New official production road car speed record ... 316 mph

[BTB 500]

The SSC (Shelby) Tuatara set an official 2-way average of 316 mph on a public road close to Las Vegas, but the top speed reached was 331 mph

SSC reruns Tuatara speed record attempt, hits 286mph | Autocar

Hypercar driven by customer at US proving ground manages two-way average of 282.9mph

www.autocar.co.uk

 

[BW57]

Hmmm...only 311mph above the speed limit in my home town.

 

[hgb]

Can't wait to see the videos of one of these doing 8mph really loudly outside Harrod's like all the other hypercars.

 

[BTB 500]

I do find this interesting from a technical POV. Not so long ago top speeds for hypercars were limited to around the 200 mark because of the tyres ... that seems to have been overcome?

 

[Stratman]

^^^^I remember reading a hypercar review in a magazine some years ago about their running costs (the McMerc came out very well). The Veyron specified new tyres every 2,500 miles and new wheels every 7,500, at Bugatti prices.

 

[E55BOF]

'Production' car? Not by any sensible definition. Utterly useless toy? Yup.

 

[John]

I'm sure the tyres for the Veyron are £20k a set and need changing at the recommended intervals as stated above.

I guess price is a mix of low numbers and technical ability of the tyre.

 

[unimog]

A Veyron/Chiron is a $3 million dollar car so the costs are relative, these sorts of cars are indeed a technical marvel. They are a show off for engineers and owners. Considering that you can now buy 4 door family cars that will do 196mph+ out of the box its inevitable the bar had to be raised for the hyper car.

You also cant really buy these types of cars new, its by invitation only, the type of folk buying them don't have a problem spending $10k a week in diesel just to keep the lights blazing on their yachts so maintenance is small beer.

 

[KillerHERTZ]

Tim (Shmee) has made a good video debunking the video:

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[m2287]

Tim (Shmee) has made a good video debunking the video:

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I can’t wait for SSC’s response

 

[BTB 500]

Top Gear referred to "certified GPS data and two world-record sanctioned witnesses on site" so it will be interesting to see how this pans out.

SSC’s Tuatara is the fastest car in the world with 331mph top speed

Video: look and weep, puny earth cars, Tuatara hits 316mph two-way average

www.topgear.com

Does anybody remember the story of the Budweiser Rocket car allegedly being the first to break the sound barrier:

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[Deleted member 37751]

The SSC (Shelby) Tuatara set an official 2-way average of 316 mph on a public road close to Las Vegas, but the top speed reached was 331 mph

View attachment 103889

SSC reruns Tuatara speed record attempt, hits 286mph | Autocar

Hypercar driven by customer at US proving ground manages two-way average of 282.9mph

www.autocar.co.uk

Love this sort of stuff, genuine advancement in engineering by men willing to back theirselves.

 

[SW18]

I’m reminded of the uncertainty over what speed Mallard actually achieved on its record-breaking run in 1938. It was not a two-way run (presumably that was not a requirement at the time) and it used wonderfully antiquated speed measuring techniques. It’s still not certain what speed was actually achieved but a 2017 re-evaluation of the data proposes a likely result.
GUEST BLOG: A MATTER OF TIME AND SPACE

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Tim (Shmee) has made a good video debunking the video:

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Teddy Roosevelt sums up Doubting Doris’s best:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

 

[KillerHERTZ]

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The timing company distancing themselves from the video.

 

[Mactech]

I know how difficult it is to supply data that cannot be questioned.
On the Dieselmax 350mph record, we could not use real time GPS data due to latency. Gear ratios were well out due to the tyre slippage on the salt surface.
The FIA were there to verify the record in both directions over the measured mile to 10 thousandths of a second.
So how was the course measured? A man with a hand held GPS!
That was verified to within 50cms, so there can always be some very small percentage of error.

I do find the size of the speed increase over what my friends Andy Wallace did (in one direction) in the Chiron somewhat baffling.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I know how difficult it is to supply data that cannot be questioned.
On the Dieselmax 350mph record, we could not use real time GPS data due to latency. Gear ratios were well out due to the tyre slippage on the salt surface.
The FIA were there to verify the record in both directions over the measured mile to 10 thousandths of a second.
So how was the course measured? A man with a hand held GPS!
That was verified to within 50cms, so there can always be some very small percentage of error.

I do find the size of the speed increase over what my friends Andy Wallace did (in one direction) in the Chiron somewhat baffling.

Whether deliberate or an innocent mistake, there does seems to be several as-yet unexplained inconsistencies, and as you say the step-change in speed is huge.

I have no doubt that this car has serious performance and must be there or thereabouts in terms of it’s potential to break the record, but I remain unconvinced that it has yet achieved the claimed speeds.

 

[SW18]

There’s quite a good update on this here:

Interview: the man who did 282.9mph in the SSC Tuatara

 

[grober]

I do find this interesting from a technical POV. Not so long ago top speeds for hypercars were limited to around the 200 mark because of the tyres ... that seems to have been overcome?

standard road tyres filled with nitrogen at high pressure----allegedly? Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 s

SSC Tuatara set top speed record on regular Michelin tyres

 

[Darrell]

standard road tyres filled with nitrogen at high pressure

Same as the Boris Bikes.