SSC North America officially admitted that the Tuatara hypercar didn’t reach the claimed 331 mph (532.7 km/h) in the controversial speed record attempt in October 2020. However, the company stated their effort to break the 300 mph barrier with transparency is ongoing.
The announcement was made on an Instagram post where SSC stated:
“We have seen your questions for months now and understand your frustrations. If it hasn’t been made clear up to this point, we would like to acknowledge officially that we did not reach the originally claimed speeds of 331 MPH or even 301 MPH in October of 2020. We were truly heartbroken as a company to learn that we did not reach this feat, and we are in an ongoing effort to break the 300 MPH barrier transparently, officially, and undoubtedly.
We also want to thank all of those who were supportive and understanding of our unexpected incident in April that has delayed our top speed efforts.”
Read Also: SSC Ponders Taking The 1750 HP Tuatara To The Nurburgring
As a reminder, after their first attempt in October 2020 was heavily criticized, SSC North America admitted that the video footage was inaccurate but insisted that GPS data confirmed Tuatara’s average speed of 316.11 mph (508.73 km/h) in opposite directions, even though their claim was later contradicted by GPS company Dewetron.
In December 2020, SSC made a second attempt but heat-related issues in the engine limited its top speed to 251.2 mph (404 km/h). Finally, in January 2021 the SSC Tuatara officially became the fastest production car in the world, averaging 282.9 mph (455.3 km/h) in its third attempt. This record was confirmed however it was far behind the initial goal of breaking the 300 mph mark as an answer to Bugatti. Thus, SSC renewed its commitment to a new speed record. A fourth attempt was organized in May 2021 but the truck carrying the Tuatara crashed resulting in heavy damage to the hypercar.
Read Also: Tweaked Bugatti Chiron Prototype Hits A Certified 304.77 MPH
We hope things turn out better for SSC in their next attempt so we can see the true potential of the Tuatara. We don’t know if the company will make it, but their latest post shows that at least they are trying.
SSC also wants Tuatara to shine at the Nurburgring, aiming to set a new track record. This might happen with the new Striker and Aggressor variants of the hypercar that were announced last May with redesigned aero components and a track-focused set up making them more capable than the stock Tutatara.
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