The Guy That Set The Speed Record, Talk About Some Serious Brass

Although anyone thinks they can probably drive a car in a straight line, have you ever thought about doing it nearly triple what many people probably have achieved?

Hell, ask around and see how fast a crowd of people have gone. Likely most will say 110 MPH or thereabouts -- at least that's what I gathered from my small-time investigation.

This guy, a Bugatti test driver -- Pierre Henri Raphanel -- did 269.8 MPH at one point.

That's simply insane! Imagine the road bearing down on you as your foot is planted in the throttle until the carpet begins wearing away, the trees and dotted highway markers are blistering past you. It must be like jumping out of a plane; a helluva rush but downright frightening.

Even cooler than that, Michael Spinelli of 0-60 Magazine got the chance to speak with the driver. For some cool insights and to hear about the real deal, it is a fantastic read.

**Click "Read Article" to read the full interview of Raphanel's record-setting run in a Bugatti Veyron Supersports


Last week, Bugatti test driver, er, pilote official, Pierre Henri Raphanel set the production-car speed record in Bugatti’s new Veyron Supersports 16.4. The 1,200 horsepower, 1,106 pound-feet monster propelled Raphanel to timed runs of 265.9 and 269.8 mph on Volkswagen’s Ehra-Lessien test track near Wolfsburg, which according to the Guinness people, averages to a V-max of 267.81 mph. That’s more than enough to bring the title of world’s fastest production car back to the VW fold. We phoned the former F1 and Japanese touring-car driver to get his take on what it’s like to approach the 270 mph mark in a production car, why the forest is his friend and whether or not he’s up to try for 300.

What does going 268mph in a Veyron feel like?

It’s basically a mental exercise. Physically, you have to do nothing more than to keep your right foot flat out. But at that speed, if anything happens, you can be sure that you won’t be coming back to the pits to tell what was the problem. And that is what is making the pressure, the excitement. The night before I could not sleep because I was so stressed. When I woke up, I looked at the alarm [clock] and it said 4:27. And the next day on my first run I did 427 kilometers per hour. And two days after setting the record I continued to sleep badly because of the stress and the adrenaline and I was waking up at 4:26 and was like I was also cooling down and the speed on the clock was also slowing down...