I know in the case of many German-made vehicles (and probably other countries as well), the built-in speed limiter is tied to tire speed rating. The ‘02 Benz I have in my garage came with H-rated tires from the factory, which have a rating for 130 mph, and from what I’ve read on MBWorld and Benzworld, this is where the speed limiter comes on. Fun fact: both the E320 (which I own) and E430 for this model year have the same governed top speed; I guess the E430 just gets there sooner. :)
Another fun fact: if you drive a Bugatti Veyron at top speed, after 15 minutes the tires start coming apart. But don’t worry about that; if you start with a full tank it runs out of fuel in about 12 minutes. :)
with H-rated tires from the factory, which have a rating for 130 mph...
And think about the times you ‘blew the carbon out’ of some jalopy with tires so thin you could see the air in them?
And the rain and wet road keep them cool.
I'm sure that's true for the German cars sold outside of Germany, but I don't believe the German motorist would accept this. (He or she would want the option to simply upgrade the tires.)
A few years ago I rented an Audi A6 for a trip from Hamburg to Cologne; the first thing I noticed was a warning that the car tires were only rated for 250 Km/H (about 155 MPH). (Unstated, of course, was that the car itself could exceed 250 Km/H; the warning was necessary to prevent someone from "outdriving" the safety of the car tires.)
Deleting the speed limiter in most vehicles is just a matter of unchecking the box for a tuner.
Not that I’m ever going to do a Cannonball, but I have it turned off on everything I get tuned.