The SSC Ultimate Aero was the American hypercar that briefly stole the title of world’s fastest production car from the Bugatti Veyron in 2007, and now its successor has allegedly done the same. Following the intense controversy surrounding the legitimacy of last year’s claimed 331mph run, a second round of testing earlier this month saw the Tuatara achieve a two-way average of 282.9mph.
The attempt took place at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a 2.3-mile stretch of tarmac, and unlike the first attempt, the Tuatara was fitted with telemetry equipment from four different suppliers to ensure accuracy. As with most top speed runs, a two-way average is required to negate the effects of variables such as wind and surface inconsistencies, so although a peak speed of 286.1mph was recorded, the following 279.7mph run made for a two-way average of 282.9mph.
A few months ago, American tuners SSC sparked outrage for allegedly falsifying the speed of its Tuatara hypercar during its attempt at breaking the production car land speed record.
Now, the company is back and it’s still focussed on passing the 300mph barrier. The firm’s engineers are currently working on piecing together a more accurate timing system, using equipment from Garmin, Racelogic and the International Mile Racing Association.
The Tuatara has set a two-way average speed of 282.9mph during its preliminary runs – and, at that speed, it has already broken the official “fastest production car” record of 277.9mph, which was set by the Koenigsegg Agera RS in 2017. But, the Bugatti Chiron SuperSport recently had a bite at the cherry, too, setting a speed of 304.77mph.
autoevolution 24 Jan 2021, 20:01 UTC ·
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Many people continue to have a love-hate relationship with Porsche for venturing into segments where the German automaker didn’t dare to tread back in the good ol’ days. However, the naysayers fail to understand that a jacked-up utility vehicle or comfy sedan with the Porsche badge is more special than meets the eye. 17 photos
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