Yahoo Autos Watch SSC Tuatara break the top speed record, seems for sure this time
SSC just completed a third attempt at taking the record for the fastest production car in the world. The first attempt was marred by controversy after controversy (video footage inconsistencies and GPS calibration issues). The second attempt never really got off the ground due to problems with the car. Third time’s the charm, right?
According to SSC, yes, it is. Jerod Shelby and the SSC team are once again saying the Tuatara beat the Koenigsegg Agera RS for fastest production car in the world. This time, the margins are much closer, though. SSC says this latest attempt ended with a two-way average of 282.9 mph, which is just 5 mph more than the Koenigsegg’s two-way average of 277.9 mph.
The top speed runs took place on the Johnny Bohmer Proving Grounds at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. An initial northbound run saw the Tuatara hit 279.7 mph, and in the southbound run, it hit 286.1 mph.
SSC says it used many different GPS data acquisition units to be sure of its numbers. Equipment from Racelogic, Life Racing, Garmin and IMRA were all in the car for the run. The Racelogic box was the primary logger, and the others were in the car for comparison's sake to make sure everything came out rosy. The North American director for Racelogic, Jim Lau, both installed and verified the data that it captured. Racelogic put out a press release in conjunction with SSC today, underlining and verifying the results for the Tuatara's record run.
Racing driver Oliver Webb wasn’t driving the Tuatara this time around. Instead, SSC had the actual owner of the Tuatara make the record attempt, Dr. Larry Caplin. He had much less space to bring the Tuatara up to speed due to the length of the runway. The whole run took place in 2.3 miles, versus the 7-mile stretch Webb had at his disposal in Nevada. Of course, this necessitated much more aggressive acceleration up to speed for there to be space to stop. SSC says that Dr. Caplin used 1.9 miles for acceleration, and the rest of the runway as a braking zone.
Video of the two runs can be found above.
