Hypercar Manufacturer SSC Faked a Speed Record for its Tuatara
Andrew Koole
· 3 min read
The SSC Tuatara is the fastest production car in the world, but it’s not as fast as the company said it was last October.
The Washington-based company announced in 2020 that the Tuatara had reached 331 mph. But controversy erupted online when people noticed inconsistencies with the video of the hypercar’s performance.
SSC retest in January and only reached 282.9 mph, still over five miles faster than the Koenigsegg Agera RS’s 277.7-mph record.
Despite the car’s performance in the second run, SCC declined to renege its claim until this summer. Still, it’s an impressive feat, and the American company says it will continue to chase the dream of breaking the 300-mph barrier.
What is the SCC Tuatara?
SSC North America, formerly known as Shelby SuperCar Inc., is a hypercar manufacturer founded by Jerod Shelby (no relation to car design icon Carroll Shelby—hence, the name change, according to
Autoblog
). The Ultimo Aero, beat the production car speed record in 2007, reaching an average speed of 256 mph. Italian sports car maker
Bugatti
pushed past that barrier with a 267.9-mph record three years later, which Koenigsegg beat in 2017.SCC holds the record once again with the Tuatara. Controversy aside, it’s an impressive if expensive machine.
Car and Driver
says its twin-turbocharged, 5.9-liter, flat-plane-crank, V-8 engine offers 1750 horsepower and 1341 pound-feet of torque. It sells for $1.6 million.Let Jerry find your price in only 45 seconds
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How did the 331-mph hypercar record get outed for being fake?
On October 10, 2020, SSC claimed the Tuatara clocked in an average speed of 316 mph with a top speed of 331.15 mph. But the driver’s perspective video of the speed run left some observant viewers suspicious of the declaration.
According to
Donut Media
, hypercar YouTuber Shmee150
studied the video and revealed inconsistencies between the speed at which the car passed medians on the stretch of road and the speed the GPS in the video said the car was going. This, paired with other tests, led many to believe that the results of the speed run were inaccurately and potentially faked.
In an attempt to prove his company right, Shelby had the Tuatara do another speed run in January, this time with more professional eyes watching. The second driver reached a less impressive but still record-breaking average speed of 282.9 mph.
Is the SSC Tuatara street-legal?
If you have $1.6 million lying around, you can have your own SSC Tuatara—and you don’t have to relegate it to runways and drag racing strips. The hypercar follows all the regulations to be legally driven on American roads.
But don’t expect the cost to own a car like this to end at the dealership. Insurance for supercars like the Tuatara can fall anywhere between $2,000 to $5,000 per year.
Whether you’re buying a Tuatara or a Taurus, the easiest way to find the best deals for
car insurance
is by shopping with Jerry
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