It’s so darn close to 300 mph.
The big news at the tail end of 2020 was around the alleged 330-mph top speed run achieved by the Shelby Super Cars Tuatara. After many months of doubling down on its claim, SSC finally admitted in July of last year that, not only did it fail to achieve 330 mph, but it never even cracked 300. But don’t discount its achievements – in January of last year, a new world record for the fastest production car was set when SSC clocked a two-way average top speed of 282.9 mph, breaking the previous record set by the Koenigsegg Agera RS. But that wasn’t enough, and in its quest to achieve 300 mph, SSC has taken to a strip to prove it has what it takes.
SSC North America
SSC
SSC North America
With a Racelogic VBOX technician and an independent analyst on hand to verify all recorded speeds, the SSC Tuatara reached a verified 295.0 mph (474.8 kph). While still short of the 300-mph goal, what’s astonishing about this achievement is the rate of acceleration once the car crests 260 mph – it’s still pulling like a train. Were it not for the fact that the 2.3-mile test track is so short (relatively speaking), it appears that the Tuatara would have no problem accelerating to and beyond 300 mph.
This means that SSC’s testing has reached another notable milestone, “surpassing the previous world record top speed set by the SSC Tuatara in January 2021.” The wording here is important, and we’ll tell you why.
SSC America
SSC America
SSC has indeed surpassed the world record speed, but it only did so in one direction. For a record attempt to be valid, it has to be achieved in opposite directions, to rule out any aid given by wind or track surface decline. In addition, SSC was careful not to say that it has achieved a new top speed record in any way because a specially modified version of the Bugatti Chiron reached a top speed of 304.773 mph in late 2019. This was also not a true production car world record because, like the latest SSC run, it was only recorded in one direction. SSC will now presumably continue its testing and search for a suitable track that can accommodate a full record attempt in two directions. Will it be enough? Not if the Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut and Hennessey Venom F5 have anything to say about it…
SSC North America
SSC North America
