SSC North America has announced that it will reattempt the world fastest production car record for the Tuatara, as confirmed by a video statement from CEO Jerod Shelby, after controversies regarding the legitimacy of its initial run started appearing online.
If you missed our previous coverage, here’s a quick rundown: SSC claimed to have beaten the world record for the fastest production with the Tuatara, and posted the video of the VMax run as proof that the car did indeed reach a top speed of 533 km/h (331.15 mph), with the two runs – as required by the record – averaging to a speed of 509 km/h (316.11 mph).
However, several influential media figures began casting doubts on the legitimacy of the run, after calculations based on both visual and mechanical information shows that it’s pretty much impossible for the car to be doing the speeds as claimed.
SSC responded by saying that the data from the Tuatara has been validated by Dewetron, the manufacturer of the GPS device used in the world record attempt, though admitted that the depiction of the run in video form has been “substantially incorrect”. Dewetron, looking to distant themselves from the controversy, promptly released a statement on the same day saying that they in fact, did not verify the data.
After the emotional roller coaster ride, Jerod Shelby decided that there’s nothing else to be done other to reattempt the record with the SSC Tuatara. “No matter what we do in the coming days to salvage this particular record, it’s always going to have a stain on it,” he said in the statement.
He admits that after reviewing the raw footage (which he claims that the company did not have access to), they too started seeing the irregularities that did not line up with the claimed speed. “The more we looked and the more we tried to analyze, we were concerned there were doubts in the relationship between the video and the GPS.”
“We have to re-run the record. We have to do this again and do it in a way that is undeniable and irrefutable,” he added.
The reattempt, which is due to happen “in the very near future”, will also quell some of the common criticisms on the previous attempt by using multiple GPS loggers from multiple manufacturers with their respective representatives present at the run.
Shelby has also extended the invitation to Shmee150’s Tim Burton, Misha Charoudin, and Robert Mitchell, the trio that sparked the conversation surrounding the video, to be there in person at the reattempt. What a truly stand-up thing to do. Their responses can be seen in the videos below.
