A few months back we had the pleasure of writing an article about the SSC Tuatara. The car was said to have beat the speed record but it quickly lost its title. After the internet and some well-known car enthusiast did a little more research it turns out that the record had not actually been officially beaten.
To beat the record it takes an average of two runs in both directions. Well, on the first unofficial attempt the run was a little botched. While the car seemed to have run 316 mph in one direction the car broke down which prevented them from doing their second run. In addition, there were some discrepancies with the GPS.
Time passed the team at SSC managed to officially beat the record. This time then headed down to the Kennedy Space Center.
“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.” said Shelby.
They wanted to make sure there weren’t any questions as to if they beat the record. The SSC Tuatara managed to hit 279.7 mph on its northbound run and 286.1 mph southbound. With the average of the two, their speed came out to an official 282.9 mph.
The Koenigsegg Agera RS had held the title since 2017 at a brisk 277.87 mph. The SSC Tuatara officially beat the record now is the fastest production car. Had they had more runway who’s to say they wouldn’t have made it to 290mph? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below!