Folks like you and me - we’re a little different. Our concept of beauty usually involves perfect welds, elegant intake runners, and elegantly mounted turbine housings, as evidenced by the drool we produce when gazing at the SSC Tuatara’s new twin-turbo V-8. It’s a very pretty thing to look at, that’s for sure, but the real question is this - will it have the right stuff to put SSC back on the top speed throne?

Continue reading for the full story.

The Full Story

SSC originally set the top speed record for production cars with the Ultimate Aero TT back in 2007, but over the past 11 years, it’s been bumped down the list by a number of challengers.

Now, however, SSC looks poised to make a comeback with the new Tuatara.

We saw a concept for the Tuatara several years back, but since then, updates have been few and far between. Thankfully, we’ll get a full debut next week at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. To build hype for the big reveal, SSC just gave us an eyeful of the Tuatara’s production-ready engine in a video posted to social media, and suffice to say, we think it looks awesome!

What’s more, the beauty is more than skin deep, as according to SSC, the powerplant will outperform all original expectations. What’s more, SSC says the Tuatara will “outperform other hypercars competing for top speed and all-around performance.”

That’s quite the boast. To live up to its promise, the Tuatara will need to best the mighty Koenigsegg Agera RS, which hit an astonishing 277.9 mph just last November.

Of course, it’s gonna need power to do that - a lot of power. To that end, the Tuatara will come equipped with a twin-turbo V-8, which seems like the go-to configuration for a number of high-end performance vehicles these days, including the Koenigsegg Agera RS, which runs a 5.0-liter unit boosted to produce as much as 1,341 horsepower.

By comparison, the Tuatara’s V-8 gets 7 liters of displacement, and was developed with input from Nelson Racing Engines. Originally, it was believed the SSC lump would spit out as much as 1,350 horsepower and 1,280 pound-feet of torque, enough to send the Tuatara to 60 mph in 2.5 seconds and down the quarter mile in 9.75 seconds. Top speed was expected to clock in at 276 mph.

Now, SSC is gonna need even more to beat the Swedes.

Look for additions details next Friday, August 24th.

Further Reading

Read our full review on the 2014 SSC Tuatara.

Read our full review on the 2006 SSC Ultimate Aero.