Do You Care About Crazy Top Speed Figures?

At this week’s Geneva motor show, we’ve had a lot of speed freaks. We’ve had the bonkers - and overambitious - 2080bhp Arash AF10 which could theoretically do 300mph, the Bugatti Chiron with its 261mph top speed , and the Koenigsegg Regera which - while lacking a top speed figure - is said to be capable of 0-250mph in just 20 seconds.

The thing is though, do you actually care about these top speed figures? With a less crazy supercar like a Ferrari 488 GTB you could feasibly hit the top whack at a runway-based event like V Max, but if we’re talking about top speeds that are the exciting side of 250mph, you’ll struggle to find somewhere to actually achieve it.

The Nardo test track in Italy is famously not that smooth, and who can forget Top Gear’s efforts at maxing out the Veyron and Veyron Super Sport, which actually involved going to VW’s own Ehra-Lessien test facility, where’s there’s a massive straight. In fact, it’s 5.4 miles long - so long that one end cannot be seen from the other thanks to the curvature of the Earth.

When the Hennessy Venom GT hit 270mph, it did so on the Kennedy Space Center’s 3.22-mile runway. Not the sort of places you’d be able to rock up and ask if you can have a quick punt, in other words.

There’s also the problem of tyres to think about - the new Chiron’s boots have been developed especially for the car by Michelin, but even they aren’t able to take the car past 261mph, which is why the car has an electronic limiter. Should any of the current crop of ambitious start-up supercar company’s products actually be made and not remain vapourware, they’d run into the same trouble while trying to prove the top speed claims.

In a lot of ways, top speed figures are more about bragging rights for the owners. But as petrolheads, what do you think of such stats? Vote in the polls below to voice your opinion.