► Seat driver banned for 154mph
► Leon Cupra speeding in Suffolk
► Impressively close to v-max
Here’s a news story doing the rounds that caught our eye: a driver has been banned from driving for two months for doing 154mph in his Seat Leon Cupra.
It’s noteworthy not just for being one of the fastest speeding offences recorded on mainland British roads – but also for proving the flat-out pelt of a modern turbocharged hot hatch.
The Leon Cupra has seen its peak power spiral from an eponymous 265hp to 280hp and now 290hp in recent years. All have boasted a 155mph top speed, capped by Seat.
Now the Suffolk Constabulory have done us all a favour by independently verifying said claim.
Hot hatch speeding: flat-out = a ban
Sadly for 21-year-old Louie Howlett, from Lakenheath, that means a 56-day ban, after he was clocked doing 154mph on the A11 at Icklingham in Suffolk in April 2016 – a single digit off the claimed maximum.
Bury St Edmunds magistrates also handed Howlett a £365 fine. Police called it the highest speed ever recorded in the county.
Click here to read about more outrageous UK speeding records