Bugatti Veyron Super Sport news - SSC wants Bugatti’s record - 2010

It's like Rocky versus Apollo Creed. Only with cars. And better dialogue.

Just a week after Bugatti (with the help of James May, ahem) took the new production car land speed record from the SSC Ultimate Aero with a run of of 268mph in the Veyron SuperSports, SSC has announced it is out to get its title back.

In a statement on its website, SSC - which took the record from the Veyron in 2007 with a run of 256mph in Washington - has praised Bugatti's achievement.

'We would sincerely like to congratulate Bugatti,' runs the statement. 'When the Ultimate Aero broke the record in 2007, we knew it was just a matter of time until it was broken by someone else.'

But SSC wants that production car speed record back, and has enlisted designer Jason Castriota - who penned the Pininfarina P4/5, Bertone Mantide and has just been appointed to create the next generation of Saabs - to help out.

'We've been working on a new project to debut before the end of the summer,' the statement continues.

'Not much can be said at this time except that we'll be upping the ante on all fronts. Having Castriota as our lead designer enables SSC to reflect its engineering and performance in its aesthetics. It's impossible for us to be more thrilled about having him on board and we're anxious to show the world what we have up our sleeve.'

Game on. This top speed war might indeed be childish and entirely irrelevant to real-world motoring... but it ain't half entertaining.

Sam Philip