SSC Tuatara hits 460km/h in new record attempt

SSC has had another attempt at setting a production car top speed record with its 1305kW SSC Tuatara hypercar, following an earlier attempt in October that was dogged by controversy.

The US hypercar-maker's Tuatara has run a two-way average of 455.3km/h at Johnny Bohmer Proving Grounds near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, hitting a maximum 460km/h on the southbound run.

That's some way off the 508.7km/h SSC set on a closed section of State Route 160 Nevada, but enough for the company to beat the official 2017 record that stands at 447.2km/h and was set by the Koenigsegg Agera RS.

This time around, instead of a professional racing driver the SSC Tuatara was piloted by its owner, Dr Larry Caplin.

Perhaps even more remarkable, the new record was clocked on a speed run of just 3.7km, instead of the 11km stretch of state highway used in the previous record, suggesting there was speed left on the table with Caplin's run.

Thanks to the 1305kW 5.9-litre twin-turbo V8, SCC said the timing equipment confirmed the Tuatara hit 390km/h in less than a mile (1.6km).

Addressing October's claims of fakery, this time SSC used multiple GPS speed recording systems that were supplied by Racelogic, Life Racing, Garmin and IMRA.

Commenting on the run, SSC CEO Jerod Shelby said: "We took a different approach this time in accelerating the car to the higher speeds.

"Larry Caplin, who owns the car, used a 'drag race' style of acceleration during the record runs, pulling full throttle and boost for 40-50 seconds.

"Back in October, we were leaning into the speed much slower and used only about 20-25 seconds of full throttle and boost during the run. Larry pulled off a run that was far more difficult, at least by a factor of four, than what we attempted in Nevada."

Caplin said that another SSC Tuatara record attempt is planned and that he is "excited to come back and break 300mph (483km/h)".

With a longer stretch of road, it's believed SSC has its sights set on beating the incredible 490.5km/h top speed clocked by the modified Bugatti Chiron Sport at Germany's famous Ehra-Lessien proving ground.

Bugatti's record was never verified as it was set in one direction only.

It's rumoured SSC might attempt its 500km/h record run soon to beat its fellow US rival Hennessey, which is planning a similar attempt in its new Hennessey Venom F5 hypercar.