SSC

If you own the world's fastest car, you might as well open the throttle now and then. Dentist-cum-entrepreneur Dr. Larry Caplan has stuck a gumboot into his SSC Tuatara and recorded a top speed just shy of the fabled 300 mph mark – on a short track.

SSC takes a break from screaming straightaways in a bid to prove that the world's fastest car is more than a runway rocket. It's launched two new Tuatara editions tuned specially for the twists and turns of the track.

Shelby Supercars has cemented its claim that the SSC Tuatara is the world's fastest car – but in a weirdly underwhelming fashion. Its new record of 282.9 mph (455.3 km/h) is nowhere near the previous claim, which was sensationally debunked last year.

America's Shelby Supercars has more or less abandoned its world's fastest car claim after eagle-eyed YouTubers pointed out a number of embarrassing, possibly costly discrepancies in its video of the SSC Tuatara making a claimed 316-mph two-way run.

Thirteen years after its first world speed record, SSC has done it again, absolutely blowing the field away with an official record. Driver Oliver Webb took the 1,750-hp Tuatara's wheel and pushed past 300 mph (483 km/h) ... and just kept going.

At 1,750 horsepower (on E85 fuel), the ludicrous rear-wheel drive SSC Tuatara hypercar is designed to break 300 mph (482 km/h). So it barely gets into 4th gear on the hectic sprint from 60-120 mph (100-200 km/h) in this newly released video.

We were wondering if it was vaporware for a while there, but SSC North America has unveiled the first production model of its 1,750-horsepower, twin-turbo V8 Tuatara hypercar. It's the successor to the Ultimate Aero, the world's fastest car in 2010.

"The Quail – a Motorsport Gathering" was already a world class automotive lifestyle event and concours of gravitas, but this year "The Quail" played host to 11 major vehicle debuts and could rightfully boast to have the world's highest concentration of Ultra High Net Worth Petrolheads.

In 2011, a year after Bugatti set a world speed record, SSC showed it had no intention of relinquishing the title for good, revealing the 1,350-hp Tuatara. After a full eight years, Tuatara production is finally underway, marking an important step in the car's quest to become the world's fastest.

Updated November 19, 2017: There's only one fastest car in the world at any given time, and the car that holds that title has captured the public's imagination since the early 1900s. Here's a look at the fastest production cars in history.

SSC has completed engine testing on its 1,350-hp Tuatara supercar.