On Sept. 13, 2007, the Shelby SuperCars’ Ultimate Aero became the fastest production car in the world. The event took place on a temporarily closed, two-lane stretch of public highway in Washington State. In accordance with Guinness World Records’ strict policies, the car had to drive down the highway, turn around, and manufacture a second pass in the opposite direction within one hour.

The Ultimate Aero posted 257.41 mph on the first pass and 254.88 mph on the second for an average of 256.18 mph. Official notes were collected via a GPS tracking system from Austrian data-acquisition company Dewetron. Guinness World Records later verified info for an official top-speed announcement on Oct. 9, 2007. At that speed the Ultimate Aero broke the official record held by the Koenigsegg CCR [242 mph] and the unofficial record [253 mph] held by Volkswagen’s $1.6 million Bugatti Veyron.

And the car could go even faster. NASA’s wind tunnel analyzing facility in Langley,

Va., found the Ultimate Aero to be aerodynamically stable at speeds up to 273 mph. It just ran out of road. “If there was additional straight pavement on which to accelerate, the top speed would have been considerably higher, so whether anyone challenges our record there is tons left on the table,” says Chuck Bigelow, the courageous soul who piloted the Ultimate Aero on its record-breaking run.

Changing Gears, Chasing a Dream

Achieving the record wasn’t just a matter of bragging rights, though. For company founder Jerod Shelby it was a business decision. From early on Shelby, who started the West Richland [Wash.] company in 2000, decided that he had to break the production car top-speed record in order to set up credibility for his infant company. “No one is going to buy a $600,000 car they never heard of,” he said.

As Junus Khan, his director of…

Orginal post by Top Tech News