You can drive safely at 400 km/hr

Stuff reports:

Germany’s DPA news agency has reported that prosecutors in the town of Stendal in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, have reviewed footage of a Czech millionaire driving his Bugatti Chiron at more than 400 kilometres per hour on a stretch of autobahn between Berlin and Hanover, and have concluded that he did not break any laws.

Radim Passer attracted global attention in January when he posted a video on his YouTube channel that showed him hitting 414kph on the public road in an attempt to hit the Bugatti’s top speed, which is limited to 420kph. …

While the Chiron could easily go faster than 420kph, Bugatti says it limits it to that for safety reasons, after it concluded that no tyre currently made would actually be able to handle the stress at the Chiron’s true top speed.

A good focus on safety then!

At the time the video attracted the attention of Germany’s Transport Ministry, which released a statement saying it rejected “any behaviour in road traffic that leads or can lead to endangering road users.”

Passer hit back, posting a comment on the video directed to “those that say it was irresponsible and dangerous”, saying that he completed the run at 4:50am on a Sunday, and passed a total of ten cars on the 10km stretch of autobahn, one of which was one of his spotters in a Porsche 911 Turbo.

”Good visibility is about 3 to 4km straight ahead, so there is enough time to react,” he wrote.

“The Chiron can brake from 400 to 0 in 9 seconds within 490 metres. All cars are in the far right lane. There was an earlier drive through the section to make sure there is nothing on the road.

This is a good reminder of how what speed is safe is highly variable depending on the car, the road, the conditions etc. The authorities concluded that his speed was no unsafe, when you take this into account.