June 1992 at the Nardò Ring in Italy, with one journalist from Road & Track and one from the Car magazine together with a photographer and a BBC cameraman recording for BBC Top Gear as independent witnesses. None of the independent witnesses understood how Jaguar's testing equipment worked. The pre-production XJ220 with chassis number 009 would be driven by Martin Brundle, who had won the 1990 24 Hours of Le Mans driving the XJR-12. The initial high speed runs, with the car configured in standard trim (catalytic converters connected, lower rev-limit of 7,400 rpm) achieved a maximum recorded speed of , the same speed as previously reached at Fort Stockton during testing. Brundle reported that the car was hitting the rev limiter during the run. The rev limiter was increased to 7,900 rpm and the catalytic converters were removed in favour of installing straight-through exhaust pipes for a second series of runs, and it was this attempt which resulted in the maximum recorded speed of .. It was estimated that the removal of the catalytic converters, which were not mandated in Europe at the time, increased the power output by around . Guinness Book of World Records recorded the 217.1 mph run as the official fastest speed ever attained by a standard production car, this figure was reported in the 1994 to 1999 editions of the Guinness Book of World Records. Guinness World Records then recognised the McLaren F1 driven by Andy Wallace which achieved a maximum recorded speed of in March 1998 (also with rev-limiter increased) as the fastest standard production car in the world. Reception and sales Press coverage of the XJ220 concept in 1988 was overwhelmingly positive and contributed to the decision in 1989 to put the XJ220 into limited production. The production version of the car was first shown to the public in October 1991, at the Tokyo Motor Show. The first car was launched for press review in Autumn 1991. Autocars Andrew Frankel was the first journalist to road-test the car and reported: "Savage acceleration really is a given here. What's really incredible about the XJ220 is its ability to provide such performance in a way that never, ever intimidates." He was particularly impressed with the throttle response, the driver's ability to control the performance of the car very precisely, and the way in which the engine delivers its power progressively rather than in one