The King is dead, long live the King.

The Americans waded into the hypercar battle dominated by the Bugatti Veyron and Koenigsegg CCX with the SSC Ultimate Aero TT earlier this year.

With 1,183bhp, the SSC Ultimate Aero TT is most powerful production car the world has ever seen.

And with 71-year-old test driver Chuck Bigelow behind the wheel, the SSC Ultimate Aero TT hit 241mph in testing – using just 71 per cent throttle and reporting wheel spin at 190mph.

When conditions were perfect in September the SSC Ultimate Aero TT became the world’s fastest car averaging 256mph with a top speed of 257mph.

Watch Chuck hit 241mph in the £330,000 SSC Ultimate Aero TT below.

Ultima GTR breaks Top Gear lap record

The little-known Ultima GTR is a British-built sports car with an American bloodline.

Ultima fit the GTR with a 6.3-litre Chevrolet prepared V8 engine producing 720bhp.

This accelerates the Leicester-made monster from 0-60mph in 2.6 seconds and on to a claimed top speed of 231mph.

It even holds the world record for doing 0-100-0mph – in just 9.4 seconds.

Then – with a test driver behind the wheel – the £75,000 Ultima GTR lapped the Top Gear track in just 1 minute 12.8 seconds – 4.8 seconds quicker than the £450,000 Koenigsegg CCX.

Unfortunately the test driver wasn’t the Stig – so the record time is unofficial.

Watch as the awesome machine tackles the Hammerhead, Follow-through, Chicago and Gambon in a rage of elegant fury.

The Ariel Atom in action

With a recorded 0-60mph time of 2.89 seconds, the Ariel Atom is one of the world’s fastest accelerating production cars.

And at less than £30,000, the Somerset-built car is also one of the cheapest ways to get supercar-like kicks.

The breathtaking performance is achieved through being super-light (456kg) and using a tuned 300bhp engine from the Honda Civic Type-R.

Watch the two-seat beast in action below.

Be sure to check back next week for part two of the best car videos of 2007.