SSC Tuatara

[Roentgen]

SSC Tuatara

SSC North America and famed American supercar designer Jason Castriota are raising the bar in the supercar industry with the unveiling of the SSC Tuatara.

For the time being, some details of this project are top secret, but what we can tell you is this: The Tuatara from SSC ups the ante on ALL levels.

SSC Tuatara Specs

Body:
Carbon Fiber

Engine:
7 Liter DOHC V8
Twin Turbo
~ 1350hp

Transmission:
7-Speed Manual H-Pattern or 7-Speed SMG Paddle Shift
Triple Disc Carbon Clutch

Chassis:
Carbon Cab
Carbon Sub-Frames
Aluminum Crash Structures

Wheels:
One-Piece Carbon Fiber, Standard

[Roentgen]

SSC Tuatara more pics :-)

[Roentgen]

And more pics...

[Roentgen]

SSC Tuatara at the 2011 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance

[Roentgen]

More pics of the SSC Tuatara at the 2011 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance

[W.R.]

I'll eat my hat if they sell more than 5. Definitely a better effort than the Ultimate Aero, but I doubt it'll be anywhere as successful as the Veyron. (If only 12 year old boys had more money these days)

[Ferrer]

Exactly. A car in which money lost in each one produced is a success.

On that basis, I'm going to start my own car company tomorrow.

[TVR IS KING]

Vector Motors has taught me to be skeptical of American manufacturers claiming ridiculous power figures for their future cars. Vector are still claiming to have a 2000hp car in development.
What's more, if we learned anything from the last SSC, it's that this is unlikely to be as revolutionary as the Veyron. The thing was technically capable of going very fast, but unassisted RWD meant it would wheelspin at 300km/hr!

[NSXType-R]

Exactly. A car in which money lost in each one produced is a success.

On that basis, I'm going to start my own car company tomorrow.

What difference is there between Pagani and SSC?

I mean yeah, the first SSC was an abomination with Ford Focus headlights and lumpy bodywork.

At least this is a step in the right direction, stylistically and I haven't heard any top speed records as of lately- it seems like they stopped chasing for top speed.

Pagani started out as a nothing in the automotive industry, and now they're the modern day equivalent of Bentley perhaps- a car company of one man's vision of what the car should be.

Whether or not it's a great company or whether the car handles or lives up to the company's claims is one thing, but you need to start from somewhere.

To point at another example, look at Hyundai. Merely 10 years ago it was just a joke but now it's a serious threat to every established automaker in the industry.

[RacingManiac]

Euro Snobbery....

While I am not a huge fan of Shelby Super Car, what SSC don't have and Pagani/Koenigsegg, or even Noble does is the wax lyrical of the UK/EU presses. There is still much of the kitcar-ish quality left in Noble, same kind of quality that I find unattractive in the SSC Aero, but yet the presses bang on about how great Noble is. Pagani, Koenigsegg started pretty much aiming much higher market and made it more exclusive, which adds to their mystic which really stems from nothing but perception and good presses. It also happen that even people in US readily buy into that kind of hype. Why else will CNN(in US), have half of their anchors have English accent.....

Granted they probably are great cars, but they don't have anymore substance behind their hype than someone like SSC. They aren't race winners, they aren't some kind of prestige brand, they just popped up and start selling fancy car to rich people....IIRC Koenigsegg's engine originally was a Mustang 4.6 MOD V8....

BTW, I still don't find Veyron as anything "revolutionary". VAG should be congratulated to making it, its a great engineering exercise. But its the wrong answer to a question that was expensively engineered to be the right answer.....and you can afford to do that when your mega conglomerate chairman fully backs you in losing lots of money to make it work....something that is not possible for most of these smaller upstart....

[250gto boy]

I think they are gonna go out into the world and challenge the best. You can't go out there and expect to make the perfect car the very first time. It takes time, effort, and a lot of dough. The will show the Veyrons and CCXs who is the real boss of the top speed world. And honestly the Tuatara looks 1000 times better than any Veyron ever created. It doesn't look big and bulky like the Veyron. It looks smooth, sleek, and extremely fast.

[pimento]

I think one difference is the fact that the first Zonda and Koenigsegg didn't seem like a kit car built purely for bragging rights. "OURS IS FASTEREST" "Ours is nicely built and has a unique interior with many bespoke parts." "BAH OURS IS FASTERER SO IT ARE BETTERER." Etc. This is a perception mind, not what I believe is fact. I've not read much about how the SSCs are to drive, are they as joyously easy as a Zonda or as brutally satisfying as a CCX? [Or so the press would have us believe].

The Noble is rather more cheaper than the alternatives, so their kittishness is somewhat more excusable given the performance on offer. Probably. Personally I'd still go for something with a nicer interior and sacrifice some outright pace.

Is there any interior shots of the Tuatara yet?

[W.R.]

Granted they probably are great cars, but they don't have anymore substance behind their hype than someone like SSC.

Maybe not, but many people find companies such as Pagani or Koenigsegg have an X-factor about them. Pagani with their exquisite detailing/ unique looks and Koenigsegg with magic Swedish charm, whereas The SSC could be a Hennessey could be a Saleen. Thanks to Jason Castriota's design this could change for SSC with the Tuatara but at the minute it's still pretty anonymous. By no means is it Anglo-snobbery either, just look at the long list of would-be supercar manufacturers to see how many cars weren't special enough to succeed.

[250gto boy]

Maybe not, but many people find companies such as Pagani or Koenigsegg have an X-factor about them. Pagani with their exquisite detailing/ unique looks and Koenigsegg with magic Swedish charm, whereas The SSC could be a Hennessey could be a Saleen. Thanks to Jason Castriota's design this could change for SSC with the Tuatara but at the minute it's still pretty anonymous. By no means is it Anglo-snobbery either, just look at the long list of would-be supercar manufacturers to see how many cars weren't special enough to succeed.

It's definitely a cool car. The automotive world could use a wake up call for crazy and new styling. I honestly will give it two thumbs way up for styling.

[RacingManiac]

I guess that is part of the issue. Pagani or Koenigsegg took part of their work in image building, where as SSC were just trying to build fastest car.

Caters to one's clientele I guess....people who buy uber cars needs the poser factor....