Video: SSC Customer Tests His Tuatara's Max Speed, Hits 295 MPH in Just 2.3 Miles

The company formerly known as Shelby SuperCars is based out of Richland, Washington, and was founded by Jerod Shelby – who has no relation to car designer Carroll Shelby other than being a car enthusiast himself. However, there is also one little detail that sets his SSC North America brand apart.

Along with a few others (such as Koenigsegg, Bugatti, or Hennessey), they belong to a select club of daredevils that seek to research, develop, and produce the fastest cars in the production-series world. Alas, since the panache is great, so is the debate. For example, due to various reasons, Sweden’s Koenigsegg is still confident it holds the record obtained back in 2017 with the Agera RS, despite the best efforts from Bugatti and SSC.

Now, without pinpointing the dramatic battle between the 277.8 mph (447.9 kph) Agera and 304.7 mph (490.4 kph) Chiron prototype from 2019, SSC North America simply announced that during top-speed testing run at the Johnny Bohmer Proving Grounds at Space Florida’s Launch and Landing Facility on May 14th, 2022, it achieved another milestone. One that rhymes with 295.0 mph (474.8 kph) in just 2.3 miles (3.7 km) but not with production car land speed record.

At least they are not claiming anything, on this occasion. Alas, it’s still interesting to note that it was done with unprofessional help from American hypercar collector and Tuatara customer Larry Caplin, “who piloted his SSC Tuatara (… and) was recorded by data and performance logging firm Racelogic with dual VBOX GNSS systems onboard the Tuatara, as well as a Life Racing GPS unit for additional data acquisition.” So, the race for the absolute record is clearly still on!