Seven years after the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport ascended to the throne as the fastest production car in the world, the almighty French supercar has finally - and officially - ceded the throne to the Koenigsegg Agera RS. The Swedish exotic pulled out a stunning display of power and speed on its way to hitting an average top speed of 277.9 mph, easily upending the Veyron Super Sport’s previous top speed record of 267.81 mph.

The record-setting run took place on a closed section of a road located near Las Vegas, Nevada after Koenigsegg reportedly received special permission from the Nevada Department of Transportation to close the road in order to perform the high-speed run. With permission granted, the company made the most out of it in an all-out attempt that had no less than company founder Christian von Koenigsegg in attendance. Video footage of the run even captured the 1,360-horsepower Agera RS hitting 284.3 mph in the second of two runs to firmly establish itself as the new title-holder of the “fastest production car in the world” crown.

And, if there’s still any speck of doubt left surrounding the Agera RS’ record-setting run, the whole episode was documented and recorded by Racelogic with the VBOX HD2 camera. There should be no doubt, then, in the eyes of everyone, including the Guinness Book of World of Records, that the Koenigsegg Agera RS is now the fastest production car in the record books. How long it’ll hold that title remains to be seen, but for now, there’s reason to celebrate over there in Ängelholm, Sweden.

Continue after the jump to read the full story.

A number of contenders are going to be in the mix to take down the new king of the mountain

First of all, holy smokes, Koenigsegg! That’s how you break a seven-year old record! I’ve seen many automakers try and fail to break the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport’s top speed record and that includes Koenigsegg itself. But now that it has a car that can actually do it, the Swedish automaker didn’t waste any time throwing down the hammer on the Veyron Super Sport. Remember, the Agera RS didn’t just break the Veyron’s top speed record. This is also the same supercar - the same exact car, in fact - that laughed in the face of the Bugatti Chiron’s 0-249-0 MPH time and proceeded to beat the Bugatti’s time too. The Agera RS is shaping up to be a generational supercar and its latest achievement, with the help of factory driver Niklas Lilja, is going to be a hard record to beat.

That said, as hard as it is, it doesn’t mean that the record is going to be unbreakable. The Veyron Super Sport held the top speed record for seven years and, as long as its top speed time stood in the record books, it finally fell into the hands of the Agera RS. There’s no reason to think then that another car could't come after the Koenigsegg’s newly-minted record, and at the moment, two models do come to mind.

One is the aforementioned Bugatti Chiron, the successor to the Veyron that’s every bit faster and more powerful than its predecessor. Bugatti has yet to post a top speed run of the Chiron, but it has said that it’s planning to do so at some time in the future. You can be sure that with the Agera RS eclipsing the Veyron Super Sport’s top speed run, the French automaker will be working twice as hard to bring the record back to its house. It certainly has a car in the Chiron that can get the job done, especially with the supercar’s capacity to produce in excess of 1,500 horsepower. There’s even talk that the Chiron is going to be able to hit speeds in excess of 280 mph with standard production tires, so it’s top speed run is certainly something that’s going to captivate the whole industry. Whether it can do an average of that speed in its two runs - a requirement by the Guinness Book of World of Records - remains to be seen, but the fact that there’s buzz of its ability to do so means that it’s in contention to make the Agera RS’ record a short-lived one.

The other contender to the Agera RS’ new top speed record is the Hennessey Venom F5. The American supercar just made its debut at the 2017 SEMA Auto Show last week, and there’s already talk that it’s going to be able to be the first production car in history to break 300 mph. It’s the boldest of bold claims, but remember, Hennessey does have a history of backing up its boasts. Depending on who you ask, there’s a segment of people in the auto industry that believe that the Venom F5’s predecessor, the Venom GT, actually posted the top speed record when it hit a run of 270.49 mph. Unfortunately, the run wasn’t recognized for a number of reasons, including the fact that it was done in just one direction as opposed to two directions and that only 16 Venom GT’s were made, well short of the required 30 models to qualify for recognition.

Regardless, the Venom GT proved that it could beat the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport in a record run. Now that the Koenigsegg Agera RS is the new king of the mountain, you can be sure that the Venom F5 is itching at the bit to hold its own top speed run. It’s not a guarantee that it can beat the Agera RS’ new top speed record, but if there was one car to bet on that can do it, it’s the Hennessey Venom F5.

References

Koenigsegg Agera

Read our full review on the 2015 Koenigsegg Agera RS.

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