A Seven-Kilometre Straight Gave Basseng Room to Build Speed

Organisers closed a 10-kilometre section of the E11 for the attempt. Within that stretch, Basseng used a seven-kilometre straight for the top-speed run. The length matters because acceleration takes up much of the available road. As speed rises, air resistance increases sharply. Consequently, the final few kilometres per hour demand more distance and power than the same gain at lower speeds. The driver also needs enough room to slow down after the run. Those demands make the site part of the story. A car can have the power to reach a target on paper, yet the route still needs to give it enough room to get there safely.

Two Runs at 490 KM/H Set Up the Final Attempt

On the previous day, two runs peaked at around 490 km/h. Yangwang’s engineers made adjustments overnight before the car returned to the road. The next run lifted the reported figure by about 13 km/h and took the U9 Xtreme beyond the target. The available details leave the contribution of individual adjustments unclear. Even so, the sequence shows how close the team already was before the final attempt. At that speed, a gain of roughly 13 km/h represents less than three percent. Yet it was enough to move the car from just below the threshold to 3.17 km/h beyond it.

Four Electric Motors Deliver a Combined 2,978 BHP

The U9 Xtreme builds on the standard Yangwang U9, which produces 1,252 bhp. For the Xtreme, Yangwang upgraded all four electric motors and raised combined output to 2,978 bhp. That is about 2.4 times the standard car’s output. The Xtreme also has a reported power-to-weight ratio of roughly 1,200 bhp per tonne. Those figures help explain the scale of the upgrade. However, power and top speed do not rise at the same rate. At higher speeds, more of the available power goes toward overcoming air resistance. As a result, even a large increase in output can translate into a much smaller percentage gain in top speed.

Marc Basseng Improved on His Previous Run in Germany

Basseng had already driven the U9 Xtreme to 496.22 km/h during an earlier attempt in Germany. In Abu Dhabi, he improved on that figure by 6.95 km/h. Both runs put the car close to the same threshold, but only the Abu Dhabi attempt took it past 500 km/h. Having the same driver behind the wheel gives the two runs a point of continuity. The venues and conditions, however, differed. The comparison therefore shows how far the reported benchmark moved between attempts, while leaving room for several factors to have influenced the result. For Basseng, the second venue provided the setting for a new peak in a car he already knew at extreme speed.

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Yangwang Claims Two Guinness World Records

Yangwang says the Abu Dhabi attempt secured two Guinness World Records. One covers the highest speed by a production car in a single-direction run. The other covers the highest speed by an electric production car under the same format. Both claims refer to the same 503.17 km/h run. The categories differ in which cars qualify. One considers production cars across powertrain types, while the other applies specifically to electric models. The wording also matters when the figure appears beside other speed records. Here, 312.65 mph is the reported speed from one direction. Keeping that detail alongside the number makes it clear how the result was measured.

A Two-Way Average Answers a Different Question

A two-way attempt uses runs in opposite directions and averages their speeds. That method helps reduce the influence of wind and road gradient. For example, a tailwind in one direction becomes a headwind on the return. Bugatti’s roughly 304-mph Chiron run drew similar debate because it also took place in one direction. Meanwhile, the SSC Tuatara recorded a 282.9-mph average over two opposing runs. The Yangwang figure is higher numerically, but the two numbers represent different measurements. The U9 Xtreme’s result shows what it reached on a single pass. The SSC figure shows what the Tuatara averaged when running the route in both directions.

What the 312.65-MPH Figure Means for Electric Hypercars

Electric hypercars often make their first impression through acceleration. The Yangwang U9 Xtreme’s Abu Dhabi run puts sustained speed in the spotlight. Its four motors had to keep pushing the car well beyond 490 km/h, where each additional gain became harder to achieve. The earlier German run showed that the Xtreme could approach 500 km/h. Abu Dhabi supplied the figure that moved it past that mark. A future attempt in both directions would provide another benchmark and allow a direct comparison with two-way records. Until then, the result has a precise place in the discussion: 503.17 km/h on a single pass, with Marc Basseng at the wheel.

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