This is supercar maker SSC's latest weapon in an ongoing speed war. Its aim is to reclaim the world record from the Veyron SS. It'll cost $970,000 plus tax, when it goes on sale late next year. And its maker says it'll do 275mph. The ever-intensifying fastest-car-in-the-world battle is being played out before you.

This 1,350bhp hypercar designed by Jason Castriota is out to take back the speed record from the Veyron Supersports.

The four-cam 6.8-litre twin-turbo engine will rev to 9,000rpm and make 1,350bhp. Even the blowers are SSC's own design. It's already doing these numbers on Shelby's dyno. Unlike the current car, which has some steel in the structure, the new one will be all-carbon except for aluminium crash rails beyond the wheels front and back. Its transmission is the same all-SSC unit that has been proved in the current car, with the same triple-disc carbon clutch, but it'll have the option of sequential paddle shifting.

An Australian company called Carbon Revolution has developed for SSC the world's first one-piece carbon-fibre wheel - the 19-incher at the front weighs an almost comically light 5.8kg. The new car's entire structure will be made of F1-derived carbon. And by that, the dry weight will fall to 1,200kg-odd. Putting the power-to-weight ratio, even with fluids and the quivering driver strapped aboard, north of 1,000bhp per tonne.