Friday 10th August 2018

280mph SSC Tuatara confirmed for Pebble Beach

American hypercar returns (again), this time with the production world speed record in its sights

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For those thinking that the name 'SSC Tuatara' sounds awfully familiar, then you're correct: the car first appeared back in 2011. And, well, not a great deal ever since. However, Shelby SuperCars are a perseverant bunch, and will publically unveil its new Tuatara at Pebble Beach later this month.

"Years of methodical engineering applied to the Tuatara will be revealed in the unparalleled performance, driver experience and striking presence of the car," is what SSC has revealed thus far, the finished vehicle only shown at the moment in very shady teaser images. The white car you see is as the Tuatara looked in 2011.

The most interesting claim issued by SSC, though, is the assertion that this car will "easily surpass" the 278mph world speed record set by the Koenigsegg Agera RS in 2017. Once upon a time the Tuatara had 1,350hp, a figure it would seem has to rise to vanquish the 1,360hp, 1,360kg Agera RS. However, we'll have to wait until the end of August for confirmation of the vitals.

Anything else? Not much for now, the promises of an 'unmatched drag coefficient' and 'track-level handling characteristics' about your lot for the pre-reveal tease. The date for SSC to whip the covers off is believed to be August 24, so expect more news in a couple of weeks. Does Koenigsegg really stand to lose its hard fought top speed crown?

[Burwood]

‘Easily exceed 278’ let me the first to suggest it wont

[rtz62]

I can’t help but see this when the Tuatara is mentioned...

[456mgt]

[Kenny Powers]

Hard not to think of Iceman coughing

[ESOG]

Looks like a modern Vector W8

[HardMiles]

456mgt said:

Love it!!!! What a hideous beast. You can’t make a production car record if nobody on the planet wants to buy one!!!!

[Europa1]

Kenny Powers said:

Hard not to think of Iceman coughing

[sc0tt]

456mgt said:

[GravelBen]

Well it is named after one of these:

[JohneeBoy]

Tuatara > twaterer.

[MikeGalos]

I'm amused by the assumption that this isn't serious. There is an entertaining level of provincialism not normally seen here.

We do very good engineering here in Washington State in the US and SSC is based in the town with the most Ph.D. holders per capita in the US, almost all in engineering, so they have access to some very, very good engineers even by Washington standards. They're also a few hours drive from Boeing's wind tunnels and even closer to the University of Washington/Lamborghini composite materials research and development center.

You might also recall that SSC held the production car top speed world record with the vastly less sophisticated SSC Ultimate Aero back in 2007 with a two-way official run at 256.14mph and held that world record for three years. 256 to 280 isn't that much of a jump for 11 years of R&D.

You might also recall that SSC taking that record away from them is what annoyed Bugatti enough to upgrade the Veyron to play catch up.

If I were Koenigsegg or Bugatti I'd be working on my next generation tweak since I'd be pretty sure I was going to get bumped down a slot. Again.

Edited by MikeGalos on Saturday 11th August 02:33

[MikeGalos]

Burwood said:

‘Easily exceed 278’ let me the first to suggest it wont

Let me be the first to say not only will it exceed 278, it will do it easily as stated.

[Kenny Powers]

In fairness I doubt many people would think that it isn’t technically possible. What raises my eyebrows is the assertion that it will be “easily” achievable in a “production” car that I can buy and drive to the shops while listening to Spandau Ballet through Apple Car Play

[MikeGalos]

Kenny Powers said:

In fairness I doubt many people would think that it isn’t technically possible. What raises my eyebrows is the assertion that it will be “easily” achievable in a “production” car that I can buy and drive to the shops while listening to Spandau Ballet through Apple Car Play

The last SSC hypercar that held the world production car top speed record for 3 years was absolutely a production car you could buy (from the factory since they didn't have a dealer network) and drive to the shops while listening to whatever you like. Granted it wouldn't have been on Apple Car Play but to be fair Apple didn't make Car Play at the time.

Now, would it be as comfortable a car for shopping as a Volvo sedan? Of course not. But neither is a Bugatti nor any supercar or hypercar. Nor should they be. That's not what they optimize for. Equally, I also wouldn't take one off road to compete with a Land Rover Defender.

[Kenny Powers]

Ah ok cool bananas. I consider myself educated

Good luck to them. If I’m right I’m right and if you’re right then it’s a great achievement and will only further the V-max arms race, which doesn’t really bother me as I’ll never be able to afford to take part, but it’s certainly interesting for any petroleum-spirit head

[noble12345]

I really liked this concept before it dissapeared years ago, seems like the new car is the same with an added flat wing on the back? maybe the lower parts are different, well see.

While to me all this willy waving top speed is a bit pointless in the real world, its still cool to see what humans can achieve. If SSC could beat Bugatti with what looked like a Diablo kit car, i was really hoping the new concept could become reality and wed have another player in the game of hypercars. To me the Chiron looks like a futuristic taxi, the koenigsegg 1:1 a bloated brick, Hennessey Venom was interesting, new car looks a bit old/unfinished in the styling. While i totally respect the tech and brains gone into building them, i dont want one. This SSC would bring something fresh to the mix and im all for that, we cant have too many different cars to choose from.

I wish them the best and hope to see one for real one day.

[hairyben]

noble12345 said:

I really liked this concept before it dissapeared years ago, seems like the new car is the same with an added flat wing on the back? maybe the lower parts are different, well see.

While to me all this willy waving top speed is a bit pointless in the real world, its still cool to see what humans can achieve. If SSC could beat Bugatti with what looked like a Diablo kit car, i was really hoping the new concept could become reality and wed have another player in the game of hypercars. To me the Chiron looks like a futuristic taxi, the koenigsegg 1:1 a bloated brick, Hennessey Venom was interesting, new car looks a bit old/unfinished in the styling. While i totally respect the tech and brains gone into building them, i dont want one. This SSC would bring something fresh to the mix and im all for that, we cant have too many different cars to choose from.

I wish them the best and hope to see one for real one day.

Without wanting to miss the point of a Hypercar, it seems odd that a feature that no users could ever exploit is being chased so hard. What about a ruthless pursuit of just how light you can build a fully functional supercar, which has obvious speed and handling benefits but also wider application if your say VW group?

[Kenny Powers]

I don’t disagree but would add that this is how humanity advances. Striving for more. ‘Why not?’ Would be a better question than ‘why?’ Not many people want a 300mph hyper car but I imagine that far fewer want one that weighs 10kg less than the last one.

Until Elon Musk opens a Martian unobtainium mine, cars aren’t going to get much lighter so long as people still want somewhere to sit

[noble12345]

NEW SSC GOES OVER *** 763 mph ***

They are going to follow right up the ass of the 763.035 mph ThrustSSC

Easy peasy lemon squuuezzzyyyy!

[anonymous-user]

hairyben said:

What about a ruthless pursuit of just how light you can build a fully functional supercar,

Because, frankly, that sort of thing ^^^ costs a lot of time and money. Just going fast in a straight line is actually pretty easy, you just fit a massive engine, and floor it.

(The "other" bits of building a supercar, handling, emissions, driveability, habitability, Feature Content, Mass optimisation, packaging, styling and the list is endless) are much, much harder! Hence we see lots of "lashups" built in sheds claiming great things, and they sell one to someone with more money than sense, and well, that's it for another 5 years....)