1750-HP SSC Tuatara Sets Production-Car Speed Record (for Real This Time)

 After a controversial outing in October in Nevada, SSC took its hypercar to Florida and averaged a record-breaking 282.9 mph, pushing it past Koenigsegg's 2017 mark.

Last October, Jerod Shelby, founder and owner of SSC North America (formerly Shelby SuperCars), took a 1750-hp Tuatara hypercar to the Nevada desert and claimed a production-car record with a 316.11-mph average speed. Then the internet went to work, digging into the runs and digging up inconsistencies in the measuring and monitoring of the car's performance. Whether the Nevada attempt was sloppy or underhanded remains debatable, but the results didn't stand up to scrutiny.

Setting up in Florida at the Johnny Bohmer Proving Grounds at the Kennedy Space Center on January 17 to take another run at a record held by the Koenigsegg Agera RS since 2017, Shelby and SSC brought along plenty of backup.

"We had Racelogic there with their VBOX equipment, we had Life Racing, we had Garmin, and we had IMRA, which is the International Mile Racing [Association]," Shelby said. "We used equipment from all four groups and had staff there from three of those groups. But when it came down to it, it seems that everyone in the car community looks at Racelogic and VBOX as the most respected measurement tool, so they had multiple redundant systems in the car, and they had a gentleman named Jim Lau, their American representative, present for all the tests."

Lau sent us a signed certification of the results, vouching for the fact that the Tuatara hit 279.7 mph on its northbound run and 286.1 mph on its southbound run, that both runs were completed within an hour of each other, and that the average of the two runs was 282.9 mph, good enough to break the prior record of 277.87 mph (average run) and the prior single-run record of 285 mph.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxBdzOr91Gk&feature=emb_logo

SSC provided us with all of this data for analysis."Like many car enthusiasts, I saw SSC’s original video, had questions about the speed claims, and wondered why they didn’t use a VBOX to validate their extraordinary top speed," Lau said. "Unlike many car enthusiasts, I found myself on a runway in Florida with our equipment installed on that very car just a few months later."

During the October attempt, Shelby and his team—including winning race-car driver Oliver Webb and designer Jason Castriota—celebrated in front of banners declaring "Life Begins at 300," as in, mph—but the car didn't even approach the magic number this time. Asked why, Shelby explained that this run differed from the prior attempt in numerous ways."We had only 2.3 miles for the acceleration zone," Shelby said of the NASA runway, comparing it to the six or seven miles of paved public road in the Nevada desert. "And we only have 0.7 mile to slow down. So, when you're at 287 mph, you really have to be on the brakes at the braking zone," lest you run out of runway.

Shelby said they also limited the top-end power of the car on the first run because of a third factor. After getting behind the wheel of the Tuatara in Nevada, Webb said, "I hope to never do that again. I actually don’t think anyone is crazy enough to attempt it anytime soon. I think it’s unwise to even try."

So the decision was made to allow an inexperienced driver—the owner of the test car, SSC customer Larry Caplin—to pilot the vehicle on this latest attempt. Shelby said that aside from practice runs over the past few months, Caplin didn't have much seat time in any car above 200 mph. They wanted to help him acclimate.

"We were still down about 300 horsepower when we did the first of the two record passes," Shelby said. (It is worth noting that the Tuatara only makes 1750 horsepower on E85; on 91-octane, the twin-turbo 5.9-liter V-8 makes 1350 horsepower.)