Video casts doubt over 331mph road car 'speed record' - SSC plans a second attempt

The company that claimed a 331mph top speed for its road car has admitted that it may have got its figures wrong and is now planning a second run to check its claims.

American carmaker SSC last month released a video showing its Tuatara supercar apparently hitting a record average 316.111mph speed, and a peak of 331mph.

But analysis by a number of YouTube channels found that the car’s speed, measured between two landmarks on the route, appeared to be considerably slower.

SSC’s owner, Jerod Shelby says that he has now studied the footage and admits that he shares the same doubts over the data, which was calculated via GPS and said to be verified.

In a video posted in response to analysis from YouTubers Shmee 150, Robert Mitchell and Misha Charoudin, Shelby said: “We immediately requested the video files —we hadn’t possessed any of them yet — and we got our hands on a couple of them and the first couple from the same run, we all of a sudden seeing the same doubts,” he said.

“We were seeing different speeds for the very same run, and the more we looked and the more we tried to analyse the more we were concerned there were doubts in the relationship between the video and the GPS.

“The perfect view I had of this record is now gone.”

Shelby said that the company would now prepare to repeat the run, using multiple sensors and with analysts on-site to verify numbers achieved on every run the car makes.

“We have to do it in a way that it is undeniable and unrefutable. We’re going to prepare to do it in the very near future.”

Shelby is expected to submit video of the second attempt to Guinness World Records to accredit the record. He did not confirm whether the attempt would be made on the same road used in the original attempt outside of Las Vegas, Nevada.