In this age of innovation and speed, few questioned American supercar company Shelby SuperCars (SSC) when it declared that the Tuatara reached the staggering speed of 331 mph (533 kph) and set a two-way average of 316.11 mph. But it didn’t take long and several industry experts disputed the record.

For instance, YouTuber Schmee150 challenged the idea by comparing Tuatara’s run to the Koenigsegg Agera RS' run on the same seven-mile stretch on State Route 160 in Nevada.

“There are a number of areas that don't quite add up; from the time traveling between the fixed medians on the road and the painted street markings, to the dashboard and telemetry data being out of sync, and also on the technical side with the engine and gearbox configuration,” said the YouTuber.

Schmee150 also stopped on the sound recording to determine RPM and the contradictions between the telemetry data and the visual cues of the shift and rev counter. Foreseeable, Schmee150 wasn’t the only one that found several contradictions and brought them to light.

Related: No Records Broken Despite SSC Tuatara Reaching 295 MPH

Shelby SuperCars Admits Shortcomings

2021 SSC Tuatara - Front Quarter
SSC

After the controversy has reached a fever pitch, SSC was forced to give it another try, but this time around the superfast car reach only 283 mph. By all means, this is an incredible speed for a production vehicle, however, it didn’t come anywhere close to their claimed record speed of 331 mph.

The plot twist became even more intriguing in the summer of 2021 when SSC had to debunk their own claim through an Instagram post. According to SSC’s social media post, the hypercar didn’t reach the staggering speed of 331 mph. Even worse, it didn’t even get to 301 mph.

“We have seen your questions for months now and understand your frustrations,” SSC stated. “If it hasn’t been made clear up to this point, we would like to acknowledge officially that we did not reach the originally claimed speeds of 331 mph or even 301 mph in October of 2020.”

Breaking A Record But Not The Right One

SSC Tuatara At Johnny Bohmer Proving Grounds
Via SSC North America

According to various sources, the supercar reached the top speed of 282.9 mph, which is far lower than the advertised speed, but still higher than Agera RS’ previous record of 277.9 mph.

On the positive side, the second way around the Tuatara broke a global record when it reached the top speed of 295.0 mph (474.8 km/h) and it became the fastest production vehicle in the world. Under normal circumstances, it was expected that the supercar would reach 300 mph, however, the test took place on a shorter runway in Florida. Accordingly, the car couldn’t reach its full potential because of the limited track.

Even this time around, Dr. Larry Caplin drove the supercar to success. He overcame his previous record with the Tuatara at 282.9 mph - which was an average of two runs — 279.7 mph northbound and 286.1 mph southbound.

It's worth noting that this time SSC summoned various experts to witness the ride. For example, Jerod Shelby, Robert Mitchell and Mitchell Townsend agreed to be present at the event. And the speed was recorded by Racelogic with dual VBOX GNSS systems onboard the car, along with a Life Racing GPS unit for additional data acquisition.

It would be interesting to see for how long can the Tuatara maintain the record of the world’s fastest car, considering that its rivals are already developing and improving their own super cars.

Related: Here's What Makes The SSC Tuatara's Engine Such A Beast

The Fastest Cars In The World Built For The Wealthiest People

SSC Tuatara - Rear
via: SSC

Normal folks might wonder who buys these insanely expensive and incredibly fast cars. Priced at more than $2 million and made to travel down the highway at incredible speed, this supercar is not made for city dwellers or commuters, but for ultra-high-net-worth individuals who collect exotic cars and live in regions where speed limits are lax.

In this context, the wealthy elite of Dubai and Abu Dhabi comes to mind. Already in 2011, Tuatara was a big success at the Dubai Motor Show, selling 10 units for a total of $13 million, as per Autoblog. Since then, the exotic automobiles manufactured by Shelby SuperCars have continued to win over new customers in the region. Having said that, Tuatara is the epitome of wealth, speed and luxury; thus, it is hardly surprising that U.A.E. customers can relate to this exotic car.

In a city where the police has a super luxurious fleet made of exotic cars like: the 918 Porsche Spyder, Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4, Bentley Continental, Ferrari FF and Bugatti Veyron, and teens drive collector’s cars, a fleet of Tuatara fits right in. Unfortunately, European and North American fans will probably have to wait longer until they see one of these exotic beats on the highway.