New SSC supercar to beat Veyron SS... this summer?
Jul 22, 2010 | 04:42 PM
#141
Thread Starter
| Teamspeed Senior Member
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 265
Shelby SuperCars hosts a private unveiling of the second generation Ultimate Aero at the Boeing Museum of Flight on Sunday August 8, 2010 from 5:30 – 10 pm. An intimate dinner event featuring a discussion with SSC owner and founder Jerod Shelby and ex-Pinninfarina designer Jason Castriota (lead designer on historic automobiles such as the Maserati Birdcage, Gran Turismo, and Ferrari 599), which will culminate with the first ever showing of the second generation Ultimate Aero full-scale design model. In addition, attendees will be able to take advantage of a private tour of the Museum of Flight prior to the event.
SSC Ultimate Aero Unveiling At The Boeing Museum Of Flight - Eventbrite
No photos of the second generation Ultimate Aero will be permitted at this event. Cameras will be restricted at the door, and we will respectfully ask you to use your cell phone outside.
SSC Ultimate Aero Unveiling At The Boeing Museum Of Flight - Eventbrite
No photos of the second generation Ultimate Aero will be permitted at this event. Cameras will be restricted at the door, and we will respectfully ask you to use your cell phone outside.
Last edited by Ecnelis; Jul 22, 2010 at 04:45 PM.
Jul 22, 2010 | 08:10 PM
#142
Teamspeed Senior Member
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 431
Here is what I wrote on another forum when asked the same question, modified slightly-
I've gone for a ride in the world record UA when it was here in the Seattle area last spring. Jarod and I did a short run and it was a wild ride for sure. Since then, cars have always been in a state of build so nothing's been available to really drive. We did a photo shoot with my car behind Ben's and in the video, he walked away from me in the UA like I was in a Prius. Look at the SVs numbers and tell me that's not impressive.
That being said, when comparing it to the Veyron, they are two very different animals that can achieve the same thing- go extremely fast yet still be well mannered enough to run around town. Both will do that range of driving extremely well. The UA is wider than the SV which is in part why it has such a nice ride.
Here is why the record is so challenging and such a big deal. You can't take these cars on the salt flats and achieve the same thing because to go that fast on salt you'd need special narrow tires and the rules are these cars must be production street cars, right down to tires. It must be a car off the production line without modification for the run. Just making the tires hold up is a big challenge and that's the biggest limiting factor. Because the tires must run at such high speeds, they need to be specially built, yet still work on roads in everyday use. A set of tires on a Veyron at top speed are good for about 20 minutes. Considering they cost $20k a set, that's a $1,000 a minute for that ride. It better be worth it.
The other consideration is how the car acts at very high speed. Keeping a car stable is not that easy and the UA was extensively wind tunnel tested to remain planted. I don't know if you watched the TT Gallardo running the Texas Mile and how squirrely it got at speed. Wow! I know I'd need new seats after that. This is why areo-brakes become so important in these cars. I always thought it was for show. Nope, they matter.
SSC did their world record on a country road without the benefit of wind-blocking trees or a perfect track surface. They did it on the very same country road any one of us can go drive this weekend.
Just keeping a small frontal area designed car cool and powerful is a challenge. The Veyron has ten radiators, the UA has eleven. It's tricky. There is this assumption that SSC didn't go to real experts for various solutions to design problems and the truth is they have some very impressive resources and support behind what they do.
The UA gives you lots of feedback in the cabin yet the ride is extremely smooth. It's smoother than my SV which already has a nice ride. You feel a greater sense of mass than you do in something like a Porsche or Murcielago. It's more like a 612 now that I think about it. Actually when you compare a Murcielago to both the Veyron and the UA, the Murcielago body looks very small. You also sit very low in the Veyron and it's hard to see over the corners while the UA is a little more typical for its shape. It's those peaks in the two fenders that sort of blocks your view in the Veyron.
As for the Veyron I drove, it was the Grand Sport version with the top off. It's a very unusual ride because the motor itself is rather quiet with a deep rumble. What you do hear is the sound of the air intakes, turbos and wastegates. The sounds remind me of the Octopus ride at the state fair.
The feedback given to the driver in the Veyron is on a need to know basis so it's not like any performance car I've been in before. You get very limited feedback in the corners, but I didn't drive it that hard given the price tag and desire to remain off the evening news or end up in the Urban Dictionary.
Here it is.. "TOMMYJAMES- The act of wiping out an entire pasture of resting sheep while driving a seven figure car..."
You're going around a corner and you're noticing how smooth it feels, but that's about it so when something does finally go wrong, I doubt if there is much warning. If you were to die in it, you'd be the last to know so no worries there. It doesn't at all give you the feedback you'd get in a Porsche, Scuderia, Gallardo or SV. The Veyron is definitely not a track car. When it comes to driver feedback, if I had to guess, it would be sort of like throwing something heavy like a 7 Series into a corner only a lot more expensive if you mess up. You do feel the mass of the Veyron. I'd personally hate the hard top version of the Veyron as I tend to want to hear what's going on around me.
A friend who owns a Veyron along with a lot of other cars said it this way - that he loves driving the Veyron because it is such a technological marvel, but doesn't feel a sense of true excitement driving it below 160. He has other cars for days in the twisties.
In a way the Veyron is like dating the sexy hit woman. She will keep you safe until it's your turn to go...except you won't know it's your turn to go until it's too late.
The Veyron is also one of those designs that will look good forever. The UA is more about getting the job done. Everyone will have a personal preference and that topic has been kicked to death.
There is almost a million dollar difference between the two cars and if you took the UA and added a Rolls Phantom, it's about what you'd get for that difference. There is elegance to the Veyron that the UA doesn't have, but the UA has feedback experience you'd never get in the Veyron. Both are incredible cars but they approach design solutions from two different ends. SSC is about numbers first, elegance second. The Veyron is just the opposite approach to problem solving- as if they said, let's make the best possible cabin and ride experience, and then make it fast. I have huge respect for both cars and the people behind them.
The fit and finish on the last UA was really terrific as they keep refining their product. The Veyron has the best fit and finish in the world. Period. Nobody is close, not even Rolls Royce. No argument there.
I don't know if you watched the National Geographic Extreme Factories edition about the Veyron where the guy is bringing the pistons and cranks to the build in a padded Anvil case. When you write your check for the Veyron, you're paying for that little show. That's a big chunk of the expense so don't kid yourself that it's all going into the car. If they had the interest, they could make it WAY cheaper.
More common exotics tend to give us way more feedback than we need and we as drivers filter out what is and isn't important. The Veyron for that $1.8 million puts all of that on a strictly need to know basis, which is fine if you prefer that kind of driving. Actually that's what makes the Veyron cool. It's an incredible car and I'm eager to visit the factory this September when I'm heading to Italy to drive another secret car.
If I had to summarize, the UA is built for times when you want real excitement at 200 MPH and the Veyron is built for those times when you don't. It's almost silly to compare the two because there is such a huge difference in everything, including price. It's like comparing a Corvette to an SV... yea, there are some similar numbers, but so what.
SSC's approach has always been results first, packaging second which is why they didn't do things like custom headlights on the world record car. All of that came after they set the record which lasted almost three years. Threeeeee yeeaarrsss! Think about that. As I've said before, if it were really that easy there would be more contenders.
As for the new UA, it's nothing like the existing car. I mean nothing. This is a clean sheet design, with a solid foundation from what SSC has learned from the first generation car. SSC has reached a point in their evolution where it's time to change the design to meet the criteria for the next speed challenge. SSC didn't want to make claims about performance they couldn't actually achieve so everything was about getting the numbers first.
I saw the UA pictures from the design studio in Italy today. Wow!
I've gone for a ride in the world record UA when it was here in the Seattle area last spring. Jarod and I did a short run and it was a wild ride for sure. Since then, cars have always been in a state of build so nothing's been available to really drive. We did a photo shoot with my car behind Ben's and in the video, he walked away from me in the UA like I was in a Prius. Look at the SVs numbers and tell me that's not impressive.
That being said, when comparing it to the Veyron, they are two very different animals that can achieve the same thing- go extremely fast yet still be well mannered enough to run around town. Both will do that range of driving extremely well. The UA is wider than the SV which is in part why it has such a nice ride.
Here is why the record is so challenging and such a big deal. You can't take these cars on the salt flats and achieve the same thing because to go that fast on salt you'd need special narrow tires and the rules are these cars must be production street cars, right down to tires. It must be a car off the production line without modification for the run. Just making the tires hold up is a big challenge and that's the biggest limiting factor. Because the tires must run at such high speeds, they need to be specially built, yet still work on roads in everyday use. A set of tires on a Veyron at top speed are good for about 20 minutes. Considering they cost $20k a set, that's a $1,000 a minute for that ride. It better be worth it.
The other consideration is how the car acts at very high speed. Keeping a car stable is not that easy and the UA was extensively wind tunnel tested to remain planted. I don't know if you watched the TT Gallardo running the Texas Mile and how squirrely it got at speed. Wow! I know I'd need new seats after that. This is why areo-brakes become so important in these cars. I always thought it was for show. Nope, they matter.
SSC did their world record on a country road without the benefit of wind-blocking trees or a perfect track surface. They did it on the very same country road any one of us can go drive this weekend.
Just keeping a small frontal area designed car cool and powerful is a challenge. The Veyron has ten radiators, the UA has eleven. It's tricky. There is this assumption that SSC didn't go to real experts for various solutions to design problems and the truth is they have some very impressive resources and support behind what they do.
The UA gives you lots of feedback in the cabin yet the ride is extremely smooth. It's smoother than my SV which already has a nice ride. You feel a greater sense of mass than you do in something like a Porsche or Murcielago. It's more like a 612 now that I think about it. Actually when you compare a Murcielago to both the Veyron and the UA, the Murcielago body looks very small. You also sit very low in the Veyron and it's hard to see over the corners while the UA is a little more typical for its shape. It's those peaks in the two fenders that sort of blocks your view in the Veyron.
As for the Veyron I drove, it was the Grand Sport version with the top off. It's a very unusual ride because the motor itself is rather quiet with a deep rumble. What you do hear is the sound of the air intakes, turbos and wastegates. The sounds remind me of the Octopus ride at the state fair.
The feedback given to the driver in the Veyron is on a need to know basis so it's not like any performance car I've been in before. You get very limited feedback in the corners, but I didn't drive it that hard given the price tag and desire to remain off the evening news or end up in the Urban Dictionary.
Here it is.. "TOMMYJAMES- The act of wiping out an entire pasture of resting sheep while driving a seven figure car..."
You're going around a corner and you're noticing how smooth it feels, but that's about it so when something does finally go wrong, I doubt if there is much warning. If you were to die in it, you'd be the last to know so no worries there. It doesn't at all give you the feedback you'd get in a Porsche, Scuderia, Gallardo or SV. The Veyron is definitely not a track car. When it comes to driver feedback, if I had to guess, it would be sort of like throwing something heavy like a 7 Series into a corner only a lot more expensive if you mess up. You do feel the mass of the Veyron. I'd personally hate the hard top version of the Veyron as I tend to want to hear what's going on around me.
A friend who owns a Veyron along with a lot of other cars said it this way - that he loves driving the Veyron because it is such a technological marvel, but doesn't feel a sense of true excitement driving it below 160. He has other cars for days in the twisties.
In a way the Veyron is like dating the sexy hit woman. She will keep you safe until it's your turn to go...except you won't know it's your turn to go until it's too late.
The Veyron is also one of those designs that will look good forever. The UA is more about getting the job done. Everyone will have a personal preference and that topic has been kicked to death.
There is almost a million dollar difference between the two cars and if you took the UA and added a Rolls Phantom, it's about what you'd get for that difference. There is elegance to the Veyron that the UA doesn't have, but the UA has feedback experience you'd never get in the Veyron. Both are incredible cars but they approach design solutions from two different ends. SSC is about numbers first, elegance second. The Veyron is just the opposite approach to problem solving- as if they said, let's make the best possible cabin and ride experience, and then make it fast. I have huge respect for both cars and the people behind them.
The fit and finish on the last UA was really terrific as they keep refining their product. The Veyron has the best fit and finish in the world. Period. Nobody is close, not even Rolls Royce. No argument there.
I don't know if you watched the National Geographic Extreme Factories edition about the Veyron where the guy is bringing the pistons and cranks to the build in a padded Anvil case. When you write your check for the Veyron, you're paying for that little show. That's a big chunk of the expense so don't kid yourself that it's all going into the car. If they had the interest, they could make it WAY cheaper.
More common exotics tend to give us way more feedback than we need and we as drivers filter out what is and isn't important. The Veyron for that $1.8 million puts all of that on a strictly need to know basis, which is fine if you prefer that kind of driving. Actually that's what makes the Veyron cool. It's an incredible car and I'm eager to visit the factory this September when I'm heading to Italy to drive another secret car.
If I had to summarize, the UA is built for times when you want real excitement at 200 MPH and the Veyron is built for those times when you don't. It's almost silly to compare the two because there is such a huge difference in everything, including price. It's like comparing a Corvette to an SV... yea, there are some similar numbers, but so what.
SSC's approach has always been results first, packaging second which is why they didn't do things like custom headlights on the world record car. All of that came after they set the record which lasted almost three years. Threeeeee yeeaarrsss! Think about that. As I've said before, if it were really that easy there would be more contenders.
As for the new UA, it's nothing like the existing car. I mean nothing. This is a clean sheet design, with a solid foundation from what SSC has learned from the first generation car. SSC has reached a point in their evolution where it's time to change the design to meet the criteria for the next speed challenge. SSC didn't want to make claims about performance they couldn't actually achieve so everything was about getting the numbers first.
I saw the UA pictures from the design studio in Italy today. Wow!
Jul 26, 2010 | 09:39 AM
#148
Photographer Extraordinaire
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 5,879
From: Bellevue, WA
You'll just have to wait for the big reveal to find out.
