Marc Basseng, the race driver who took an electric hypercar to a staggering 308.4mph last week in Germany, said it was "quite easy" to break the record for the world's fastest production car.

Former GT1 world champion Basseng drove the 3000bhp Yangwang U9 Xtreme hypercar to a record-breaking 308.4mph in a top speed run at Germany's Papenburg test track on Saturday (20 September).

That speed, verified by the ATP testing body, makes the U9X – the flagship from BYD's Yangwang high-performance brand – not just the world's fastest electric car, but also the fastest production car, overtaking the 304.774mph Bugatti Chiron Super Sport.

Basseng said that despite the huge numbers involved – and the massive demand such speed places on the powertrain, bodywork and chassis of the car – it quickly became clear during practice that a record was within reach.

"After the first run, for me it felt like this would be quite easy," he said, "because the acceleration of this car and the power is absolutely unbelievable.

"And then I thought it would not take long as well - maybe two or three days. You always have the limit of a time slot at the ATP, so you can't go as fast as you want all the time."

Basseng said that while he and BYD's engineers were confident about breaking the record on the circuit's 4.0km (2.5-mile) straight, getting there had to be an incremental process in order to evaluate the performance of the car at different speeds.

"Things change dramatically" with tiny increases in speed above a certain point, he explained. "If you go to 400kph (250mph), it's already something special, and then every 20kph [above that] everything changes again and again."

"Going faster, closer to 500kph is completely different, because the resistance working on the car is squared," he said, referring to the exponential increase in aerodynamic load that occurs at such high speeds.

He said the U9X remained stable enough during the attempt to "take off my hands [from the wheel] at 340kph" but added that it was important to be aware of the dramatically increased impact of any small inputs at that speed.

"You need to be so concentrated. The steering controls are so minor. We're not talking about a degree. It's less than a degree," he said, explaining that even an imperceptible steering input at 300mph could result in the car moving "so many metres to the side".

The U9X used for the attempt was largely the same specification as the 30 customer cars that will follow, save for the fitment of "track-level semi-slick tyres" developed especially by Giti, and a bespoke state of tune for the fully active suspension system.

Asked whether he was frustrated to have come in just under the 500kph mark, Basseng said: "There is nothing frustrating in it. We beat the record by six-point-something kilometres per hour and I'm absolutely okay with that."

He added that while the U9X's powertrain could theoretically be capable of surpassing that figure in another attempt, "another 6kph more can make a lot of difference - things can be completely different then".

Basseng also said the U9X's electric powertrain was a boon in the context of a speed record attempt - better in one key respect than even the most powerful combustion engines.

He said the EV powertrain was "a big advantage for something like this because you don't have to shift [gears].

"With every shift [in an ICE car] you have a power cut. The car again needs to push."

Whereas with the linear, constant acceleration of an electric car, "you can really concentrate just on the steering and looking as far as possible [ahead]".

He added: "I never watched the dashboard."

Yangwang will build 30 examples of the electric quad-motor hypercar, a more hardcore derivative of the standard U9 with a huge power boost and a bespoke aero package.

The firm hasn't said if any examples will come to the UK, but BYD has pledged to launch the Yangwang marque in Europe in 2027, following the rollout of the premium Denza brand next year.