NEW VEYRON SUPER SPORT HITS 268MPH

[Daniel]

A new 1200hp Veyron has reclaimed the 'fastest car in the world' crown for Bugatti, setting an average top speed of 268mph.

The car - the long-awaited Bugatti Veyron Super Sport - set the new record at VW's Ehra-Lessien test facility near Wolfsburg on Saturday afternoon, with Bugatti test driver, Pierre Henri Raphanel, at the wheel.

"We took it that we would reach an average value of 425 km/h (264 mph), but the conditions today were perfect and allowed even more," said Dr Wolfgang Schreiber, Bugatti's chief engineer.

The 1200hp, 1106lb ft Super Sport gets its extra 200hp and 184lb ft via four enlarged turbochargers and larger intercoolers for the 16-cylinder engine.

To cope with the extra poke, the Veyron Super Sport also has slightly raised main-spring travel, stiffer anti-roll bars and new shock absorbers. The body gets roof-mounted NACA ducts rather than air scoops, a double diffuser at the rear, and a centrally mounted exhaust.

Road cars won't be able to quite maximise the Veyron's potential ghowever - Bugatti has limited these to 'just' 258mph.

The Bugatti Veyron Super Sport will make its in-the-metal debut at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in California this August.