Doing things backwards. Most guys who are going to build the world’s fastest
supercar first show people sketches and say what they are going to do. Then
they lose money as the project starts to fall apart.
A guy called Jerod Shelby did it differently. He quietly built the Shelby
SuperCars Ultimate Aero with a small group of technicians, got the Guinness
world record for the fastest production car yet built (at 256mph) and then
announced it was for sale. He’s not building a car that is going after the
record or will win the record; it’s already got it. It separates him from
all the poseurs that are out there.
Being American, of course, I’m proud that it’s an American-built car. Hearing
the name Shelby, I assumed that it was one of Carroll Shelby’s projects but
it’s got nothing to do with him. Jerod Shelby is an engineer by trade. He
made a fortune developing medical equipment that helps to detect breast
cancer, and he financed the car himself.
I had never seen an SSC Ultimate Aero until it showed up at my garage. I have
to admit I would occasionally read in the magazines, “The Ultimate Aero —
it’s going to do this; it’s going to do that”, and I can’t say I paid much
attention. I immediately put it into the category of all the kit cars. Far
from it. This is a proper car. Properly made.
It’s not perfect. The rough edges in the car I find somewhat endearing only
because it’s a supercar. It reminds me of the Lamborghinis of the late 1960s
and early 1970s. But this is a real car that achieves California smog
certification. It meets all the standards right now — not “We’re hoping to
have it whenever” — and can be sold right now.
People have no idea how hard it is, first of all, to make the car go fast and
handle well, but also to make the windscreen wipers work — at speed — make
the windows go up and down, make the air-conditioning work. For example, in
the McLaren F1 every single piece is made specifically for the McLaren F1.
Everything was made for this car too, but in the SSC you have a car that is
about half the price of a McLaren F1 and a third the price of the Bugatti
Veyron. It’s also more of a pure driver’s car than a Veyron and weighs about
half of what the Veyron weighs.
I drove the Veyron, and technologically it’s a tour de force, it’s brilliant,
but it’s so brilliant that a lot of the fun of driving has been taken out of
it. The gearbox is automatic; you can’t see the engine. It’s a brilliant
piece of engineering at the expense of the visceral thrill.
The Shelby is fun because with the big V8 and with no pop-off valves you
constantly hear the wastegate valves — WHOOOSSHH! WHOOOOOSSSHHH! — back and
forth. It’s like some great beast has nostrils right behind your head. This
car is about as subtle as an American tourist.
It’s a fascinating experience to drive. When you’re not on boost, it drives
like any other V8 car. You can drive around like you’re in a Corvette until
you look at the horsepower meter. You look at the horsepower meter and
you’ve got 150 and then you put your foot in it and, zoom, you’re at 1,100
horsepower. But it doesn’t pull in an unsophisticated way.
You never feel like you’re not in control. It has no power steering or power
brakes, and the steering is a bit heavy at rest, but after you’ve driven it
quite a bit it begins to kind of shrink around you and you get used to it. I
come from the school of thought where a supercars is supposed to be tricky
and once you’ve learnt how to manage it you’ve learnt a skill. You can put a
Bugatti Veyron in Drive and go. I guess that’s okay, but I like to feel that
the more time I spend in a car, the more I know about it.
There’s nothing on the Ultimate Aero that doesn’t need to be there. It’s got
about eight radiators hidden around the place for transmission and oil and
things, but compared with a Veyron it seems about as simple as a go-kart,
yet it accomplishes the same thing. I admire the Veyron but I don’t really
need all that weight and all that extra stuff. The SSC’s not an
uncomfortable car, but it rides like a race car.
What I like about it is that it’s easily understood in that it’s a V8 with
twin turbos on it and a six-speed gearbox and it’s got a purpose-built
clutch with a lot of bespoke parts on it. You understand that it’s not all
done with electronic wizardry; it’s more like the way they built supercars
back in the 1960s and 1970s. Shelby’s small team builds 25 cars a year or
something like that. It’s high quality but fairly low tech.
I think Bugatti and Ferrari will think of it like the Taliban think about
women: “Well they couldn’t possibly do that, even though they did it. It’s
not even possible so we’re just going to ignore it.” I think they will
probably just ignore it. It’s two different markets and two different
crowds. I know a couple of rich guys that have Veyrons but they’re not true
car enthusiasts. They like it because it’s one of the fastest and most
expensive cars in the world but I don’t think they’d sit down and discuss
the dual-clutch system. The SSC is something that someone like me would
appreciate. An owner could put this car on the lift and change his own oil
filter and feel he was participating in the process a bit. I like the
blue-collar feel to this car.
As someone who enjoys driving, not a professional race-car driver, I thought
it handled well. In the Road & Track test it beat the Ferrari Enzo in
the slalom. I was very impressed with it and found it entertaining to drive.
When I drove the Veyron I put my foot in it and it went fast. I thought it
was like landing in a plane and taking off in a plane — all very exciting
but when the plane is actually flying it doesn’t feel like there’s a lot
happening. This thing, with the turbos right behind your ears, it seemed
like a bit of theatre.
On the highway, people gave it thumbs up when we were out, and when we stopped
for the photos, people would ask what it was.
I think some of the English press thinks the design is a bit retro. It looks
perhaps a bit early-1990s Italian supercar, but that’s okay. I think it’s
contemporary; I think it’s a nice-looking car. It’s a pretty wide car at the
back; it’s 7ft across the back, so I think parallel parking could be a bit
tricky.
Saying that it looks Italian is actually a compliment, I think. It doesn’t
have that Vector look. Doors work, and even little things like, you press a
button and the doors go up, but if the electrics fail, you’ve got a lever
down on the floor that releases the door. It’s the kind of thing a lot of
the people who build these cars don’t bother to do. Johnny Carson was an
investor and he had one of the first DeLoreans. He was driving on the
freeway in Los Angeles one day and the battery cut out and he was trapped in
the car. He couldn’t get out.
The SSC seems pretty bullet-proof. I don’t like to be hard on other people’s
cars but Shelby told me to beat the hell out of it. So we were doing
burnouts all day, and every time we came to a light we dumped the clutch and
peeled away.
It’s a hoot. It does 0–60 in less than 3sec. It pulls incredibly hard and it
doesn’t fishtail or get out of sorts. The key is, on the street it’s highly
entertaining. I’m not sure where I could drive the Veyron. When I drove it
up to Pebble Beach it was impressive but I got the sense, when going around
corners, that, boy, this is a heavy car.
I like the fact that you can call up the guy who built it and he speaks
English, and that it’s made here in America. Shelby is 40 years old and he
did this whole thing himself and financed it himself. It seems to be working
for him. He was talking about how they’ve sold eight cars overseas already
so I think there might be a market. The key to sales is: “By the way, this
is the fastest car in the world and here’s the certification to prove it.”
So when you’re selling it to guys in Dubai and these places where $600,000
is like five bucks, you’ve got the certification. It’s like buying a puppy
and the mother’s Lassie and the dad’s Rin Tin Tin: there’s the proof. If he
hadn’t done the certification he’d be just another guy building a supercar.
If your goal is to drive the fastest car in the world, there you go — and it’s
a third of the price of the Veyron. What a bargain!
Would I buy one? I’m fortunate enough to have had a McLaren F1 for a few years
and it does 241mph. So do I need to spend another $600,000 to go 15mph
faster? It seems a bit excessive in these tough economic times.
The LenoMeter
SSC Ultimate Aero (5 stars)
ENGINE 6345cc, V8 twin turbo
POWER 1183bhp at 6950rpm
TORQUE 1094lb ft at 6150rpm
TRANSMISSON Six-speed manual
FUEL /CO2 Not available
ACCELERATION 0-60mph in 2.78sec
TOP SPEED 256mph
PRICE £335,000
RELEASE DATE On sale now
VERDICT Freakin’ fast
