When Doctor Lawrence Caplin received the keys to his two-million SSC Tuatara hypercar, maintaining his identity in secrecy was a priority…
Now, after a long time, SSC North America has explained to us the reasons for this compromise, made at a Monterey Car Week event last summer. The Doctor's machine received the green light for official disclosure during the Philadelphia Auto Show, held on 2/8/2020, where his organization CF Charities used the moment to raise money for charity and help children.
Caplin, who is the official founder of the Optimized Care Solutions Group, responsible for bringing dental care to prisons and military establishments in his country, unveiled his 2020 Tuatara model in a stunning combination of pearly black mixed with red accents.
The beautiful car is the first of a hundred specimens the SSC North America brand with headquarters in Richmond will create. It is now officially a part of Mr Caplin's incredible collection, believed to include Ferrari FXX-K models, one of only forty ever made, a Ferrari 599XX, a Ferrari 488 Spider, a 2005 Ford GT, and its predecessor, the light white SSC Ultimate Aero made in 2011.
The heart of the Tuatara supercar is a specially crafted 5.9 liter large V8 twin-turbine unit, for which the SSC and Nelson Racing Engines brands worked together. The eight-cylinder monster generates 1,350 hp on 91-octane fuel, as well as a mighty 1,750 horses on E85 ethanol. The engine is paired with an Italian seven-speed CIMA single-clutch manometer, which is claimed to have a response of less than one hundred milliseconds.
In development since 2009, the model's Tuatara carbon chassis is slated to push the then speed limit of 483km / h. Bugatti, however, overcame these figures last summer with a modified Chiron hypercar, setting them at 490.5 kmh on the VW Ehra-Lessien test track in Germany. In response, SSC North America CEO Jared Shelby said his machine would get even better.
This won't be an easy task, as Houston's Hennessey Performance Engineering with its Venom F5 model is included in the fastest production car race. The CEO of the said company, John Hennessy, believes his poison is capable of developing astronomical 500km / h, while Swedish manufacturer Koenigsegg believes he can do more with his Jesko model, pumped with 1,578 horsepower.
