SSC Tuatara claims to have broken production car speed record… again
The USA-based hypercar manufacturer controversially claimed it had broken the record late last year, however inconsistencies found in the official data suggested this was inaccurate.
The SSC Tuatara – built by low-volume manufacturer SSC North America – has reportedly broken the production car speed record… again.
The company controversially made the same claim in October 2020, announcing it had bidirectionally averaged 508.7km/h on a Nevada highway.
However, internet hawks subsequently uncovered a wide range of inconsistencies in the official footage, and suggested the actual speed recorded was significantly slower.
Data logging firm Racelogic USA was brought in to validate the most recent run, which took place at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
In an official statement, the company said "speed and time data was collected with a VBOX 3i 100Hz GNSS system, accurate to ±0.06mp/h (0.1km/h)".
The published data shows the car – which was driven by Larry Caplin – travelled 450.1km/h on the northbound run and 460.4 km/h travelling southbound. This equates to an average speed of 455.3km/h.
While a long way off the original declaration of 508.7km/h, this was still enough to comfortably snatch the production car land speed record from the Koenigsegg Agera RS, which clocked 447.19km/h back in 2017.
While CarAdvice cannot independently verify the claims, YouTube presenter Shmee150 – who was one of the first public analysts to question the legitimacy of the 2020 run – says he is now satisfied the new record is authentic.
MORE: Everything SSC Tuatara
MORE: Everything hypercars