World's fastest car at 508 kmph in pics: Things to know about SSC Tuatara

The SSC Tuatara is a hypercar designed, developed and manufactured by American automobile manufacturer SSC North America. It recently broke all records to become the world's new fastest car

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The SSC Tuatara is a hypercar designed, developed and manufactured by American automobile manufacturer SSC North America. It recently broke all records to become the world’s new fastest car. On October 10, the reptilian SSC Tuatara hypercar posted an average speed of 316.11 mph (508.73 km/h) while driving on a 11.27 km stretch of the two-lane Highway 160 near Las Vegas.

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These two cars set high marks before - Bugatti’s Chiron prototype in 2019 set a record at 304.77 mph and Koenigsegg Agera RS cars in 2017 at 277.87 mph.

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Shelby SuperCars (SSC) Tuatara was driven by 29-year-old Englishman Oliver Webb. He hit 484.53 kmph on his first run and 532.93 kmph on his second run in the opposite direction. The average of those times will count as the official fastest time. The record-breaking event was witnessed by persons sanctioned by the Guinness World Records.

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Company founder Jerod Shelby described the record as a David versus Goliath-style victory. “People may look at SSC and ask if we belong in the hypercar realm, with such stalwart competitors. This record is so extremely sweet, knowing that our small organisation just achieved something that much more established brands, with much larger engineering and development teams, and obviously larger budgets, have not been able to achieve,” said Jerod Shelby.

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The company is based in Richland, Washington and Tuatara is currently in production at the SSC North America assembly facility there. The vehicle is the result of a design collaboration between Jason Castriota and SSC North America and was titled the "Crown Jewel" of the 2011 Dubai International Motor Show. It made its debut at the 2020 Philadelphia Auto Show.