Wednesday 27th January 2021

VBOX-verified 282mph record for SSC Tuatara

SSC surpasses Koenigsegg's two-way average, but 300mph remains elusive

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Funny old world, isn’t it, when a 282mph two-way average for a production car is something of a disappointment. But such is the situation that SSC North America finds itself in with the Tuatara, mired in controversy since its 316mph claimed average speed run (and alleged 331mph maximum) was called into question because of issues with the published video. 

SSC said it would return, though, and - all credit to it - return it has, with a new top speed run at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida measured by a Racelogic VBOX 3i 100Hz GNSS data logger. The information from that was verified, in fact, by Racelogic’s Technical Director, Jim Lau. And there’s the VBOX video for further correlation. There’s a signed validation form on the website and everything. A repeat of last snafu would be unthinkable.

Disappointingly, if not entirely unexpectedly, the numbers turned out to be not quite as ballistic as they were last year, likely because therre was just 2.3 miles to work with. Still, a northbound run on the Johnny Bohmer Proving Grounds yielded 279.7mph (with ownerr Dr Larry Caplin driving!), and the return leg brought up 286.1mph, meaning an average of 282.9mph. Still phenomenally fast, and enough to beat Koenigsegg's 277.9mph production car record from 2017, if some way off the 304.7mph achieved by the Bugatti Chiron in 2019. A new benchmark speed is being claimed by SSC as the Bugatti was not timed in two directions.

Will SSC ever surpass the Bugatti’s incredible milestone? It’s impossible to know for certain just yet, even though the Tuatara’s enormous potential has been amply demonstrated. If one thing is for certain it’s that SSC will keep trying - they’ll want to beat Bugatti before Koenigsegg does…

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• 2021 Litchfield GR Yaris | UK Review

[Aftershox]

Think a lot of potential customers here will be cancelling orders. Disappointing not because of what it is, but how it got to this figure.

[Nimerino]

They’ve lost their credibility already. No way of getting PST the embarrassment of having your fibs found out by a bunch of Youtubers...

[TellYaWhatItIs]

I wonder was anything addressed regarding the high speed stability. KSC is a hell of a lot safer than the desert mind.

Edited by TellYaWhatItIs on Wednesday 27th January 16:53

[Leftfootwonder]

Meh.

[anixie]

Its only about 50 mph off, isn't it ?
I strongly suspect a certain Christian might now put the hammer down and beat this record to smithereens

Must say that doing this speed on the relatively short available distance is quite nice . I mean Bugatti has a lot more space....

[brillomaster]

I think it looks badass in black.

i cant even begin to comprehend what it feels like to do 4 times the motorway speed limit. thats London to Birmingham in under half an hour.

plus the rate of acceleration to manage this speed in 2.3 miles is bonkers.

[RumbleOfThunder]

Sorry but they lied and tried to mislead the public. Still no 300mph or 316mph or 331mph or whatever else they pulled out of their backsides.

[Sandpit Steve]

brillomaster said:

I think it looks badass in black.

i cant even begin to comprehend what it feels like to do 4 times the motorway speed limit. thats London to Birmingham in under half an hour.

plus the rate of acceleration to manage this speed in 2.3 miles is bonkers.

At 280mph you’d be seeing a mile go by in 13 seconds, and you can see from the tape that they were still accelerating until they had to back off, with not a lot of space to play with even on a 13,000’ runway.

On the second run, with a nice slow roll out, he hit the half mile at 200mph in 18s, and the mile at 244, only eight seconds later.

[ch37]

That's the thing, it's an impressive achievement in its own right, but having dangled a 330mph carrot in front of everyone anything sub 300 was always going to make them look extremely silly.

[Olivergt]

And why is 286.1 on the video image?

Why didn't they put the correct figure on there?

I think a lot of people have lost confidence in them. Which is an absolute shame, because it is one of the better looking super cars out there and so what if it's not the fastest. The market for these kinds of cars is so small, you only need to find 100 buyers or so.

[Oily76]

Olivergt said:

And why is 286.1 on the video image?

Why didn't they put the correct figure on there?

I think a lot of people have lost confidence in them. Which is an absolute shame, because it is one of the better looking super cars out there and so what if it's not the fastest. The market for these kinds of cars is so small, you only need to find 100 buyers or so.

That was the faster one way speed, at least they didn't put 331mph on this one...

[donkmeister]

Olivergt said:

And why is 286.1 on the video image?

Why didn't they put the correct figure on there?

I think a lot of people have lost confidence in them. Which is an absolute shame, because it is one of the better looking super cars out there and so what if it's not the fastest. The market for these kinds of cars is so small, you only need to find 100 buyers or so.

This is what annoys me about SSC... They are capable of building good-looking, fast cars but they make themselves look like clowns by using BS to claim an extra couple of mph on a substantial top-speed, or (previously) claiming their records were verified by people who later said "Eh? No we didn't, we weren't even there!"

Fortunately these sort of thing is easily visible, but it makes me wonder if they take similar shortcuts in the engineering... For all I know they have the most rigorous engineering validation and quality processes known to man, but their PR makes them look like amateurs.

[Arsecati]

Cheezus, WHY keep questioning whether Koeneggsegg or SSC will beat Bugatti's 'record'? How about asking will Bugatti ever try to beat theirs??????

[DonBarracuda]

Arsecati said:

Cheezus, WHY keep questioning whether Koeneggsegg or SSC will beat Bugatti's 'record'? How about asking will Bugatti ever try to beat theirs??????

Bugatti made an official statement shortly after going over 300mph that they would no longer participate in these record attempts anymore.

[anonymous-user]

How is this car classed as a production car when it's not EPA emissions compliant so has to be registered as a kit car i.e. a one-off? Big engine and four wheels is one thing, engineering all the things required for 'production' is an order of magnitude different.

[fantheman80]

With so much scrutiny, did they fk their maths up and thought they could do it on the runway they chose? Anything other than starting with a 3 is just more bad PR

Appreciate this is a huge runway and your limited where you do these runs but I am baffled by their choice here

Unless KSC area doesn’t have Tesco momentum

[Arsecati]

DonBarracuda said:

Bugatti made an official statement shortly after going over 300mph that they would no longer participate in these record attempts anymore.

You've completely missed point buddy (though I suspect on purpose). Only record Bugatti has, is world's fastest Bugatti: of course they're never going to attempt a legitimate attempt - they know they wouldn't get it.

[deadscoob]

Wasn’t the Agera run on a closed 10ish mile long road?

Would be interesting to see what one could do to n the same distance as the SSC

[DonBarracuda]

Arsecati said:

You've completely missed point buddy (though I suspect on purpose). Only record Bugatti has, is world's fastest Bugatti: of course they're never going to attempt a legitimate attempt - they know they wouldn't get it.

No idea what you are talking about. I'm not a Bugatti fanboy if that is what you are insinuating, they made an attempt went over 300mph and immediately bailed out of the competition saying they won't be doing it again. Those are facts are they not?

Edited by DonBarracuda on Wednesday 27th January 23:29

[320d is all you need]

Sandpit Steve said:

brillomaster said:

I think it looks badass in black.

i cant even begin to comprehend what it feels like to do 4 times the motorway speed limit. thats London to Birmingham in under half an hour.

plus the rate of acceleration to manage this speed in 2.3 miles is bonkers.

At 280mph you’d be seeing a mile go by in 13 seconds, and you can see from the tape that they were still accelerating until they had to back off, with not a lot of space to play with even on a 13,000’ runway.

On the second run, with a nice slow roll out, he hit the half mile at 200mph in 18s, and the mile at 244, only eight seconds later.

I suspect with more space it would easily crack 300.

Rapid. Although i will say I don't "like" this. I like Koenigsegg.