Records

Did SSC lie about Tuatara’s world record?

By Sagar

Posted on October 27, 2020

[October 31, 2020 update: Jerod Shelby: We’ve to re-run the record]

[October 29, 2020 update: Dewetron: We didn’t validate anything; SSC: Please wait.]

Shmee150, the popular YouTuber with a ton of experience driving fast cars around the world, and having driven on the exact same road where the Tuatara and Koenigsegg’s record runs took place, has discovered some weird stuff about Tuatara’s world record.

With the help of Google maps and its measuring tool, he investigates the official published video by taking different variables into consideration, such as the time that takes to travel between the medians on the road, the dashboard and telemetry data being completely out of sync, and also on the technical side with the engine and gearbox configuration.

Also, he points out that when he uses the same method to verify Koenigsegg’s record, the numbers seem accurate, but that’s not the case with Tuatara’s record. Meaning, when you play the Agera RS’ video in sync with Tuatara’s video, side by side, the former reaches a median crossing much before Tuatara, despite Tuatara claiming to be doing a higher speed than the ‘egg.

Things obviously seem very questionable here, especially when you realize that the speedometer in the video is blurred out as well without any explanation. I mean, who does that?

Here’s an important thing: Shmee150 or Timothy Burton, tries his best to stay away from controversies and doesn’t normally say anything negative about any car or carmaker. If a person like that has published a debunking video on Tuatara’s record, it really must be a serious goof-up on SSC’s side. Also, CNBC reports that Guinness World Records was not present on that day and the organization has not independently verified the run.

I found a 360° VR video of the run. Notice that the numbers on the laptop and on the overlay are the same, while the speedometer is completely blacked-out. Meaning, we can rule out the editing goof-up and it is starting to look like SSC might indeed have faked the numbers.

Let’s wait and see how SSC responds to this, or if it responds at all.

[October 29, 2020 update: Dewetron: We didn’t validate anything; SSC: Please wait.]

[October 31, 2020 update: Jerod Shelby: We’ve to re-run the record]