US-Made Hypercar Hits 331 MPH On Nevada Highway

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Winston

Lorenzo von Matterhorn
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SSC is planning to produce 100 Tuatara supercars - and the latest stunt on the Nevada highway, breaking multiple speed records and securing the crown for the fastest production car in the world - well - could mean a boon for sales - even though each vehicle is expected to sell for around the $2 million mark.



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Made right here in Richland WA. When I worked for a LTL freight company I used to deliver all the motors and transmissions used on the older SSC Ultimate Aero, he usually has 6 or so cars under construction in the shop at any given time and in various stages of build, it pretty cool to see.
 
It must be mighty smooth.
I rode in a friends Vette at about 160 mph.
Was on a newly paved road, at normal speed it was perfectly smooth, not a ripple. At over 150 it was a washboard roller coaster.
 
Apparently did not hit 331 mph. There is controversy as to what was shown in the video vs. reality. Seems like these car dudes could use some help from rocket dudes, since we use electronics to get data on speed and altitude for things that go past Mach 1.
 
Apparently did not hit 331 mph. There is controversy as to what was shown in the video vs. reality. Seems like these car dudes could use some help from rocket dudes, since we use electronics to get data on speed and altitude for things that go past Mach 1.
And you actually believe our electronics are all that accurate? Not sure what accuracy we have with our altimeters but while the altitude is really accurate, speeds are extrapolated from altitude and time to altitude for the most part.
The article below has a statement from Jerrod Shelby about why the controversy even exists and what they plan to do about it.
https://www.autoblog.com/2020/10/28/ssc-tuatara-controversy-explained/
 
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The equation follows:

\( \begin{equation} \text{Average velocity} = \cfrac{x_1+x_2+\dots+x_n}{ \cfrac{1}{ {v_1} } +\cfrac{1}{v_2}+\dots+\cfrac{1}{v_n}} \end{equation} \)

Where x is the number of runs and v is the velocity.

The average speed is 315.39 mph, not 316.11 mph as reported. The error is 0.23%.

Before anyone comments, "The error is less than 1%." Everyone likes to talk about one of NASA's biggest blunders when they bounced a satellite out of its orbit because no one caught a conversion error.

Happy Halloween!
 
And you actually believe our electronics are all that accurate? Not sure what accuracy we have with our altimeters but while the altitude is really accurate, speeds are extrapolated from altitude and time to altitude for the most part.
The article below has a statement from Jerrod Shelby about why the controversy even exists and what they plan to do about it.
https://www.autoblog.com/2020/10/28/ssc-tuatara-controversy-explained/
Speed and location are always calculated with GPS. Accuracy is a function of the speed of the processor you use, the number of satellites you connect to and the sampling frequency. It's pretty damn accurate for the military....
 
It must be mighty smooth.
I rode in a friends Vette at about 160 mph.
Was on a newly paved road, at normal speed it was perfectly smooth, not a ripple. At over 150 it was a washboard roller coaster.

Indeed.
I drove at those speeds, back in the day, in West Texas.
Pavement cracks are a minor annoyance relative to the imperfect grading of public roads. What might pass for a small dip at 65mph becomes a mini-trampoline at double that rate of speed, and can massively unsettle even a race car's suspension.

Having said that, that particular stretch of public road in NV seams to be one of few places in the US where the road is nearly perfect. It's the same place where Koenigsegg set speed record in 2017.

[...]The average speed is 315.39 mph, not 316.11 mph as reported. The error is 0.23%.

There is more going on there than just averaging errors.
It appears that the video that was shared does not support the claimed speeds, and that the GPS equipment provider can't verify the results since SSC has refused to release the raw data files.

Net-net: SSC has conceded that the run was "tainted", and that they intend to stage a re-run “in the near future” :
https://www.engadget.com/ssc-tuatara-rerun-top-speed-record-092617007.html?guccounter=1
 
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