People assume the Veyron was the founder of the 250mph+ club but little-known Corvette outpaced it nearly 2 decades earlier
Published on Apr 06, 2026 at 11:25 PM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis
Last updated on Apr 02, 2026 at 4:09 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Mason Jones
In the 1980s, an American brand called Callaway Cars built a Corvette that was faster than the Bugatti Veyron today.
There are several elements about this story that are completely crazy.
Starting with the combination of the year – 1988 – and the top speed. There are also two more things that make this record stand out.
Including the gearbox.
A ‘regular’ Corvette with an unbelievable top speed
In 1987, Callaway built the ‘SledgeHammer’ Corvette, a record-breaking machine capable of reaching 372 km/h.
Almost same as the McLaren F1 but a few years prior.
One year later, the car reached 254.76mph (410km/h), which means it was faster than a modern Bugatti Veyron and nearly as fast as the Chiron.
Not only was this car that fast in 1988, it was also ‘normal’.
It still had electronic air conditioning, power seats, power windows and a radio.
The only track-friendly addition was a roll cage.
And the craziest part was the gearbox, because it was manual.
Is the top speed race getting out of hand?
In the 1990s, the McLaren F1 held the record for the fastest car in the world (at 380+ km/h) for a significant amount of time.
These days, the record is set and broken and set again practically every year.
Sometimes more than once a year.
And we’re also transitioning from pointless top speed numbers to undoable top speed numbers.
The fastest production car in the world – the Yangwang U9 – does (almost) 500km/h.
That speed is realistically impossible to reach in the only place in the world you can legally do it (the German Autobahn) and also impossible in 99.9 percent of existing racetracks.
Everyone agrees, but manufacturers are still chasing a bigger number.
In 10 years, maybe we’ll have a 600-kilometer-an-hour car.
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After beginning his automotive writing career at DriveTribe, Alessandro has been with Supercar Blondie since the launch of the website in 2022. In fact, he penned the very first article published on supercarblondie.com. He’s covered subjects from cars to aircraft, watches, and luxury yachts - and even crypto. He can largely be found heading up the site’s new-supercar and SBX coverage and being the first to bring our readers the news that they’re hungry for.
