I watched a video of the speed test a few days ago and it looked like the BYD car was still accelerating when the top speed was reached, such that it could have gone faster than the record they were aiming for—there was a speed curve and it wasn't plateauing. Of course there are lots of possible reasons why the car couldn't have managed a higher speed, but I wonder if it's like incredibly tall skyscrapers having secretly validated a taller version in the wind tunnel so they can change plans if competition catches up during construction.