Over the last week and a half, there has been one motoring story that has grabbed more headlines than any other event. This being the SSC Tuatara's land speed record attempt for a production car. Whenever a road legal car sets a new fastest speed, the motoring world usually stands still in awe at the speeds modern cars can reach and then move onto whatever can break that record. However, more than ever, this record attempt has come under fire from some of the biggest names of the motoring journalism industry, and therefore I felt it's only right to give my opinion on the scenario.
Beginning with some background information, SSC is an American car manufacturer famous mostly for their land speed record back in 2007 with their car, the Ultimate Aero. It was built by Jerod Shelby as a "drivers car" as he said that he wanted to make the car a real drivers car, hence why it had no traction control, no anti lock brakes and no electronic driver aids. It was the first American car to hold the crown of fastest production car as it reached a top speed of 254mph in a single run, meaning it was not an official record as official records require a run both ways to get an average speed. Nevertheless, this was a ridiculously quick car, only beaten by the Bugatti Veyron SuperSport in 2010 with a top speed of 268mph. At the time it was also the most powerful production car with 1,180bhp from the engine used by Corvette in their C5-R endurance car, meaning it was always on the radar with car enthusiasts. But after this, they seemingly disappeared to work on the successor known as the Tuatara. The concept for this car was released in 2011 at Pebble Beach but after the concept nothing was heard from SSC until late 2019 when they announced a production version of the Tuatara was to be made, after 8 years of design. The first customer car was shown at the Philadelphia Motor Show in early 2020 where it was rumoured they would carry out a top speed run to attempt to defeat the Koenigsegg Agera RS at 278mph. Since this claim, the Bugatti Chiron Supersport clocked an insane speed of over 300mph meaning the Tuatara had a tall mountain to climb. On October 10, 2020, the SSC allegedly recorded a top speed of 331mph and an average over two runs of 316mph. This is where the problems begin.
Since the record run was published, many sources have claimed that a video published by SSC does not mathematically equate the speed at which they claimed the car managed to do. Popular YouTube personality and automotive journalist Shmee150 (real name Tim Burton) brought out a video a few days ago critiquing the video and the run itself in that it cannot have reached the speed that was claimed. Using a comparison between the Koenigsegg Agera RS top speed run and the SSCs run (as they used the same stretch of road), Tim discovered that given the speed at which the cars were travelling, it was an impossibility for the SSC to be doing the speed it was. The video showed an angle where a junction is visible out of the window, and Tim measured the length of time it took each car to reach the next junction, a distance of 1.13 miles. The Koenigsegg and SSC were put together and he measured the time it took each car to cover that 1.13 miles and at what speed. The videos showed that the Koenigsegg covered the distance the quickest, yet the SSC was allegedly moving at a faster speed. This is quite obviously a mathematical impossibility which has raised questions into the legitimacy of the run.
BBC Top Gear recently got into contact with Jerod Shelby who is not the CEO of SSC, to ask questions regarding the run. So far they have confirmed that the footage used does not coincide with the telemetry footage which shows why the timings did not correlate as Tim pointed out. They also came under fire for blurring the dashboard meaning no one could read the speed on the speedometer. The speedometer of the Tuatara can also only reach 300mph meaning any speed recorded above that is just shown as 300, which has led to some enquiry also. At this stage SSC have accepted the speed as it was done and stand by that their car achieved the speed it did, but an investigation is currently taking place to find out whether the speed was legitimate and whether it can stand or not. At the moment, I do not take any stance on this but as the Ultimate Aero is one of my favourite cars from the late 2000s, I really wish they are able to do it.
Sources
https://www.topgear.com/car-news/ssc-responds-331mph-video-accusations
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3daTG4_JS_4&feature=emb_logo
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