"There is no such limit in the ECU mapping of the 996-based cars we used for previous top-speed attempts, so we had no idea that Porsche had programmed a 375 km/h speed limit into the 997's ECU," Fatthauer says.
However, just over a week later, with the offending line of code purged from the ECU, the TR1000 ran to 392.1km/h (243.6 mph) at Papenburg. So now we know just how fast 9ff's 850-hp TR1000 can really go.
These things happen, and it goes to show that top-speed testing is just as much a science and art as any other form of motorsport. No matter how well you prepare, luck can also make the difference between just another fast run and a new world record.