3 Other Records The SSC Tuatara Smashed During Its 300mph+ Runs

It’s likely your head’s still in a spin from the SSC Tuatara’s incredible 331mph run in Nevada. But if we may blow your mind a little more, it’s worth pointing out that becoming the world’s fastest production Car’ wasn’t the only achievement unlocked.

The 1750bhp hypercar obliterated a total of four records. The other three were the public road records for the fastest flying mile (313.12mph), fastest flying kilometre (321.35mph), and highest speed (331.15mph). It should come as no surprise that the former holder was the Koenigsegg Agera RS (below), which cleaned up all three during its 276.36mph run in Nevada a few years ago. What’s particularly interesting, though, is that those records had previously stood for nearly 80 years.

All three belonged to the Mercedes-Benz Rekordwagen. This monster started as a W125 Grand Prix racing car, with its V8 replaced by a twin-supercharged V12 developing over 700bhp. Its slippery streamliner body allowed it to reach phenomenal speeds when run on a closed section of autobahn in 1938.

The Agera managed 276.9mph for the flying mile, 276.36mph for the flying kilometre and a 284.55mph top speed in 2017, modest improvements of 8mph, 7.6mph and 15.4mph respectively over the Rekordwagen. The Tuatara, on the other hand, has overhauled both cars by a huge margin.

Incredibly, driver Oliver Webb reckons the 1750bhp V8-powered missile could go faster still - he had to back off while the car was still pulling due to crosswinds. SSC won’t go out again to find out how much faster unless its 316mph record is beaten, company founder Jerod Shelby told CT (our full interview is on the way). With the Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut yet to have a crack at 300mph+ glory, though, the Tuatara may yet ‘need’ to run again.