A little while ago, we told you about the SSC Tuatara breaking a public roadway speed record. As we noted in the original article, the estimated 330 mph time had not yet been verified by Guinness. A couple weeks later, it now appears it might never be verified by… well, anyone.
The explanation is complicated and technical. In short, though, the video released by SSC contained a few editing inconsistencies that caused eagle-eyed viewers to question its claims.
“We were seeing different speeds for the very same run,” said SSC founder and CEO Jerod Shelby. “The more we looked, and the more we tried to analyze, the more we were concerned there were doubts in the relationship between the video and the GPS.”
Additionally, the company who manufactured the tracking equipment (Dewetron) hasn’t analyzed their hardware. Even the driver, professional racer Oliver Webb, admitted he really has no idea if they broke the record or not.
All of this uncertainty leads to a single conclusion. Shelby announced on YouTube that SSC would do another run in the very neat future, in an attempt to solidify their alleged record.
Here’s the entire video. (It’s only three minutes long, so well worth a quick watch):
“No matter what we do in the coming days to try to salvage this particular record, it’s always gonna have a stain on it … we have to rerun the record, we have to do this again,” Shelby says. “And do it in a way that it’s undeniable and irrefutable.”
The SSC Tuatara is a $1.9 million supercar. It produces 1,750 hp from its 5.9-liter flat plane crank V8 engine. But can it really go as fast as the company claims it can? Hopefully another run will answer that question.
Photo: James Lipman
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