The SSC Tuatara has been a long time coming. The company unveiled the hypercar in concept guise more than seven years ago, but a series of financial issues put the project on ice.

However, SSC North America returned to the world stage at August’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance by unveiling a production-spec version of the Tuatara – and it has big ambitions.

SSC has thrown its hat into the race to build a production vehicle capable of hitting 300 mph (482 km/h) and will compete against the likes of Koenigsegg, Hennessey, and Bugatti.

As development of the American hypercar continues, the company has dropped a short clip of the vehicle’s potent engine during testing.

Powering the SSC Tuatara is a twin-turbo 5.9-liter V8 developed by Nelson Racing Engine. This powertrain has an 8.8:1 compression ratio and revs to 8800 rpm. When fueled with 91 octane pump gas, it will produce a cool 1350 hp. Fill up the tank with E85 ethanol, though, and grunt will rise to a brutal 1750 hp.

Mated to the engine will be be a novel seven-speed manual transmission, which the company says uses a “robotic shift system.” Power is sent exclusively to the rear wheels.

Not only does the Tuatara have enough grunt to set a production car top speed record, but SSC says it has the perfect shape, too. In fact, the car has a drag coefficient of just 0.279, significantly lower than the Bugatti Chiron (0.36), Koenigsegg Agera (0.33), and Hennessey Venom F5 (0.33).

Let’s hope the Tuatara makes it to production this time; the world can never have too many hypercars, right?