Truly the Ultimate?

The challengers are lining up to knock off Bugatti's ballistic Veyron, and the latest upstart is an ultra-niche American purveyor of supercars known as SSC.

Its contender is dubbed -- perhaps appropriately -- as the Ultimate Aero TT and it packs some seriously heavy-duty hardware. Try this for size: its twin-turbo 6.3-litre V8 punches out a ridiculous 870kW, and an even more absurd 1483Nm of torque (almost three times the quota of a 6.0-litre Holden Commodore SS).

Seven years in the making, the Ultimate Aero TT is claimed to produce more emissions-legal kilowatts than any other production automobile in the world. Even the completely OTT Veyron is shaded in terms of raw numbers as its 736kW and 1250Nm are comfortably exceeded by the Aero TT's outputs.

SSC makes some bold claims for the Ultimate Aero, quoting a 0-60mph (0-96km/h) time of 2.78sec and a 0-100mph (0-160km/h) time of just 11.66sec. Its standing quarter mile time is claimed to be 9.90secs, with a terminal speed of 232km/h,

However, the real target is to eclipse the 408km/h v-max mark currently held by the Veyron, which gives it the distinction of being the fastest production car in the world.

Consequently, the SSC folk plan to close down a 19.3km stretch of Nevada's Highway 93 on March 21 for the first tilt at the Veyron's record. MKM Racing, which played a key role in developing the car, has been hired to oversee safety and provide laser traps to verify speeds to an accuracy of .016km/h.

The low-slung two-seater has already been tested at NASA's wind tunnel in Langley, Virginia where it is claimed to have shown the potential for a top speed of 440km/h. But achieving this feat in a wind tunnel is one thing, and doing it on the road is quite another.

Despite its extreme performance potential, SSC claims the Ultimate Aero TT "remains remarkably drivable, retaining excellent idle characteristics despite its intention to run for long periods of time at redline".

The Ultimate Aero TT also comes well equipped as standard kit includes by custom Recaro leather/suede seats, a 10-speaker premium system, DVD/navigation/backup camera, and a cab-controlled lift that raises the front an extra 100mm to clear speed humps and driveways.

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