SSC to Redo Tuatara's 331 MPH Record Run Following Controversial Internet Analysis
The company’s founder and CEO acknowledges the results have been “tainted.”
Early in October, hypercar maker SSC North America announced that its Tuatara had broken Bugatti’s record for the world’s fastest production car, releasing a video of the actual 331-mph run along with the announcement. While much of the automotive world was impressed by the achievement, a few YouTubers in the field began taking a closer look at the footage, analyzing the data shown during the run. Taking into account how fast the car appeared to be going between landmarks and referencing the distances of the car’s location and its own mechanical gearing, numerous channels have alleged that the data doesn’t add up and that the record wasn’t actually broken.
In response to these allegations and internet analyses, SSC North America’s founder and CEO Jerod Shelby issued a videoed personal statement (which you can view below), addressing some of the issues. He explained that his team failed to check the accuracy of the video before its release, and in fact, two different cockpit videos were shared, which gave false information regarding the data and run. Fundamentally, it was an error on the video-editing end. In light of these mistakes, he acknowledged that the results have been “tainted” because the company failed to present it in a way that is indisputable, and says that SSC will be doing the record run again, “in a way that it’s undeniable and irrefutable” with independent witnesses and GPS data that can be verified. The founder also invited some of the YouTube channels — including Robert Mitchell, Misha Charoudin and Shmee150 — to join them at the next re-run.
There’s no concrete date set yet for the rerun, so hypercar fans should stay tuned for more information to come.
Elsewhere in the automotive world, Lexus is releasing a limited edition “Aviation” LC 500.
