The legendary McLaren...

The legendary McLaren F1 set the benchmark for being the fastest in March 1998, at a mighty 240.14mph. But then in February, a Koenigsegg CCR took the crown during testing at the Nardo circuit in Italy, nudging the record to 240.387mph. But now that figure has been well and truly shattered.

Bugatti has revealed the Veyron has been clocked at a staggering 248.5mph during runs at parent firm VW"s test track in Wolfsburg, Germany. A spokes-man said: "Everyone here is thrilled by this. We had to do three runs in each direction, but this has been measured using precision equipment. The car actually went faster than 248mph, but we"re not releasing that speed."

However, the event hasn"t been officially recognised by Guinness World Records (GWR) - at least not yet. It seems bosses haven"t yet bothered to contact GWR to claim the prestigious title. Hein le Roux is the organisation"s motoring expert, and told us he knew nothing about the Veyron"s challenge. "We"ve been in touch with Bugatti in the past about this, but not recently," he said. "It sounds as if they"ve done everything correctly, as long as the timing people provide proof of the result."