The Koenigsegg Regera, Mercedes-AMG One, land speed cars, Top Fuel dragsters, and F1 cars are proof that the quest for speed is still alive in 2023

It’s barely a month since Fast X started showing on cinemas. While the Fast and Furious franchise has evolved from pure driving rush to a semi-fan fiction, the latest installment still showed the quest for speed wouldn’t stop at one point. That quest needs the fastest cars, and here are some of them that speed addicts should take note of.

Unsurprisingly, gearheads with constantly rushing adrenaline love to drive or see cars going as fast as they can. For them, cars are more than machines that take people from one place to another – they also bring thrill and excitement. It’s a good thing that human beings are insatiable and compeтιтive, as they always try to outdo each other in the contest of speed. They sometimes create cars faster than intended.

The quest for speed is why carmakers such as Koenigsegg try to build the fastest car in terms of acceleration and braking. This is also the reason gearheads keep track of lap times. This is why some try to build special vehicles for breaking land speed records. This is the reason F1 drivers go as fast on corners. Moreover, this is why America loves drag racing so much.

Koenigsegg Regera Reclaims Acceleration And Braking Records

It is just appropriate to start the speed discussion with the fastest road-legal car around. The list of the superfast production cars on the road is steadily growing. Interestingly, the cars dominating the list belong only to a few carmakers such as Koenigsegg, Bugatti, Rimac, SSC, Hennessey, McLaren, and Aston Martin. But lording them all is the Koenigsegg Regera, which recently set new speed-related records.

Koenigsegg’s Regera previously held the 0-250-0 mph and 0-400-0 km/h records, until the Rimac Nevera crushed it soundly. These are actually acceleration, speed, and braking records, as the feat entailed sprinting from a standstill, and racing to speeds of 400 km/h and 250 mph. When the car reaches the desired speed, it decelerates quickly to a full stop. The record covers the time it takes to complete the entire process..

In a video that Koenigsegg upload on YouTube, the Regera did the runs at the Örebro Airport in Sweden. While it was wearing Michelin Cup 2 R semi-slick road tires, everything else were in factory default. In the 0-400-0-km/h run, the Regera zoomed from zero to 400 km/h in 20.68 seconds, and then decelerated to a standstill in 8.13 seconds. The Regera completed the run in 28.81 seconds, humbling Nevera’s time of 29.94 seconds.

The Regera was also super-impressive in the 0-250-0-mph run, which it completed in 29.60 seconds. The hypercar drove from nil to 250 mph in just 21.35 seconds, and then slowed down to zero in 8.25 seconds.

Mercedes-AMG One Is Quickest Production Car At Nurburgring

Meanwhile, the Mercedes-AMG One blitzed through the Nürburgring-Nordschleife like a possessed hypercar. Thanks to hybrid technology that the hypercar borrowed from Mercedes’ Formula 1 exploits, it was to become the fastest production car that lapped the Green Hell. TÜV Rheinland even inspected the two AMG One hypercars at the Nürburgring just to ensure that they were in series production.

The Nürburgring is essentially one of the most difficult road tracks in the world. Cars that can complete a lap of the track in under eight minutes are all incredibly quick. Even the mighty Honda Civic Type R managed to complete a lap in 7:44.881 minutes. Prior to AMG One’s new record, Porsche 911 GT2 RS with the Manthey Racing was the lord of the Nurburgring with a time of 6:43.3 minutes.

But the AMG One was a lot quicker and faster than the previous record holder. Mercedes’ hypercar completed a lap around the Green Hell in just 6:35.183 minutes, or around 18 seconds faster. With this time, it became the fastest road-legal production car and the fast super sports car in the Nürburgring.

AMG One’s primary secret to this speed feat is a hybrid-drive technology employing one combustion engine and four electric motors. This so-called E Performance hybrid system can deliver 1,063 hp of max output and allow AMG One to reach a limited top speed of around 219 mph.

Thrust SSC Still Holds Land Speed Record Since 1997

The Koenigsegg Regera and the Mercedes-AMG One are speed monsters in their own rights, but they pale in comparison to the Thrust SuperSonic Car (Thrust SSC). As its name clearly indicates, Thrust SSC grabbed the land speed record by going faster than the speed of sound, which travels at more than 760 mph.

While planes with jet engine have been conquering the skies with their supersonic speeds, only one land vehicle has managed to do so — the Thrust SSC. Wider and lot longer than the Regera and the AMG One, Thrust SSC broke the sound barrier on October 15, 1997. The car set an absolute land speed record of 763.035 mph, which remains until today.

Still the world’s first and only supersonic land vehicle, Thrust SSC owes its speed to a number of elements, including two Rolls-Royce Spey engines. These are the same engines that power the British version of the F-4 Phantom II jet fighter. Essentially, Thrust SSC is a jet car.

Despite several failed attempts to beat this speed record in the past decades, the quest is still on. In fact, Thrust SSC’s helmsman Andy Green is hoping to set a new record while reaching 1,000 mph in the still being-developed Bloodhound LSR.