Berlin - In just about any country, doing 400km/h on a public highway would be enough to get you locked up for a very long time, presuming you weren’t killed in the process. But in Germany there are some rural sections of the famous Autobahn highway that remain derestricted, and thus the stunt you see below appears totally legal.
Highlighted in a video that has gone viral in recent times, a Czech businessman called Radim Passer recently pushed his Bugatti Chiron hypercar to a speed of 414km/h on a derestricted section between Hannover and Berlin.
The video below shows his previous records and attempts, so skip to the 3:50 mark if you only want to see the latest high-speed run, which is also a world speed record for public roads.
However, according to the Associated Press, the German Transport Ministry is not very impressed with the stunt, releasing a statement this week that said the law requires drivers to only drive so fast that the vehicle is constantly under control.
“Anyone participating in traffic must behave in such a way that no other person is harmed, endangered or obstructed or inconvenienced more than is unavoidable under the circumstances,” the ministry said.
The authority added that it “rejects any behaviour in road traffic that leads or can lead to endangering road users.”
This comes as German politicians debate whether or not to keep the current Autobahn sections derestricted. One of the government’s coalition partners has previously called for a 130km/h speed limit across the network, mainly for environmental reasons.
In the case of the 414km/h Bugatti the presence of other cars on the highway could certainly fuel a strong argument that he was taking unnecessary risks, especially given the tendency for tunnel vision to set in beyond 300km/h.
However, Passer insists that he took all the necessary precautions to ensure a safe high-speed run, which was performed at 4:30am to ensure minimal traffic.
“The section of the A2 was a three lane, 10km straightaway with a light descent in the middle, so there was visibility along the whole stretch.
“Safety was a priority, so the circumstances had to be safe to go. We thank God for the safety and good circumstances, as we were able to reach the speed of 414 km/h!”