Shelby SuperCars, better known as SSC, has just announced that its Tuatara has eclipsed the previous top speed record set by Koenigsegg. It's a welcome change of tune for a company that likely feels snake-bitten after a rough couple of previous attempts at the record. In the first, the data was notoriously inaccurate, and during the second, the car itself experienced heat soak issues. The third time is the charm it seems as this car just set a brand new record of 282.9 mph at the Kennedy Space Center.
Racelogic USA On Hand To Validate High-Speed Test Run
Racelogic, the maker of VBox, was on-site and used multiple independent testing devices to ensure that the numbers for this test were 100% accurate. The fact that it achieved 282.9 miles on average says quite a bit for the car as well since it was able to do that in just 2.3 miles, far shorter than previous attempts. The shorter available distance actually caused SSC to swap out the final drive in the transmission for a shorter one that ultimately lowers theoretical top speed but would allow it to come up to speed quicker.
It's clear now that we were right in the past to laud the Tuatara's power and capability. For SSC and the entire team there, this must be what feels like a shot over the bow of other supercar makers as this is just the beginning of what they're planning to do. Koenigsegg, the ball is in your court.
Sources: YouTube channel Driven Plus