What 7-years of development brings.
SSC North America, the hypercar startup that first jumped to our attention some seven years ago, has finally unveiled the full production version of its Tuatara hypercar, giving it a 2019 model year designation while they were at it to underline its imminent arrival to market.
Yes, it’s been nearly a decade since SSC North America started talking about this thing called the ‘Tuatara,’ and seven years on, what an entrance it’s made at Pebble Beach. Its all carbon-fibre body is sleek, low, and wide, and contributes to a drag coefficient of just 0.279cd, lower than its competition like the Hennessey Venom F5 (0.33cd), and Bugatti Chiron (0.36cd).
But this low-slung, lightweight hyper-fast machine (it boasts a dry weight of just 1247kg) is more than just striking and slippery: It’s also maniacally fast. You’ll find a biturbo 5.9-litre V8 engine with no less than 1006kW on tap under the bonnet, which is capable of being fuelled on 91RON fuel. If you can get your hands on E85 ethanol-blend fuel, you’ll be able to bump that power up to an amazing 1305kW.
That powerful engine is mated to a seven-speed manual transmission, which SSC says is “computerised,” and features a “robotic shift system.” We have our concerns about these automated-manual transmissions, but SSC says it’s this gearbox that’ll allow the Tuatara hit a top speed that can “easily surpass the current world record.” And for the, uh… record, the top-speed crown belongs to the Koenigsegg Agera RS and its 457.94km/h V-max number. SSC hasn’t yet talked about the cost of bringing a Tuatara home yet, or details on its production. But you can expect them to talk about this in the future though, closer to the Tuatara’s official launch.
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