2,977 HP U9 Xtreme Destroyed As BYD Aims For 311 MPH

Despite the high-speed crash, the driver suffered only minor injuries

Lat year, BYD’s Yangwang U9 Xtreme eclipsed the top speed of the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+ when the Chinese supercar hit 308.4 mph (496.22 kph) at the ATP high-speed test track in Papenburg, Germany. But BYD wasn’t satisfied. During that run, telemetry data showed the driver had enough space to keep the throttle pinned for an extra 1.5 seconds, which may have been enough to squeeze a little extra speed from the Yangwang U9.

BYD is now preparing for another speed run in the UAE later this month with the hopes of topping 311 mph (500 km/h), and a recently released behind-the-scenes video shows what kind of danger lurks during the preparation for such a feat. Footage shared to social media by BYD shows one of the EV test cars losing control at an undisclosed speed and hitting the track’s guardrail. The force of the impacts ripped the U9 Xtreme to shreds, leaving little left but the carbon fiber monocoque. Fortunately, the driver escaped without any major injuries.

BYD is going record hunting with the YangWang U9 Xtreme

It’s not clear when this incident occurred, and it may have even been before last year’s 308.4-mph top speed run in Germany. Regardless, it appears the Chinese brand used the accident as a valuable lesson in how best to set up the car for such speeds, but it wasn’t the only problem the team needed to overcome. During testing in China, BYD’s engineers were optimizing the U9 Xtreme for high-speed driving when they ran into issues once the car exceeded 253 mph (400 km/h). At these speeds, the car experienced a wobble, which obviously isn’t ideal. BYD traced this issue back to some of the test equipment placed on the vehicles, forcing it to remove them before continuing the tests.

Back in July, BYD vice president Stella Li confirmed the company’s plan to exceed the 311 mph (500 km/h) barrier with the U9 Xtreme, although the company hasn’t confirmed an exact date or pinpointed a specific road. High-speed tests like this are usually conducted at private testing facilities, although finding one isn’t easy. Koenigsegg last ran a noteworthy top-speed test on a public road on an 11-mile stretch of Nevada State Route 160 between Pahrump and Las Vegas in 2017. In this test, the Agera RS recorded a two-way top speed average of 277.87 mph (446.97 km/h), making it the world’s fastest production car at the time. If the Yangwang achieves its 311-mph goal, it will be almost 13% faster than the Koenigsegg.

Source: www.carscoops.com — article syndicated from the publisher’s feed; all rights remain with the original publisher.