SSC has announced it broke the top speed record for production vehicles with its 1750-horsepower Tuatara supercar. With a fastest top speed of 331 mph and a fastest two-way average of 316 mph, the Tuatara is now the fastest production car on Earth, beating out the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+ by nearly 12 mph.
The record was set on October 10 on a seven-mile stretch of Nevada’s State Route 10, outside of Las Vegas. It’s the same place where Koenigsegg set its 277.9-mph top speed record back in November 2017. Unlike Bugatti, which only recorded speed in one direction, SSC ran in both directions consecutively to account for wind resistance, setting speeds of 301.07 mph and 331.15 mph, calculating to an average of 316.11 mph. A full onboard video of the 331 mph run can be seen below.
In addition to the production car top speed record, the Tuatara also set records for the fastest flying mile on a public road (313.12 mph), fastest flying kilometer on a public road (517.16 km/h), and highest speed achieved on a public road (331.15 mph).
According to driver Oliver Webb, “There was definitely more in there,” he said in a statement. “I know we could have gone faster. The crosswinds are all that prevented us from realizing the car’s limit.”
The SSC Tuatara is an American-made mid-engine two-seater that uses a 5.9L twin-turbo V8 making 1,750 horsepower on E85 fuel. It weighs just 2,750 pounds thanks to carbon fiber bodywork, and has a drag coefficient of just 0.279. Nelson Racing Engines’ mirror image turbos helped power the SSC to the record.
This isn’t the first time an SSC-built car has set the production car top speed record. Back in 2007, the SSC Ultimate Aero became the fastest production car on earth after it was clocked at an average speed 256.14 mph on a closed two-lane road in Washington, beating the then king of speed, Bugatti Veyron.
