Sweet Lord, how we do love progress! Cars just keep on getting faster and faster. Unfortunately drivers aren't getting any better - as evidenced by the seemingly endless stream of supercars crashing into unforgiving immovable objects - but leave it to Top Gear's anonymous pilot extraordinaire (all we know is he's called The Stig) to show the way.

The Top Gear lap record has been broken again. The new king of the Power Lap board: the Ascari A10. On this week's show, The Stig coerced the British supercar around the show's private test track in a scant 1:17.3, beating the previous record-holder, the Koenigsegg CCX (complete with special Top Gear rear wing), by three tenths of a second. The A10's more "civilized" brother, the KZ1, took a more leisurely 1:20.7 (still good enough to best the likes of the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, Lamborghini Murcielago and Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, to name just a few).

Although the Ascari may be king today, it has to watch out for potential usurpers who have some serious gripes: the Caparo T1 posted an even faster time than the Ascari (much faster, actually), but was disqualified on a technicality. Meanwhile the Ultima GTR, in an unsanctioned (read: non-televised) test, lapped the track four and a half seconds faster than the Ascari, too. Should Top Gear give either (or better yet, both) a proper run by the books, the A10's reign could be short-lived. But in the meantime, the Koenig is dead, long like the king.

Jump for the Top Ten Top Gear Top Super Cars Lap Times.

[Source: Top Gear]

Continue reading Unseating Koenigsegg: Ascari A10 sets new Top Gear lap record

Unseating Koenigsegg: Ascari A10 sets new Top Gear lap record originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 11 Dec 2007 09:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.