You might remember when the SSC Tuatara Hypercar broke the top speed record back in October of 2020. If you do, you also might remember all of the insane news surrounding the 331 mph run. Well, it turns out that never happened, and SSC did not break the top speed record. SSC lied about it for the last year and a half.

Is the SSC Tuatara the fastest car in the world?

Well, the SSC Tuatara charaded as the fastest car in the world for the last nine months. Shelby Supercar (SSC) has finally admitted that the Tuatara did not break the record back in October of 2020. The Tuatara has a 1750 hp V8 and costs around $1.9 million, but it isn’t the fastest production car anymore.

According to Car and Driver, the Shelby Supercar (SSC) Tuatara supposedly went 331.15 mph. This beat the previous record of 284.6 mpg set by Koenigsegg back in 2017. In 2019, a Bugatti Chiron hit 304.77 mph in Germany. Quick, but not fast enough.

The SSC Tuatara did not break the record…obviously

For whatever reason, the supercar victory was shrouded in doubt from the start. There was a video of the top speed run, which only fueled the fake story fire. Now, if you look at YouTube, more videos are debunking the story than confirming it.

On the official SSC website, the Tuatara “current top speed” is listed at 282.9+ mph, and it says “world record holder” underneath that information. The last Twitter update from the official SSC North America account is from October 19, 2020.

“316.11 mph. That is the average top speed of the SSC Tuatara after two consecutive high speed runs of 301.07 mph and 331.151 mph on October 10. Record officials verified all record criteria was met during the testing on Nevada State Highway 160.”

SSC North America Twitter

SSC noted that a firm called Dewetron had confirmed the top-speed record. Dewetron issued a press release (which has since been suspiciously scrubbed from the internet but was quoted from Car Throttle) noting that it “did not validate any data from world record attempts or preceding tests.”

This week, SSC took to the official SSC North America Instagram. The long and short of it is: “we would like to acknowledge officially that we did not reach the originally claimed speeds of 331 MPH or even 301 MPH in October of 2020.” While SSC plans to continue attempting to break the record, it seems it might be a moot point.

Where does SSC go from here?

Where does the SSC Tuatara and SSC brand go from here? The comments on social media as suspiciously positive, which makes it seem negative comments have been deleted. Since this has been suspected for months now, it is suspect that the company waited so long to say anything. That is likely because the whispers got too loud to ignore.

While SSC claims to be working toward breaking that top speed record, does it even matter? While the record books might demonstrate that SSC broke the record, most people know SSC lied about it for half a year before admitting defeat. The company already made another pass at the record in Florida and his 282.9 mph.

In the court of public opinion, the SSC Tuatara and Shelby Supercar (SSC) brand are pretty tainted. The Tuatara starts at $1.9 million but will forever be known for this long-winded scandal. SSC has been somewhat deceptive throughout the predicament. Is the brand this deceptive when it comes to hypercar production? Well, probably.