SSC Regains Fastest Production Car Title With 316mph Tuatara

It actually hit 331 as a true top speed even still what a missile this car is. Lets see what koenigsegg and Hennessey can do.
 
And to elaborate on that - doing a run in both directions is to reduce the effect of a tail wind by making the car drive into it on the reverse run. With a full 30mph difference between the first and second runs, that suggests quite a high wind speed on the day.
 
And to elaborate on that - doing a run in both directions is to reduce the effect of a tail wind by making the car drive into it on the reverse run. With a full 30mph difference between the first and second runs, that suggests quite a high wind speed on the day.
At approx. 10% speed difference between runs my very poor maths comes up with about a 1mph head wind / tail wind advantage although aero can be tuned to a tail wind or head wind.I'm guessing now that event was staged in very still conditions due to the light vehicle weight as a crosswind would have been a handfull.
Changing gears at 240mph was nice though.
 
Last edited:
Man this be like me on Need For Speed Payback stretch of road trying to test out how fast my maxed out cars can go lol.

So incredible the speeds they can reach. I want this car in a NFS game and any other game I play. It deserves more attention.

We use to get excited for 300KPH then came along 400KPH. I can’t believe how quickly we’ve gotten to 500KPH. Absolutely insane so awesome to see.
 
“There was definitely more in there. And with better conditions, I know we could have gone faster, as I approached 331 mph, the Tuatara climbed almost 20mph within the last five seconds. The car wasn’t running out of steam yet. The crosswinds are all that prevented us from realising the car’s limit.”
Link

Madness
 
With a drag coefficient of .28 and how it was still rapidly gaining speed, I wouldn’t be surprised if that monster reached 400mph. Hennessey’s Venom F5 might be similar but Koenigsegg is getting left in the dust.
America is the speed king again!
Tuatara well worth the wait.
 
Last edited:
I remember seeing this car in the prototype stage in my favourite ever issue of Top Gear magazine, ten years ago almost to the day (October 2010) as a kid.
images_29.jpeg


Seeing it now, doing 330mph... I am just in awe.
 
OK.

It took 29 years for the car to reach 100 MPH. It took another 82 years for the car to reach 200 MPH. 42 years later, the 300 MPH mark was broken. In the space of one year, a car has managed to hit 331 MPH. We were all blown away by the Veyron's top speed of 253 MPH (407KM/H) and within the space of 15 years, the goalposts have been moved by almost 80 MPH. Once again, this little American manufacturer has left VW and Bugatti shaking in their boots. 9 years of speculation, doubt and rumors have all been quashed by a world-beating run many thought would never happen. As long as there's a target, people will aim for it to gain bragging rights and fame. To break the record in this way in these confusing times, where the combustion engine is under threat, makes the achievement very special and admirable.

The car has never been better.
 
Just think, in another 10 years, the Devel Sixteen might... :D

It is truly amazing, I hadn't been following the Tuatara for years, thought it might just be a concept forever, and now a Kiwi reptile is the undisputed fastest car on earth. Looking forward to whipping a virtual one around High Speed Ring.
 
Impressive, but how "production" is this car? Does it meet all US and EU regs? How many are rolling off the line? Genuinely interested.
The last question is answered in the article:
In the meantime, if you fancy a Tuatara on your driveway, you’ll need to be as quick as the car itself. SSC is only making 100, at $1,625,000 each, and the first examples are already being delivered.
That would make it more of a volume production car than the Koenigsegg Agera RS, the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+, and even the McLaren F1 - with certain caveats on the latter (McLaren made 106, including GTR and LM variants; SSC will make 100 including track variants).

It's definitely road legal in the USA, and there's no indication it wouldn't be in Europe.
 
The last question is answered in the article:

That would make it more of a volume production car than the Koenigsegg Agera RS, the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+, and even the McLaren F1 - with certain caveats on the latter (McLaren made 106, including GTR and LM variants; SSC will make 100 including track variants).

It's definitely road legal in the USA, and there's no indication it wouldn't be in Europe.
Thanks. I didn't read the article because I just saw the video on YouTube. The other thing I'm interested in is the altitude of the place they set the record. These things are important because I've got a friend who always says "I'd have that car because it's the fastest top speed car" and I like pointing out the paint gonna be doing 200mph to Asda unless it's at the end of a 15 mile straight.
 
The other thing I'm interested in is the altitude of the place they set the record.

Somewhere between 2,100-2,600 ft above sea level. There's a slight grade coming out of Las Vegas, but it's not much.

I'm not sure how much air density plays into cars at that speed, but it's incredibly dry in that area. Humidity is going to be less than 20% in that area and probably more likely less than 10%.
 
You know..I was just thinking....this will probably be the last ICE-powered car to hold the production car speed record. Whatever goes faster will probably be electric.
 
You know..I was just thinking....this will probably be the last ICE-powered car to hold the production car speed record. Whatever goes faster will probably be electric.

Even with electric power, I doubt that tire technology will catch up fast enough if hypercars continue to push towards 350mph. Busting through 500kph (much less 300mph) has effectively taken down the last relevant obstacle for street cars in pursuing speed records.
 
Last edited:
Even with electric power, I doubt that tire technology will catch up fast enough if hypercars continue to push towards 350mph. Busting through 500kph (much less 300mph) has effectively taken down the last relevant obstacle for street cars in pursuing speed records.

Relevant. :lol:
 
Back