Remember when the Bugatti Veyron cracked 253mph back in 2005 and the motoring world went a little bit mental? It was a truly preposterous achievement, but in comparison to what you’re about to see it was essentially a gentle stroll. This is the SSC Tuatara, and it has just hit 331mph.
The driver, Le Mans racer Oliver Webb, takes things nice and easy in the 1,774PS (1,305kW), 6.9-litre, twin-turbo V8 Tuatara up to about 200mph. Beyond that he starts to put his foot down, breezing from 200mph to 260mph faster than most cars will accelerate from zero to 60mph. At 331.151mph, or 532.821km/h, Webb gently lifts off. Testament to how stable the Tuatara is, Webb takes one hand off the wheel to celebrate while still doing more than 200mph. Hot damn.
For the record, the 304.77mph VMAX that Andy Wallace managed in the go-faster Bugatti Chiron in 2019 is 27mph less than that of the Tuatara. And with another run in the opposite direction of 301.07mph the Tuatara achieved a two-way average of 316.11mph. Watch the video. It’s quite something.
Video
SSC
Tuatara