Top Speed Record-Holding SSC Tuatara Wrecked in Car Carrier Crash - The Drive

The Drive can report that the SSC Tuatara world record car was heavily damaged in a car carrier crash in Utah in April as it was on its way to Florida to prepare for that next 300-mph run.

According to a source who provided these pictures—which were taken in a tow yard in northern Utah as the car was extracted from its destroyed trailer—the Tuatara was in transit on Interstate 15 just north of Salt Lake City when high winds caused the enclosed carrier to flip over.

We spoke to SSC North America's owner and operator Jerod Shelby, who told us that this particular Tuatara, car no.

According to the source who provided the images and Shelby himself, the car carrier was traveling along the Interstate late at night on April 13 when strong winds blew it over on its side.

That same evening, our source tells us that "high profile vehicles were advised not to travel on I-15 from Ogden to Salt Lake." Ogden is around 23 miles south of where the truck was blown over near Brigham City, but the high winds must've extended further north than anticipated.

Our source claims that the only other vehicle onboard the truck at the time of the accident was a motorcycle, parked on the lower deck of the transporter—the Tuatara was strapped in on the top deck.

The driver and passenger who were on board at the time both walked away from the accident, although one was later hospitalized, Shelby said.

The truck reportedly ended up at an impound/tow yard after being hauled from the scene of the accident, and our source indicates that the car carrier was so badly damaged—Shelby said it was "destroyed"—that its own internal lift was not functional when it came time to remove the stricken hypercar from the top deck.