Once again, the new world speed record for production road cars is set by Germany. Exactly 5 years, 8 months and 12 days after the record of 388.7 km/h was set by McLaren with its F1, the bar was raised a bit higher.Jan Fatthauer, owner and chief engineer of 9ff, insisted on steering the record car in person. 388km/h on the Nardo circuit where McLaren had given up at 371km/h when lateral acceleration became too high. 9ff s 9f-v400 based on a Porsche 996 has a power output of 840 bhp and an 880Nm torque - sufficient power for raisin the vehicle able the 400 km/h mark on a straight track. At such high speed, the real problem is aerodynamics. This is why Jan Fatthauer and his men had to try out various tail fin variants before the record was achieved, so that the record drive automatically was a test drive. Says Fatthauer: "Both tail fins which were used for the record made sure that even at top speed, the car s road holding remained absolutely level and stable. A special series of just 20 vehicles will be produced of the record car 9f-v400.
