Back in Augustwe had told you about the Shelby Supercar (SCC) Ultimate Aero TT and its goal of usurping the Bugatti Veyron’s unofficial claim as fastest production car in the world. On September 14th The Ultimate Aero TT under the astute eyes of the Guinness Book of World Records finally made its speed run on a closed section of Washington State Highway. The recorded time as averaged from the two passes turned out to be 255.83 mph. Thus beating the Bugatti Veyron’s recorded time by just under 3 mph.

In the end the ultimate challenge for the SCC crew was in finding a suitable location to make their run at the record. Being a small research and production company means that they do not have the large test tracks in their possession that many of the large auto makers have at their disposal. When they located a long stretch of freshly paved highway near their headquarters in Washington state the next hurdle was in getting all the necessary permits and security to take over that two lane stretch of road.

Once everything was in place and the day of the run came about the sanctioning body of the Guinness Book of World Records arrived to record the event. The worlds top speed for a production car is measured by averaging two runs on the same road or track. The first run is in one direction while the second run is returning back the other direction in order to negate any wind or road benefit. The two runs are then averaged together to get a top speed.

The Ultimate Aero TT’s first run turned in its top speed of 257.11 mph while the return trip recorded a speed of 254.55 mph. According to test driver Chuck Bigelow the potential for a greater top speed is there, but do to having to maneuver the Aero TT through an S-turn at 210 mph some of the momentum was lost on highway. For a car with 1183-bhp and 1094 ft-lbs of torque and a drag coefficient of a mere .357 it seems quite possible the Ultimate Aero TT has a bit of room before it hits its top speed ceiling. According to aerodynamic wind tunnel testing the Aero TT’s body design is stable up to 273 mph.

While I may have ranted the other day about whether or not there is a real need on the market place for all the $100k+ supercars hitting the market place this is one specialty car and supercar team that deserves its place in the record books and on the market. Shelby Supercars is not backed by any of the large auto makers or Dot.com millionaires. It is a company that set out on a mission and achieved that mission with room to spare. Congratulations to Shelby Supercars on your amazing achievement.

Source[FastAutos]