Wednesday 3rd January 2018

SSC teases hypercar comeback

The former holder of the production car speed record plots an apparent return to the fantasy league...

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These are apparently high times for the makers of hypercars. Alongside the rash of extraordinary machines being built by industry heavyweights - the Mercedes-AMG Project One, the McLaren Senna, the Aston Martin Valkyrie, the Bugatti Chiron - there is a notable spate of start-ups, old-timers and high-hopers getting in on the act. Just in the last few months we've had the Hennessey Venom F5, the Apollo IE and the preposterous Devel Sixteen unveiled - now we can prospectively add the SSC Tuatara to the list.

If that name rings bells, then congratulations, because SSC announced the car as a concept back in 2011. Should your memory need a jog, SSC stands for Shelby SuperCars, and is the American firm which built the Ultimate Aero - the last holder of the fastest production car world record before the Veyron swept all before it. Things have been a little quiet since the high watermark of 2007; the company changed its name to SSC North American in 2012 after a rather predictable court battle with Carroll Shelby (who is most definitely not related to founder Jerod Shelby) and even showed a prototype Tuatara at the Dubai show in 2013. Since then, however, SSC has managed only to start (but definitely not complete) a new plant in Washington.

Nevertheless, the drawing board seems to have remained in working order as the previously moribund website is now alive and well, and splashed with a new teaser image of what is clearly not a five-door family hatchback. Is this a 2018 Tuatara? That's what the internet assumes - for now SSC has merely stated that ' the evolution is coming' (which may indeed be a reference to the Tuatara name, shared as it is with the uniquely evolved New Zealand lizard). Or it might not. Either way, the last concept had a 1350hp 6.9-litre twin-turbocharged V8 and a projected top speed of 276mph so it's fair to assume that SSC has continued working on something in the silly league of fast.

Expect whatever results to be in the silly league of money, too. Five years ago, SSC tentatively priced the Tuatara at $1.3m. If its follow-up ever makes it from teaser to feature (a process you'll want to take with the obligatory armful of salt), it'll almost certainly occupy the same rarefied market position as the erstwhile Aero, although - given the competition - it will do well to equal its predecessor's place in Guiness's estimation.

[WCZ]

would be surprised if it offers anything unique

[Uncle Ron]

Is anyone else bored of this type of thing? Maybe I should hand in my PH card but it seems every week there's another brand offering precisely nothing unique or different. It's all so unattainable, and let's face it if I had a couple of mill going spare I'd be buying a Valkyrie or a Senna or a Chiron.

[Hoofy]

I'm currently developing a 5000bhp hypercar that will weigh just 800kg but have bluetooth stuff, auto this n that, predictive that and this, and should cost just £25,000 on the road.

Here's a teaser shot.

[Rawwr]

Oh look! A teaser shot that's just DRLs on a shadow, how unique!

Get in the f*cking sea, marketing tw*ts.

[Uncle Ron]

Hoofy said:

I'm currently developing a 5000bhp hypercar that will weigh just 800kg but have bluetooth stuff, auto this n that, predictive that and this, and should cost just £25,000 on the road.

Here's a teaser shot.

Are you accepting deposits or are they all pre-sold?

[Hoofy]

Uncle Ron said:

Hoofy said:

I'm currently developing a 5000bhp hypercar that will weigh just 800kg but have bluetooth stuff, auto this n that, predictive that and this, and should cost just £25,000 on the road.

Here's a teaser shot.

Are you accepting deposits or are they all pre-sold?

If you PM me, I'll have one of our client managers send you a form to prequalify you.

[Collaudatore]

Hoofy said:

Uncle Ron said:

Hoofy said:

I'm currently developing a 5000bhp hypercar that will weigh just 800kg but have bluetooth stuff, auto this n that, predictive that and this, and should cost just £25,000 on the road.

Here's a teaser shot.

Are you accepting deposits or are they all pre-sold?

If you PM me, I'll have one of our client managers send you a form to prequalify you.

<PH style>
800kg - lardy - hardly light weight like my S1 Elise
5000hp - pfft - remapped 335d will push that on (ahem) stock internals
</PH style>

[Hoofy]

Collaudatore said:

Hoofy said:

Uncle Ron said:

Hoofy said:

I'm currently developing a 5000bhp hypercar that will weigh just 800kg but have bluetooth stuff, auto this n that, predictive that and this, and should cost just £25,000 on the road.

Here's a teaser shot.

Are you accepting deposits or are they all pre-sold?

If you PM me, I'll have one of our client managers send you a form to prequalify you.

<PH style>
800kg - lardy - hardly light weight like my S1 Elise
5000hp - pfft - remapped 335d will push that on (ahem) stock internals
</PH style>

Options:
Built-in Red Bull can launcher
Automatic frozen sausage planter
Non-PAS and wide tyres for powerfully-built company directors

Would sir like to be added to the waiting list?

[R500K]

Uncle Ron said:

Is anyone else bored of this type of thing? Maybe I should hand in my PH card but it seems every week there's another brand offering precisely nothing unique or different. It's all so unattainable, and let's face it if I had a couple of mill going spare I'd be buying a Valkyrie or a Senna or a Chiron.

Haha, my chairman has a Valkyrie slot and trust me based on the offers I have seen he's had you will more than a couple of mill

[HeMightBeBanned]

Uncle Ron said:

Is anyone else bored of this type of thing? Maybe I should hand in my PH card but it seems every week there's another brand offering precisely nothing unique or different. It's all so unattainable, and let's face it if I had a couple of mill going spare I'd be buying a Valkyrie or a Senna or a Chiron.

Yes. I find it very boring. The product (if it ever sees the light of day) will be little more than a badly developed kit-car with a monstrous power output. You’d have to be mad to buy one.

[Puddenchucker]

Hoofy said:

I'm currently developing a 5000bhp hypercar that will weigh just 800kg but have bluetooth stuff, auto this n that, predictive that and this, and should cost just £25,000 on the road.

Here's a teaser shot.

I may be interested if there'll be a more expensive, special limited edition, track-focused version with an extra 5bhp and 2kg lighter.

[V8 FOU]

Hoofy said:

I'm currently developing a 5000bhp hypercar that will weigh just 800kg but have bluetooth stuff, auto this n that, predictive that and this, and should cost just £25,000 on the road.

Here's a teaser shot.

Ahem, let's be,er, Frank, here, will it be fast through the Canyons? Not interested in that boring circuit stuff!
Does it have a working, non melting, fire extinguisher?

[Hoofy]

Puddenchucker said:

Hoofy said:

I'm currently developing a 5000bhp hypercar that will weigh just 800kg but have bluetooth stuff, auto this n that, predictive that and this, and should cost just £25,000 on the road.

Here's a teaser shot.

I may be interested if there'll be a more expensive, special limited edition, track-focused version with an extra 5bhp and 2kg lighter.

Ah, you want the Hoofy GTR Sport. £25,001.

[Hoofy]

V8 FOU said:

Hoofy said:

I'm currently developing a 5000bhp hypercar that will weigh just 800kg but have bluetooth stuff, auto this n that, predictive that and this, and should cost just £25,000 on the road.

Here's a teaser shot.

Ahem, let's be,er, Frank, here, will it be fast through the Canyons? Not interested in that boring circuit stuff!
Does it have a working, non melting, fire extinguisher?

That comes under the "auto that", obviously.

[Car-Matt]

Collaudatore said:

<PH style>
800kg - lardy - hardly light weight like my S1 Elise
5000hp - pfft - remapped 335d will push that on (ahem) stock internals
</PH style>

Not only that but the WBAC buy back value for 12 months time is only about £12k