Just like with the lap times of various cars posted on the famous Nürburgring Nordschleife, there’s a little controversy going on about what carmaker holds the series-production car top speed record. Some say it’s the Koenigsegg Agera RS, others give credit to Bugatti’s modified take on the all-mighty Chiron. Well, as of this past weekend, there’s a new player in the field.
We have to confess the truth from the start – we need to take all this with a grain of salt. All we have right now is a local news report that an automaker – identified as SSC North America – took a car (its Tuatara hypercar) to the same portion of State Route 160 as used by Koenigsegg - between Pahrump and Las Vegas - in Nevada for a top speed run.
There is no official word from the company itself, nor is there a reported exact speed. Instead, KPVM’s YouTube channel explains that Saturday (October 10th), SSC took its Tuatara to the stretch of highway for a record-breaking attempt that was filmed by specialized crews from the ground and in the air (both by helicopter and jet airplane!).
Apparently, the entire world now needs to sit back, relax, and eagerly expect the official announcement from SSC itself, a company that is actually no stranger to this kind of achievement. We should remember that way back in 2007, their earlier model - the SSC Ultimate Aero – was being credited by Guinness World Records as the “World’s Fastest Production Car.”
Speaking of, if the record run does pan out, there’s just one question remaining – will the Tuatara beat the Agera RS or the special Chiron?! Posting an officially sanctioned higher speed than both would certainly put an end to the controversy between the Swedes and the French.
That’s because three years ago Koenigsegg’s Agera RS used the same U.S. road as the Tuatara to post the official Guinness top speed with an average between two runs in the opposite direction of 277.9 mph (444.6 kph).
Afterwards, Bugatti took its adapted Chiron to 304.773 mph (490.484 kph) at the Ehra-Lessien test facility in Germany. While it was officially sanctioned by a third-party authority, just like the Koenigsegg, there have been many comments about this run because it was done in just one direction.
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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