It's an incredible a achievement by the Veyron.

However, I think the SSC Aero could have challenged that record originally if it was run on the Ehra-Lessian high-speed oval the first time instead of a bumpy, uneven road. The Aero was wind tunnel tested by NASA and the said it was aerodynamically stable up to 273 mph I believe.

I never understood why they didn't test the Aero in the proper environment to begin with, especially when you are going for a record.

Anyways, it will be great to see what SSC fights back with.

 

What do they plan on powering the SSC car is yet to be seen... If I recall correctly, didn't they use the Z06's 7.0 litre v8? Maybe it is time for the ZR1's powerplant with added firepower to challenge the record.

 

The Z06's engine is yes 7.0L but that makes it somewhere around 427 CID, 427.8 CID to be exact.

On SSC's website, the specs for the Ultimate Aero state that the engine is 387.2 CID which makes it smaller than 7.0L so it can't be the Z06's engine.

 

The Bugatti ran 267.8mph?! Holy cow. Once you hit 190 or so, every mph in top speed is a real battle. Can you imagine what it takes to push your way all the way to almost 270mph?! In a street car? A production street car? They are closing in on 300mph.

According to my GPS, I've been 192mph in my Viper. I'm trying to imagine adding another 80 mph to that.....Good Lord.

 

Tell you what, at that speed everything must work right.. I remember a high speed test where the GT-R tires failed at about 180 something miles per hour..

Not good..

 

These guys could get you there....easy:

 

If I remember right they were using C5R blocks though I am not sure what they are running now.

 

All I can say is I have ridden in a 2010 SSC US, my buddy just bought one before we (yes we,I went along) went on the 'gold rush' [seattle to vegas] . It was green but wrapped in black vinyl. seen here...

Before:

After:

They hired a film crew and helicoptors for the first leg here in Seattle. I will tell you it was the most exhilerating few hours of my life, until something tragic happened that I am unable to discuss.

Here is a sneek peak of the rallY!! All i can say is, it was perhaps one of the most fun I have had around cars!!

 

SSC has their work cut out for them. Merely beating the Veyron's speed is one thing. Doing everything the Veyron does is quite another. You have to remember that the Bugatti is a decidedly bespoke luxury car aside from being all this fast.

 

I thought one of the reasons GM supercharged the 6.2 LS3 engine instead of the 7.0L LS7 for the ZR1 and CTS-V was that the cylinder walls on the LS7 were thinner than they felt comfortable with for handling boost.



True, but you also have to remember that the Veyron costs almost twice as much as the Shelby Super Cars Ultimate Aero, so you're definitely paying a lot for added luxury.
(Not that the SSC is cheap by any means.)

 

Honestly, everything I've seen, heard and read about this car has been extremely underwhelming. It's a very basic tube frame with a Diablo-knockoff CF exterior and a fiberglass interior, garnished with random, ebay-sourced components. Paying an upholsterer a couple of grand to cover it in leather doesn't make things better.

No ABS, no airbags, no TC, no cage, no crash structure worth mentioning and a total of of what? 30 seconds of high speed testing? The only professional review of the car was anything but positive and a crooked 5-speed shift knob attached to a 6-speed transmission is something you'd expect to see in a 1980's soviet truck (or a kit car for that matter), not in a $600k vehicle.

It's comparable to a Bugatti in the same way that my singing in the shower is comparable to Pavarotti's work.

 

TRUST ME. It has a crash structure. I just can't talk about it.