SSC North America was left red-faced a couple of months ago when it was revealed its claimed 331 mph record run with the Tuatara was inaccurate. However, this hasn’t dissuaded company founder Jerod Shelby from trying to show the world that the Tuatara is indeed the fastest production car on the planet.
Fast forward to December 12 and 13, when SSC headed to an undisclosed runway in Florida with the aim of silencing the doubters and exceeding the 300 mph (482 km/h) mark. It invited YouTubers Shmee150, Misha Charoudin and Robert Mitchell to attend, although only the latter could make the trip from Germany to Florida.
In a video released to YouTube, Mitchell reveals that the plans called for the owner of the black Tuatara to drive the hypercar during the run. On December 12, he would get familiar with driving the vehicle at high speeds while on December 13, the record run would be made. Sadly, poor weather prevented any runs taking place on the 12th.
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On the 13th, and during various runs, the car encountered some heat soak issues. Additionally, SSC was using five different GPS systems, including two Racelogic ones, and says that the engine cover kept opening because of all the wires running to the cockpit. The heat soak issues eventually caused two spark plugs to fail.
According to Mitchell, the most successful run of the day saw the Tuatara hit 251.2 mph (404 km/h) using half the runway before the driver lifted off the throttle after noticing something amiss and discovering the car was running on six cylinders.
SSC has no plans on giving up in its pursuit of a record and is reportedly planning another attempt in early 2021.