The SSC Tuatara is the world’s fastest car, that is the official news coming out of the US today. The American hypercar claimed the record of Fastest Production Vehicle when it achieved a two-way average speed of 508,73 km/h (316,11 mph). This new speed shatters the current top speed (though not an official record) held by a production car, the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport.

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Officially sanctioned

We’ve been following the SSC Tuatara story since the car was launched. The company claimed that its new charge would be able to top 300 mph (484 km/h). On October 10 professional racing driver, Oliver Webb, proved the car’s worth with a record-breaking run on a section of closed motorway outside of Las Vegas.

Webb pushed the SSC Tuatara to an average speed of 508,73 km/h (316,11 mph) following two consecutive high-speed test runs of 484,53 km/h (301,07 mph) and 532,93 km/h (331,15 mph). In accordance with record-setting criteria, the Tuatara traveled in opposite directions (to alleviate any wind assistance), clocking its speeds within one hour. The speeds were verified by independent officials using Dewetron GPS measurements, which tracked the speed runs using an average of 15 satellites.

Other records obtained on the day included:
Fastest flying mile on a public road at 503,92 km/h (313,12 mph)
Fastest flying kilometere on a public road at 517,16 km/h (321,35 mph)
Highest speed achieved on a public road at 532,93 km/h (331,15 mph)

V8 power

Powering the SSC Tuatara hypercar is a 5,9-litre, twin-turbocharged, flat-plane V8 that revs to to 9 000 r/min. On pump fuel, the engine produces 1 007 kW. Fill up the tank with alcohol-based E85 biofuel and the power ramps up to 1 305 kW. SSC claims that the car weighs a scant 1 250 kg. A seven-speed automated transmission sends power to the rear axle on to a pair of Michelin semi-slick tyres measuring 345 mm wide. You can hear and see the world’s fastest car in action at this link.

In their own words

“It’s been ten years since we held this record with our first car, the Ultimate Aero, and the Tuatara is leagues ahead. Its performance reflects the dedication and focus with which we pursued this achievement,” said Jerod Shelby, CEO of SSC. “We came pretty close to meeting the theoretical numbers, which is astonishing to do in a real world setting on a public road. America’s new claim to victory in the ‘land-based space race’ is going to be tough to beat.”

“There was definitely more in there. And with better conditions, I know we could have gone faster,” said Oliver Webb, who piloted the record run. “As I approached 331 mph, the Tuatara climbed almost 20 mph within the last five seconds. It was still pulling well. As I told Jerod, the car wasn’t running out of steam yet. The crosswinds are all that prevented us from realising the car’s limit.”