almost half a decade to get it - here's why
  5. 5
    Make ChatGPT remember who you are by doing these 5 simple things

TechRadar is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Contact Us
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Web notifications
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...