Timothy Brady was disqualified from driving with immediate effect

Timothy Brady, 33, of Earls Crescent, Harrow, north-west London, pleaded guilty at Oxford Crown Court to dangerous driving.

Brady was clocked at 172mph in a Porsche 911 Turbo in a 70mph zone on the A420 in Oxfordshire on 27 January.

He was banned from driving for three years and will have to take an extended driving test to get another licence.

He denied another charge of aggravated vehicle taking.

The court heard Brady had taken the Porsche from luxury car hire firm Helphire, where he worked as a delivery driver.

Your driving was criminally self-indulgent and utterly thoughtless of the danger you might be creating for the innocent

Judge David Morton Jack

Search for 176mph biker

He had nagged his boss to let him drive the sports car and had been repeatedly told no, but the court heard Brady took the car out the next day.

Judge David Morton Jack said to Brady in court: "Your driving was criminally self-indulgent and utterly thoughtless of the danger you might be creating for the innocent."

Police have criticised Brady for travelling at such high speed.

Insp Martin Percival, of Thames Valley Police, said: "All road users share a great responsibility to others and need to realise that high speed increases the chance of failing to react to an emergency, let alone take sufficient action to resolve it."

Insp Percival said the 172mph speed equated to 77m per second.

"To put that into context, the average duration of a single blink of the eye is 0.3 seconds, during which time the car would have travelled 23m (five car lengths)."

Through his own selfishness, in what appears to be a lust for speed, he has completely disregarded the safety of others on the road

Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents spokesman

A spokesman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (Rospa) said: "This was an absolutely terrifying piece of driving.

"Our roads are not race tracks or for breaking speed records.

"It is fortunate the police were there to take action before he ended up killing himself or someone else.

"Through his own selfishness, in what appears to be a lust for speed, he has completely disregarded the safety of others on the road."

Paul Smith of the Safe Speed Road Safety Campaign said: "Our official position is that we are worried that current speed enforcement policy based on cameras is ineffective, but this case is the exception that proves the rule.

"This is someone who was driving dangerously and it is important to distinguish between those who are a few miles over the limit and those who are driving dangerously.

"It is not the behaviour of a responsible motorist - dangerous driving is dangerous and should be punished," he said.

The previous highest speed recorded by a camera which resulted in a conviction was 156mph in 2003.

It involved Aberdeen car dealer Jason McAllister, driving on the A90 between Aberdeen and Dundee.