The 1750 HP SSC Tuatara, the World’s Fastest Car, Just Got A Lot More Powerful.
The Richland, Washington-based performance marque has actually simply announced two versions of its record-setting hypercar, both of which are even more extreme than the 1,750 hp truck they’re based upon. One doubles down on downforce, while the other, a track-only monster, consists of an added 450 equines to the mix.
The first of the new Tuataras is the track-focused Striker. The hypercar, which is still street-legal, has been fitted with a dramatic aero plan, which consists of a significant frontal splitter, frontal dive degree, directionally vaned side rockers, upright stabilizer, enhanced diffuser, a high-downforce set wing as well as an energised back wing. The splitter, dive airplane along with side rockers incorporate to balance out the downforce, with 45.4 percent placed on the front and also 54.6 percent to the back. Thanks to these modifications the price device can create 1,100 added pounds of downforce at 160 mph, 3 times greater than formerly.
Up following, is the track-only Aggressor. Whereas the Striker is powered by the Tuatara’s supply twin-turbo V-8, this variation has been fitted with updated mill that can producing a spectacular 2,200 hp. It additionally consists of the Striker’s aero package– nonetheless that’s not all. Since it’s not street-legal, SSC claims you’ll have the capability to customize the hypercar to your heart’s web material, consisting of, more than likely, changes that would absolutely not be made it possible for on a roadway car, though it is not clear what those may be.
SSC has yet to introduced efficiency numbers for either of the cars, other than downforce numbers, nevertheless we anticipate they’ll be distinct. Previously this year, the Tuatara happened the world’s fastest manufacturing car after it well balanced 282.9 miles per hour throughout 2 execute at the Kennedy Room Center’s Johnny Bohmer Confirmation Premises in Merritt Island, Fla. That mark bested the 277.87 miles per hour benchmark set by the Koenigsegg Agera RS in 2017.
As you can anticipate, the high-performance Tuatara variants will be restricted. SSC North America plans to construct 100 instances of the conventional variation as well as likewise the Striker combined, along with an added 10 of the Aggressor. Rates hasn’t been revealed, yet the meat as well as potatoes Tuatara starts at $1.6 million, so we would certainly expect it to be also more than that. World-record rate features a rate, nevertheless.
1750-HP SSC Tuatara Sets Production-Car Speed Record (for Real)
1750-HP SSC Tuatara Sets Production-Car Speed Record (for Real This Time) After a controversial outing in October in Nevada, SSC took its hypercar to Florida and averaged a record-breaking 282.9 mph, pushing it past Koenigsegg’s 2017 mark. By Brett Berk Jan 27, 2021 SSC North America Last October, Jerod Shelby, founder and owner of SSC North America (formerly Shelby SuperCars), took a 1750-hp Tuatara hypercar to the Nevada desert and claimed a production-car record with a 316.11-mph average speed. Then the internet went to work, digging into the runs and digging up inconsistencies in the measuring and monitoring of the car’s performance. Whether the Nevada attempt was sloppy or underhanded remains debatable, but the results didn’t stand up to scrutiny.
Setting up in Florida at the Johnny Bohmer Proving Grounds at the Kennedy Space Center on January 17 to take another run at a record held by the Koenigsegg Agera RS since 2017 , Shelby and SSC brought along plenty of backup. Previously on As the Hypercar Turns SSC Tuatara Says Speed Record OK, Video Was Wrong SSC Tuatara Sets Production Car Speed Record “We had Racelogic there with their VBOX equipment, we had Life Racing , we had Garmin, and we had IMRA, which is the International Mile Racing [Association],” Shelby said. “We used equipment from all four groups and had staff there from three of those groups. But when it came down to it, it seems that everyone in the car community looks at Racelogic and VBOX as the most respected measurement tool, so they had multiple redundant systems in the car, and they had a gentleman named Jim Lau, their American representative, present for all the tests.”
Lau sent us a signed certification of the results, vouching for the fact that the Tuatara hit 279.7 mph on its northbound run and 286.1 mph on its southbound run, that both runs were completed within an hour of each other, and that the average of the two runs was 282.9 mph, good enough to break the prior record of 277.87 mph (average run) and the prior single-run record of 285 mph. This content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. SSC provided us with all of this data for analysis. “Like many car enthusiasts, I saw SSC’s original video, had questions about the speed claims, and wondered why they didn’t use a VBOX to validate their extraordinary top speed,” Lau said. “Unlike many car enthusiasts, I found myself on a runway in Florida with our equipment installed on that very car just a few months later.”
During the October attempt, Shelby and his team—including winning race-car driver Oliver Webb and designer Jason Castriota—celebrated in front of banners declaring “Life Begins at 300,” as in, mph—but the car didn’t even approach the magic number this time. Asked why, Shelby explained that this run differed from the prior attempt in numerous ways. “We had only 2.3 miles for the acceleration zone,” Shelby said of the NASA runway , comparing it to the six or seven miles of paved public road in the Nevada desert. “And we only have 0.7 mile to slow down. So, when you’re at 287 mph, you really have to be on the brakes at the braking zone,” lest you run out of runway. Shelby said they also limited the top-end power of the car on the first run because of a third factor. After getting behind the wheel of the Tuatara in Nevada, Webb said, “I hope to never do that again. I actually don’t think anyone is crazy enough to attempt it anytime soon. I think it’s unwise to even try.” SSC North America So the decision was made to allow an inexperienced driver—the owner of the test car, SSC customer Larry Caplin —to pilot the vehicle on this latest attempt. Shelby said that aside from practice runs over the past few months, Caplin didn’t have much seat time in any car above 200 mph. They wanted to help him acclimate. “We were still down about 300 horsepower when we did the first of the two record passes,” Shelby said. (It is worth noting that the Tuatara only makes 1750 horsepower on E85; on 91-octane, the twin-turbo 5.9-liter V-8 makes 1350 horsepower.)
The car’s gearing was changed from the prior runs as well, to accommodate for the limited acceleration distance. “When we were going to a shorter runway, and running in, like, a drag-race mode, with full throttle full boost for 40 to 50 seconds instead of bringing the car up slowly to 200 mph nice and easy and then at 200 mph, full throttle, full boost for 20 to 30 seconds, we wanted to make sure we could use all seven gears and keep the gearing closer together,” Shelby explained. “So we went with a lower gearbox ratio setup.” SSC provided us with these ratios for analysis. Despite repeated requests for an explanation of what went wrong in October, what the results were of SSC’s internal analysis, or how improbable it was that the errors that occurred were simply an “oopsie,” Shelby would not cop to any wrongdoing. “All I can say is, there were multiple things that didn’t line up, and in the heat of the day, with a large film crew there, and all kinds of people around,” he said. “And we’re trying to make sense out of the data, things weren’t adding up to us, and we couldn’t make sense of it.
We could not come up with clear-cut answers of exactly what went wrong.” SSC North America That’s less than a mea culpa, and it may not be enough to slake the thirst of the internet audience that challenged the validity of SSC’s earlier runs. Shelby claimed that they didn’t record any data in the October run, which is suspicious. “Really, all this is just a progress report on the status of our top-speed testing,” Shelby said, “and we’re still on that journey. We’re still moving forward; we’re going to be doing further runs in the future.” And he believes his car can surpass the 300-mph barrier. “The question is whether we can break 300 in 2.3 miles,” he said. In the meantime, he is utilizing all of this publicity to abide the fading auto industry maxim, “Race on Sunday, sell on Monday.”
Though perhaps not exactly to the capacity he’d hoped. “We’ve sold more cars since the last run,” he says. “Probably not as many as we would have. But, yes.”