At the end of last year the Koenigsegg Agera RS reached the 445.54 km/h (276.8 mph) — with a peak of 457.49 km/h (284.2 mph) — becoming the fastest car on the planet, dethroning, by considerable margin, the previous record of 431 km/h, achieved by the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport in 2010.
According to the cliché, records are there to be beaten. And the next frontier is a round 300 miles an hour, the same as 482 km/h. A goal already set by the American Hennessey Venom F5.
We can always spend hours discussing the sense of reaching these absurd and impractical speeds on public roads, but the arguments in favor are strong. Whether from a commercial point of view — it's a good sales point and so many who like to “bragging” about the speeds reached — or from a technological point of view — the engineering behind the numbers achieved is always amazing.
Speeds of this order of magnitude pose colossal challenges for the engineers who develop these machines. The problem is not getting the power to reach these speeds. Incredibly, more than 1000 hp seems a "children's play" these days, even given the growing number of machines — original — that do.
Challenge is in the tires
To reach the 300 mph mark, the problems will lie mainly in issues of downforce and friction, in the latter case, the one that occurs between the asphalt and the tires — that's what says Eric Schmedding, Michelin's product manager for original equipment.
Michelin is no stranger to high speeds. She was the one who developed the tires for the Bugatti and Koenigsegg record holders. And it is right in the middle of the “storm”, where there are several suitors to be the first to reach 300 mph, with Schmedding noting that despite the scale of the challenge, there is no lack of competition and everything is happening at a very high pace.
To get a tire that can handle speeds in excess of 480 km/h, the challenge will be to mitigate heat, pressure and wear. These tires must be able to withstand very high speeds repeatedly for several minutes at a time — the top speed record, to be considered official, is calculated by the average of two passes in opposite directions. Schmedding, on achieving this goal, says:
We are very close to reaching 300 mph.
It just remains to be seen who will be the first to get it. Will it be Hennessey with the Venom F5, or Koenigsegg with the Regera or Agera's successor? And Bugatti? Will it want to enter this war — one that it spawned, by making the first hypercar capable of happily passing 400 km/h — with the Chiron?
Let the games begin…