Jerod Shelby and the team at SSC really did sink their teeth into perfecting the SSC Tuatara, after having acquiesced to the demands of the public to redo their land-speed record. In their latest attempt, the SSC Tuatara accelerates to a heart-stopping 282.9 mph, knocking off Koenigsegg from the top of the charts.

The race to hit 300 mph among the supercars is as grueling as it gets, and the air is getting thinner up there, with only a handful of competitors even making the attempt to achieve immortality status as the first production car to have crossed the 300mph threshold. The SSC Tuatara is currently leading the pack. As you can imagine, this car costs a pretty penny. It dons a fantastic engine, proprietary engineering body works, the absolute sleekest of aerodynamics, and parts that are not particularly going to be lying around in your average shop.

Commanding an obscene 2 million dollars, here is what the SSC Tuatara brings to the table.

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The SSC Tuatara Is, Well, The Fastest Production Car In The World

White SSC Tuatara Race Track Back View
Via: exclusivecarregistry.com

SSC’s first shot at the world record was wide from the mark, but a couple of reruns later, the company was out for blood. Given their first botched attempt, you would be forgiven for raising an eyebrow at the reruns, but their latest achievement of 282.9mph is a done deal. This time the company made sure to include skeptics and experts alike in their attempt and everyone was on their feet after the Tuatara beat the Agera RS’s previous record speed of 277.8 mph.

Yeah it’s staggeringly fast but what do you know, the company is back at it to make the monster even faster! Shelby promised to deliver a car that would shatter the 300mph blockade, and he is even more fueled to make that happen now. Caplin, the owner of the Tuatara that was used for the run can hardly contain himself as he waits to get the vehicle back tuned to attain the promised speed.

Oh, and on a side-note, while the Chiron Supersport 300+ did actually hit 304.773 mph in testing, it is sidelined from the title of the fastest production car in the world as it has never run the official 2-way run required by the Guinness Book of World Records.

The Tuatara Is A Culmination Of Lessons Learnt From The Ultimate Aero

Get this, the SSC Tuatara is not the first hypercar by SSC that has made the headlines. We know the Veyron, the Koenigsegg, even Pagani, but do you remember the SSC Ultimate Aero? Probably not, and that’s because it broke the Veyron’s record for a rather brief window period before Bugatti came back with its supersport version of the Veyron to reclaim the title. In 2007, the SSC Ultimate Aero posted a new world record of 255.83 mph, a record that was obliterated in 2010 when the Bugatti Veyron Supersport came at it with 267mph. Sadly, the SSC Ultimate Aero went largely unnoticed in the automotive world; I mean sure people had heard of it, but it scarcely attracted as much buzz as the Veyron or the Koenigseggs. The SSC Tuatara was conceptualized to right that wrong.

The SSC Ultimate Aero is a 6-speed hypercar with an 1100 hp V8 thundering beneath the hood, and the vehicle is all carbon. Contrast that with the SSC Tuatara’s 1750 hp 5.9-liter twin-turbocharged V8. The vehicle’s design was also re-imagined from the ground up.

The SSC Tuatara's Figure Is Hard To Miss

Tuatara Front View
Via: The Sports Man

SSC enlisted the help of famed designer Jason Castriota to create an alluring look, leagues above its predecessor’s appearance. The vehicle is fitted with butterfly doors that open into a spacious cabin. Coming at you, the vehicle looks like a bullet flying in your direction and you can almost see the air glide over the vehicle’s curves, with its 0.279 drag coefficient, which is actually better than the Chiron’s 0.35 cd. From the back, the vehicle has small wings that boost the aerodynamics of the car and a lovely exhaust.

While eccentric individuals seeking out the thrill of a hypercar will hardly be impressed by lush interiors, SSC still went ahead to make the interior stand out, labeling it as ‘sophisticated simplicity'. It features an advanced Human Machine Interface that throws back accurate feedback from the car’s performance, and rather than fill up the cabin with dials, everything is available via a touch screen in the center console.

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SSC Is A Pretty Small Shop, And The Tuatara Is The Apex Of Loneliness

SSC Aero Wind Tunnel
Via: SSC North America

Now, SSC is not your average hypercar manufacturer. It has been in the game for a lot less time than the decades-old competition, having opened shop in 1998 under Jerod Shelby. In just over 2 decades, however, the company has arduously built upon themselves with each unit produced, and the American company shows no signs of slowing down in their innovative efforts.

No need to cannonball your life savings just yet, as this car is only available by order, and with only 100 units set to roll out of the mill, it seldom gets lonelier on the road than in a Tuatara.

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