Another boutique car company that a lot of ’em probably aren’t aware of is SSC North America, founded by an engineer by the name of Jerod Shelby. The company was originally founded as Shelby SuperCars, and in order to identify as a separate entity unrelated to the other Shelby, the name was changed (abbreviated) to SSC.
The first car they made was the SSC Ultimate Aero, which also held the fastest production car in the world title in 2007 from Guinness World Records. The Ultimate Aero was followed by a variant called Aero XT, which had a 1,300 bhp 6.9L twin-turbo V8. The Tuatara succeeded the Aero in August 2018.
Named after a reptile from New Zealand, the first production Tuatara made its debut at this year’s Monterey Car Week, and the delivery event happened at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering.
Rear static winglets, side-mounted buttresses, forward static wing, and a rear active wing manipulate the smooth flowing air to distribute precision downforce on the wheels. Air is also diverted to intakes that efficiently cool the powerful drive train, then expelled through perforations in the body to sustain the deliberate airflow. Downforce is systematically applied across the hypercar, providing perfect balance at all speeds.
The Tuatara was designed by Jason Castriota, whose work includes Ferrari P4/5, Maserati Birdcage 75th and the Maserati GranTurismo as well when he was working for Pininfarina. At 0.279 Cd, the new hypercar boasts a drag coefficient lower than any other car in its class.
Powering the Tuatara is a 5.9-litre twin-turbo V8 from Nelson Racing Engines, producing 1,750 bhp with E85 and 1,350 bhp with 91 Octane. The engine revs up to 8,800 rpm. A 7-speed AMT from Automac Engineering sends the power to the rear wheels only. The car weighs 2,750 lbs or 1,247 kg, dry.
PC: TopSpeed
Features include a digital instrument cluster, automatic climate control, portrait-style touchscreen infotainment system, power windows controlled via the touchscreen, side cameras for Blind Spot monitoring, another camera for rearview, and a front lift mode that raises the car by 40 mm. The 20-inch wheels are shod with Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres measuring 245/35 at front and 345/30 at the rear.
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