The World's Fastest Production Car | The SSC Tuatara

The Bugatti Chiron has held the unofficial title of 'world's fastest car' for some time now, but in October 2020 the American car brand SSC (Shelby SuperCar) confirmed a new world record for top speed for a production vehicle.

• The SSC Tuatara is currently the world's fastest production car, with an officially recognised top speed of 331.15mph.
• The record was set on the 10th of October 2020, breaking the previous record of 277.87mph set in 2017 by the Koenigsegg Agera RS
• The unofficial record set by the Bugatti Chiron, which had achieved a top speed of 304.77mph was also broken

It was a brisk and partially cloudy morning on the 10th of October 2020. That wouldn't dissuade the SSC (Shelby SuperCar) Tuatara though. It raced along a closed seven-mile stretch of road along the State Route 160, located in Pahrump Nevada. Previously, the Bugatti Chiron held the unofficial record for the 'Fastest Production Vehicle', clocking a record-breaking 304.77mph. The £1,000,000 costing SSC Tuatara, however, was set to beat this record.

Clocking two efforts using 15 verified GPS satellites and with Manchester-born British racing driver Oliver Webb at the wheel, the SSC Tuatara would completely destroy the Buggati Chiron's previous record by a fair margin. The Tuatara is a hypercar with a 5.9-litre twin-turbo V8 engine powering it, producing a blistering 1,750bhp. Only 100 SSC Tuatara's are scheduled to be built, meaning this car is going to be a rare occurrence on the public roads.

The Tuatara uses a carbon fibre monocoque chassis which has a dry weight of just 1,247kg, which is extremely light for a car with a hefty 5.9-litre engine sitting inside. The Tuatara has a drag coefficient of just 0.279, meaning drag from the wind affects the Tuatara a lot less.  

So exactly how fast did the SSC Tuatara go?

During both efforts, the Tuatara clocked one slightly under the previous record and one massively over. The first effort managed a respectable 301.07mph, but not enough to dethrone the Chiron. The second effort managed an amazing 331.15mph. This was 27mph more than the previous speed set by the Bugatti Chiron, which was already seen as a sketchy record, due to the record only being tested in one direction instead of two, as the awarding body stipulated. 

The awarding body, The Guinness Book of World Records, stipulates that a land speed figure is only eligible if it has been set over two runs on the same course in opposite directions within an hour of each other. 

Interestingly enough, the Tuatara that achieved the world record won't be any different from the cars that will be delivered to customers. The record-breaking vehicle was using road-legal rubber and an E85 fuel blend, which is what other high-performance hypercar manufacturers like Bugatti and Koenigsegg use to promote engine performance.

The actual previous official record holder

Due to the aforementioned issue with the Bugatti Chiron's record, the car wasn't officially recognised as the 'Fastest Production Vehicle', even though it achieved the 304.77mph speed. The official previous record-holder was actually Koenigsegg's Agera RS which set a record of 277.87mph in 2017. 

If you want to find out which other vehicles have held the 'Fastest Production Vehicle' record, check out the Wikipedia list.

So what does this mean for the SSC Tuatara?

It simply means that the SSC Tuatara is now the world's fastest production vehicle available to the public. However, we do believe that Bugatti and other car manufacturers won't stop there in trying to beat this record. If you want to read more about how the idea of the SSC Tuatara was conceived and its legacy, check out the official Shelby SuperCars website.

Check out the YouTube link below to see the actual video of the SSC Tuatara breaking the record!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N22JfNHiC1k