The SSC Tuatara recently set a new production car top speed record with a two-way average of 282.9 mph (455.3 km/h). However, the company isn’t stopping there.
After last year’s controversy where SSC inaccurately claimed it had hit a two-way average of 316.11 mph (508.73 km/h) with the Tuatara, the company decided against using the same strip of arrow-straight Nevada highway and has instead been testing the car at the Johnny Bohmer Proving Grounds in Florida. This is where the 282.2 mph two-way run was made and will likely be the location where the carmaker tries to surpass 300 mph (482 km/h).
Read More: SSC Sets Production Car Speed Record, Still Misses 300 MPH Mark
“We don’t wanna release (when and where) yet. What I will say is we’re not done,” Jerod Shelby told Muscle Cars and Trucks when speaking about the vehicle’s top speed. “I’m kind of embracing this challenge now. To me I think if we can be the first car that does 2 passes at over 300 mph, and we do it in 2.3 miles, I think it’s a statement.”
SSC spent roughly six months organizing its first top speed run attempt with the Tuatara last year and while it all seemed to go well, including hitting an alleged top speed of 331 mph (533 km/h), it was soon revealed that a host of telemetry issues had greatly inflated that figure. The company decided against closing down another highway to try and make a legitimate top speed attempt and ultimately settled on the runway in Florida.
However, whereas it had 7 miles (11.2 km) of road to play with in Nevada, the runway is just 2.6 miles (4.1 km) long, meaning they had just 2.3 miles (3.7 km) to accelerate before needing to hit the brakes.
While Jerod Shelby hasn’t revealed when the company will try to top its 282.9 mph top speed, he is confident the Tuatara can exceed 300 mph.
“We feel extremely confident that in that same 2.3 miles, we can hit 300 miles per hour, he said. “And I will have to say it’s a difficult thing to do in 2.3 miles instead of 7 miles. It’s so much more difficult on the equipment.”