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SSC Tuatara Production Car Speed Record, Pahrump NV. Oct 10, 2020 Photo: James Lipman

SSC Tuatara Suffers Heat Issues While Attempting Top Speed Run a Second Time

It’s been about 2 months since the drama-filled story surrounding the SSC top speed run circled the internet. SSC had claimed to set a new production-car land-speed record of 316.11 mph on Oct. 10, but video footage of the record attempt was soon questioned by multiple YouTubers as they speculated the legitimacy of the SSC Tuatara’s record-setting video. 

SSC CEO Jerod Shelby came to the realization released in a YouTube video on October 30th, that there was no way they could “salvage” the first record attempt, “no matter what we do, it’s always going to have a stain on it.”. Alas, a second attempt was put in motion. 

In a video released yesterday, Youtuber – Robert Mitchell discussed his experience at the second record attempt held in Florida. As he depicts in his 30-minute video, SSC had fastened five separate GPS/Speed recording devices in the Tuatara to prove the factual accuracy of the record attempt. 

SSC had invited multiple YouTubers to be present during the Tuatara’s second record attempt that took place December 12th and 13th. YouTubers, Robert Mitchell, Shmee150, and Misha Charoudin were responsible for “debunking” the initial record attempt footage, so SSC wanted to have as much transparency as possible for the second record attempt by inviting them. Due to travel restrictions, Shmee150 and Misha Charoudin were unable to attend the event. 

SSC Tuatara Production Car Speed Record, Pahrump NV. Oct 10, 2020
Photo: James Lipman

Due to cooling issues that lead to spark plug failure on the Tuatara, the attempt was unsuccessful. The Tuatara allegedly only hit a top speed of 251mph before SSC threw in the towel. SSC plans to execute a 3rd record attempt shortly after Christmas.