So many questions. OK, as you probably know, SSC and their Ultimate Aero TT are on a hero's quest to break and thereby set the production car top speed record currently in the hands of the hated Swedes. On March 22 of this year they gave it a go, but because of a jealous Odin snow in Nevada, were only able to hit 230 mph. So, they tried again on May 22. No luck this time out either. Nope, last Tuesday they fell 0.6 mph short. Meaning that the TT did manage to achieve 241.4 mph at "71% throttle." However, according to SSC they weren't actually going for the record. Rather, they were sussing out the transmission cooling system. Which, apparently, works. So here's our questions. First, if this is truly a production car, why didn't they test the transmission on say March 23? Why the Space Shuttle launch like gap between tests? Second...
...SSC claims to be an American car company. If so, what's with the "71% throttle" position? That's more German than a Hasselhoff poster above a bed. Third, come on. They were going for the record. Why fib and say they were just testing? 72% throttle would have blown the thing up? And finally, according to our very poor algebraic skills, 100% throttle would mean... 339 mph? In a vacuum, we know, we know.Whatever the case, look for the Ultimate Aero to break both the Koenigsegg's viking official record of 242 mph and the Veyron's unofficial run of 253 mph with its thrice insane 1,183 hp supercharged V8. SSC's Junus Khan (is that the single greatest name in the world or what?) is claiming they'll be doing so in the very near future. We'll see you in back here in late July.
Related:
Snow Day: SSC Ultimate Aero TT Not As Ugly As We Thought [Internal]