A debut 7-years in the making.
It was back in 2011 that a company called Shelby Super Cars made it known that it was going to make something they’d christened the Tuatara, named after the fastest-evolving Tuatara lizard native to New Zealand, and that it would pack an immense amount of power and be the faster than a stabbed rat.
Well, since its arrival on the scene (as a concept car), little has been said or discussed around SSC, aside from an announcement in 2013 that it was building a track at a production facility in Washington. Since then, there’s been little news from the American firm, sans the introduction of the SSC Ultimate Aero XT, which borrowed parts from the new Tuatara (like the all-new 6.9-litre aluminium twin-turbo V8 and seven-speed automatic).
The Tuatara has completed its gestation period and may finally be ready to be revealed as a (limited) production car, and SSC has released a second teaser image of the upcoming car, and confirmed that it will be coming to the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance (finally), replete with a 7.0-litre biturbo V8 with more than 1,007kW and 1,735Nm. That V8 will scream all the way up to 9,200rpm, running on 91RON fuel. Power goes exclusively to the rear wheels via either a 7-speed manual (!) or a 7-speed SMG semi-automatic transmission.
Additionally, SSC claims that the Tuatara will offer an “unmatched drag coefficient,” thanks to its aero-focused shape that allows it to “easily” hit a top speed in access of 447km/h.
But while all of that seems drool-worthy, the SSC Tuatara has a rather major issue it has to overcome as it arrives on the market: Have you seen the Hennessy Venom F5?
