Move over Bugatti Veyron! There’s a new speed demon in town. On April 2, 2013, Hennessey Performance of Texas announced that their Venom GT had claimed the record for the world’s fastest production car. What features does it have, you ask? This sleek baby is “powered by a twin turbo-charged 7.0-litre V-8 engine. It pumps out 1,244 horespower and, as the car weighs exactily 1,244kg, its power to weight ratio is 1,000 horsepower per tonne.”

 Kwaai

But what would the world of motor sports be without a technicalities? Naysayers are arguing whether the record should be measured according to production speed, instead of the speed on the stretch the car was tested on.

The technicality in question is engine tuning. A standard production version of the Hennessey Venom GT managed to come close to 270mph along a 2.9 mile stretch of runway whereas the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, using Volkswagen’s 5-mile+ straight, got closer still, hitting 267.8 mph (431kph).

A little word from the “man” himself, John Hennessey:

While a Veyron Super Sport did run 267.8 mph, Bugatti speed-limits its production vehicles to 258 mph. Thus, at 265.7 mph the Venom GT is the fastest production car available to the public.

This, from Guinness World Records:

It has come to the attention of Guinness World Records that there was an oversight in its adjudication of the ‘Fastest production car’ which was set in 2010 by the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport. As the car’s speed limiter was deactivated, this modification was against the official guidelines. Consequently, the vehicle’s record set at 431.072 km/h is no longer valid. As we are now reviewing this category with expert external consultants there is no current record holder.”

Who do you think deserves the title of fastest car?

[Source: Complex, Luxuo, Yahoo Auto]