the worlds most powerful road cars

It may have been released nearly 10 years ago now, but with 1,001hp from its wait for it 8.0 litre, quad turbo W16 engine, it s easy to forget just how competitive the standard Veyron still is for power in a world of new age hybrids.

Remember the Koenigsegg CCX from earlier? This is the CCXR a more powerful but also more environmentally friendly version. That s because the extra 212hp over the standard CCX comes when the R variant runs on ethanol fuel, not petrol. Bigger fuel injectors and beefier superchargers help, too.

A touch of British class now with some raucous American muscle. The andT in this Bristol Fighter s name stands for andTurbo (we told you you d be reading that word a lot). That means its 8.0 litre V10 from the Dodge Viper is force fed with air to deliver incredible motive force.

Same twin turbo, 5.0 litre in house built V8 as the regular Agera, just with the turbos tweaked a little, the Koenigsegg Agera S offers another 70hp over the standard model. Because 960hp just won t do.

The Zenvo ST1 is unique in our list. It s the only car to feature a turbocharged and supercharged engine because one or the other is never enough, is it? The result is a 6.8 litre V8 engine generating a colossal 1,104hp.

Serial Porsche modifier 9ff may no longer be in business, but for a while it did produce a mega 911 based special. Called the GT9 R, it sort of looked like a 911 if you squinted, with a lower, swoopier roofline and a big bodykit. That was to help keep it on the floor at 257mph the speed its 4.0 litre twin turbo flat six Porsche engine helped it achieve.

Koenigsegg is starting to monopolise this list, don t you think? And we haven t even got to its most powerful model yet even pushing out this much oomph, the R isn t actually at the top of the Agera tree. Still, once holding world records for 0 186mph (14.53 seconds) and 0 200mph (17.68 seconds), it s fast enough.

The standard Bugatti Veyron s engine is so strong that a 20% increase in power was no problem for the Super Sport. This meant it set the world record for the fastest road legal car ever, at 267.856mph. Until this next vehicle came along

The Hennessey Venom GT is effectively a 1,244hp Lotus Exige S2 and that car was quick with a measly 190hp. Ok, so it s stretched a bit over the Norfolk track special to house the massive 7.0 litre twin turbo V8, but the chassis is very similar. The low kerb weight of just 1,244kg (that s 1hp per kilo, incredibly) helped it set the World Record for the fastest production car ever at 270.49mph. And Hennessey says it can go even quicker

There have been a few Ultimate Aero versions over the years, but the XT is the, er, ultimate. Unsurprisingly, it uses a twin turbo V8. It s obviously the recipe of choice for big power. Amazing that at 7.0 litres in capacity it ll rev to 9,200rpm kicking out 1,318 ponies, that s a lot of horsepower.