who writes the guinness book of world records
Guinness World Records Guinness Superlatives (later Guinness World Records) Limited was formed in 1954 to publish the first book. Sterling Publishing owned the rights to the Guinness book in the US for decades. The group was owned by Guinness PLC and subsequently Diageo until 2001, when it was purchased by Gullane Entertainment. Gullane was itself purchased by HIT Entertainment in 2002. In 2006, Apax Partners purchased HiT and subsequently sold Guinness World Records in early 2008 to the Jim Pattison Group, the parent company of Ripley Entertainment, which is licensed to operate Guinness World Records' Attractions. With offices in New York City and Tokyo, Guinness World Records' global headquarters remain in London, while its museum attractions are based at Ripley headquarters in Orlando, Florida, US.
Production car speed record On 4 July 2010 the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport reached 431.072 km/h (267.856 mph) two-way average. Bugatti built 30 Super Sports (5 of them named World Record Edition). At the time the record was set it was known that the customer cars were electronically limited to 415 km/h (257.87 mph). Guinness Book of Records (which had listed speeds by British cars with modified rev limiter as production car records in the 1990s) listed the unlimited 431.072 km/h (267.856 mph) as production car speed record. Yet, 3 years later, after a query by the Sunday Times Guinness' PR director Jaime Strang was quoted: "As the car’s speed limiter was deactivated, this modification was against the official guidelines. Consequently, the vehicle’s record set at 431.072 km/h is no longer valid." 5 days later it was written on its website: "Guinness World Records would like to confirm that Bugatti's record has not been disqualified; the record category is currently under review." 5 days later Bugatti’s speed record was confirmed: "Following a thorough review conducted with a number of external experts, Guinness World Records is pleased to announce the confirmation of Bugatti’s record of Fastest production car achieved by the Veyron 16.4 Super Sport. The focus of the review was with respect to what may constitute a modification to a car’s standard specification. Having evaluated all the necessary information, Guinness World Records is now satisfied that a change to the speed limiter does not alter the fundamental design of the car or its engine."[1][4][5]