The SSC Tuatara World Record Run of 316MPH Is a Bloody Mess

Today, instead of popping champagne bottles and celebrating, SSC North America is dealing with a bloody mess. The claimed record is being challenged online by internet sleuths, car enthusiasts and basically anyone with a little spare time on their hands to look at the simple math. And the math in the official video just doesn’t add up.

SSC North America claimed that its latest hypercar had set a new world speed record, with an average of 316.11 mph (508.72 kph) in two runs back and forth on State Route 160 in Nevada, thus becoming the world’s fastest production car.

The run was done over the same portion of road between Pahrump and Las Vegas used previously by Koenigsegg and Bugatti. On two runs back and forth, Tuatara was able to pull that average. The highest speed achieved during one of those runs was 331 mph (532.6 kph), and is shown in the official video of the run, shared with Top Gear, among others. You can see it at the bottom of the page.

As soon as the announcement was made, car enthusiasts started talking and, more importantly, dissecting the available evidence. No one openly contested that the Tuatara was able to pull this kind of numbers but, based on the video alone, on this particular occasion, it doesn’t seem like it did.

Simple math was applied to the videos, both the feed from the cockpit and the overlay showing telemetry from GPS manufacturer Dewetron. Based on distance traveled and the time the Tuatara took to get from one point to another, it simply couldn’t have topped 331 mph. At the most, it peaked at 280 mph (540.5 kph), which is clearly impressive but a far cry from the claimed number.

A comparison to the Agera RS performance only seemed to confirm this: even though figures show the Tuatara traveling at a higher rate of speed, it takes more time than the Agera to reach certain physical milestones on the road. Which, again, is impossible.

For its part, SSC North America has acknowledged an issue, though not with the record itself. The record stands: it did happen and it will be confirmed when full, unedited footage is released, they say. There were editing errors in the video released, along with an incorrect description that gave doubters fuel to build their conspiracy theories. The blame for that falls on the editing company and PR department. Moreover, SSC North America says Dewetron has confirmed / validated the record, as will the Guinness Book of World Records farther down the line.

In yet another twist, Dewetron has distanced itself from the carmaker. In a statement to Jalopnik, the Austrian manufacturer says they confirmed nothing because they didn’t have a man on the ground, so they can’t speak of the accuracy of the reading, which is highly dependent on the right setup and calibration of equipment.

“We are not able to guarantee the accuracy or correctness of the outcome,” Dewetron says, adding that they haven’t even received the measurement file of the test drive. “Therefore, we again want to highlight that DEWETRON neither approved nor validated any test results. No DEWETRON employee was present during the record attempt or its preparations,” the statement adds.

In its statement, SSC North America has included more numbers and additional car data, in the hope it would put rumors to rest before they have that piece of unedited footage to show and confirm the world record. They also say they had two independent parties on the ground for validation, and they will back the story.

It’s a mess, alright, proportional to the magnitude of the announcement of a new world record of speed on a production car.