All posts in “jerod shelby”

SSC Tuatara shown screaming down an empty highway in new video

Nearly three months after SSC North America finally unveiled the production version of the Tuatara, and after more than a decade in development, the company has released video showing the supercar in action.

The 49-second clip shows company founder Jerod Shelby piloting the Tuatara at speed down an empty highway along a windswept, treeless landscape. The rear-mounted camera gives us a good view of the cockpit and its sense of openness, thanks to the expansive glass roof panels on the butterfly doors.

We also get a view of the CIMA seven-speed automated manual gearbox, developed by Automac Engineering of Italy and sending power to the rear wheels as Shelby uses the paddle shifters on the wheel. There’s no indication of how fast he was driving, but we hear the sound of its engine, which has an 8,800-rpm redline, and the video is tagged with #lifebeginsat300 and #yearofthetuatara, reminders of the company’s boast that the Tuatara can go “well over” the vaunted 300-mph mark.

The car boasts a 0.279 drag coefficient and active aerodynamics. Its 5.9-liter twin-turbo flat-plane crank V8 was developed with Nelson Racing Engines. It puts out 1,350 horsepower using 91-octane fuel, and 1,750 hp on E85. Torque is 1,280 pound-feet at 6,800 rpm.

Others have already broken the 300-mph barrier, of course, including a street-legal 2006 Ford GT and a Bugatti Chiron longtail prototype last September, with Koenigsegg claiming that simulations suggest the Jesko Absolut is capable of doing 330 mph. Still, we look forward to SSC’s inevitable assault.

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May 6, 2020 / Comments Off on SSC Tuatara shown screaming down an empty highway in new video
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SSC dubs 2019 the ‘Year of the Tuatara,’ releases driving video

By the Chinese lunar measurements, 2019 is the Year of the Pig, but SSC North America goes by a different calendar. According to its own time, 2019 is the Year of the Tuatara.

SSC Founder and CEO Jerod Shelby and designer Jason Castriota officially unveiled (again) the Tuatara with full specs at the 2018 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in impressive fashion. It peacocks an other-wordly shape, it sits lower to the ground than a vacuum cleaner, and has a twin-turbo V8 with a claimed maximum output of 1,750 horsepower on E85 Flex Fuel. But it kind of disappeared after Pebble.

We recently saw the car physically moving at a dealership, yet parking lot maneuvers only show so much. That gave a nice aural preview, but the public has been begging for video of it in action on real roads doing real driving. Two new videos direct from SSC provide that footage. Sorta.

One clip is 39 seconds and shows the Tuatara overtaking SSC’s first supercar, the Ultimate Aero. The second clip is 25 seconds, with half of that taken up by a logo and a hashtag. The second video shows the car entering an open road, as well as taking a turn on a twisty, both a low speeds.

When this car will finally make it into the hands of the public, we’re not sure, but it’s sure nice to look at.

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February 13, 2019 / Comments Off on SSC dubs 2019 the ‘Year of the Tuatara,’ releases driving video
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Video: SSC Tuatara flexes and revs for the camera

Hennessey is not the only American car company in the 300-mph conversation. SSC North America is currently holding its finger up saying, “Hold up, don’t forget about us!” Its upcoming hypercar, the 1,750-horsepower Tuatara, was recently the focus of a walkaround video that included startup and revs of its 5.9-liter V8.

Youtube car videographer WVM3 Dream Drives recently hit the jackpot when he showed up to Miller Motor Cars in Greenwich, Connecticut. In addition to the scores of high-end luxury sedans and supercoupes, which included Bentleys, Aston Martins, a Ferrari LaFerrari, and the Pagani Huayra “Scozia,” the Tuatara was in attendance. According to the videographer, this was the second preproduction prototype.

SSC reentered the performance conversation this year when it showed the Tuatara at the Pebble Beach Concept Lawn. It’s a car that was first unveiled back in 2011, but that was just a concept at the time, whereas this year’s car is a prototype with years of extra research and development. We’re skeptical of any boutique supercar, but the company’s history with the Ultimate Aero and the car’s specs pique interest.

SSC claims the Tuatara’s coefficient of drag is an astounding 0.279, compared to the Koenigsegg Agera‘s 0.33 and the Bugatti Chiron’s 0.36. Pushing it through the air is a twin-turbo 366-cubic-inch (5.9-liter) V8. SSC claims the Tuatara can make 1,750 horsepower on E85 flex fuel or 1,350 horsepower on premium 91 octane fuel. With a seven-speed “computerized manual,” and an 8,800 rpm redline, it should be an absolute screamer.

Regardless of whether the car will actually be able to reach 300 mph and claim the throne as the fastest production car in the world, the bodywork itself is a display of incredible engineering. Eat it up with your eyes in the video above.

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January 2, 2019 / Comments Off on Video: SSC Tuatara flexes and revs for the camera
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