While you might expect the investigation of the world’s fastest cars to be an open-and-shut case of mathematics, with the highest mph numbers winning, it’s a hotly debated topic.
Yes, you can simply mash down one’s foot in the age’s great supercars and let them slice the air until they cry, “That’s all there is and there ain’t no more!” You look at the speedometer, register the number and see where it falls on the list. That’s measuring maximum straightline speed.
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However, there are those who insist “fastest” means quickest. That camp celebrates speed off the line from a dead stop – registering 0-60 mph times. For those car lovers, the Porsche 918 Spyder and the Ariel Atom 500 V8 share the throne at 2.3 seconds.
For our purposes, quick isn’t fast. A racehorse is fast. A cockroach is quick. No one is heading out to spend millions at Churchill Downs betting on cockroaches. We’ll be measuring brute, head-on, dead ahead speed – the maximum amount of forward momentum an engine assembled by humans can provide as of late 2015.
Enjoy the results in the hallery below, because this is probably as close as you’ll get to driving one of these cars.
Top 10 Fastest Cars in the World
The 10 Fastest Cars in the World
Great feats of human engineering with rarified air price tags, the fastest cars in the world are an assembled gearhead's dream.
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The Fastest Cars in the World
The current king of the supercars and the fastest production car on the planet, the Hennessey Venom GT holds court at 270 mph.
Price tag: ~$1.2 million.
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The Fastest Cars in the World
Once thought to be unbeatable, the 1000 horsepower Bugatti Veyron Super Sport trails only the Hennessey with a top speed of 267 mph.
Price tag: ~$2.4 million.
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The Fastest Cars in the World
Built in Sweden, the Koenigsegg Agera R manages to wring 260 mph out of just a 5.0 liter V8.
Price tag: ~$1.6 million.
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The Fastest Cars in the World
Designed and engineered by SSC (or what once was Shelby Supercars), the American-built Ultimate Aero runs at 257 mph.
Price tag: ~$650,000
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The Fastest Cars in the World
A hyper-tuned machine based off a Porsche, the 9ff GT9-R pulls 256 mph out of a six-cylinder engine.
Price tag: ~$242,000
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The Fastest Cars in the World
Though no longer in production, the California-built 2006 Saleen S7 Twin Turbo achieved 248 mph.
Price tag: ~$600,000
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The Fastest Cars in the World
The second Koenigsegg in the top 10, the 2015 CCX will do 245 mph flat out on the track.
Price tag: ~$4.85 million.
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The Fastest Cars in the World
The progenitor of the modern supercar, the McLaren F1 was doing 241 mpg in the 1990s.
Price tag: ~$8+ million.
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The Fastest Cars in the World
A 2009 supercar from a Dutch company the Zenvo ST1 used a big 6 liter V8 to put out 233 mph.
Price tag: $1.8 million.
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The Fastest Cars in the World
A descendant of the crazy Zonda series, the Pagani Huayra outruns its ancestors at 231 mph.
Price tag: ~$1.3 million.
