2020 SSC Tuatara

5.9L Twin-Turbo V8

Twin-Turbo V8

A flat-plane-crank, LS-derived V8 that spins to a near-supercar-exotic 8,800 rpm and erupts with concentrated fury, sending every bit of its boosted output to the rear wheels alone through a robotic-shift manual.

Designed in-house by SSC North America and engineered and assembled in collaboration with Tom Nelson's Nelson Racing Engines in California, built around an LS-style architecture chosen as a clean-sheet hypercar powerplant for the Tuatara.

• It is a flat-plane-crank, pushrod LS-style V8 — a rare combination, since flat-plane cranks are usually paired with overhead-cam exotic engines, not American pushrod motors.
• It runs two fuel injectors per cylinder and switches character on fuel, making roughly 1,350 hp on 91-octane pump gas but around 1,750 hp on E85.
• Despite its enormous output the complete engine weighs only about 428 pounds, thanks to a heat-treated cast block.
• On the dyno the engine itself produced nearly 1,890 hp — almost 150 hp beyond SSC's official claim.