Trying to break an automotive world record used to take years, if not decades, of preparation, sleepless nights, buckets of sweat, and a container of money. Nowadays, it seems this discipline has become a family affair, a feud between two siblings - technological twins if you will. The internet just began forgetting about speed records set by the Pininfarina Battista, so its twin, Rimac Nevera stepped up to the ring to keep our attention on the matter.
Before the advent of electric cars, breaking speed records meant twisted driveshafts every 10 seconds, broken gearboxes every 2 minutes, blown engines every 10 minutes, and blown budgets every hour. The electric car makes it look so easy - just jump in, put your seatbelts on, type something into the laptop, grab your ice cream, and away you go. If you don’t believe us, just watch the video from Rimac:
It is obvious the marketing team made the whole exercise look way easier than it really was, and we have no doubt the entire team worked tirelessly to achieve this. Watching the Nevera go from a standstill all the way to 400 km/h (nearly 250 mph) is a perception-altering experience. The 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) happens so quickly it almost becomes irrelevant - blink and you’ll miss it.
Pininfarina Battista set the world record last November, it accelerated from 0 to 100 km/h in 1.86 seconds, Nevera went out and took it away with 1.81 seconds. It’s a difference you won’t be able to tell, but at the same time, it’s a huge and difficult difference to beat. The 0 to 200 km/h record set by Battista was bettered by Nevera by 0.33 seconds - 4.42 against 4.75, which actually is a big gap.
The ever-so-important ¼ mile run took only 8.26 seconds, which again was better than the 8.55 seconds achieved by Battista. The cherry on the cake though, is the mind-boggling sprint to 400 km/h (248 mph) - Nevera did it in just 21.32 seconds - 21 seconds to go from standstill to the speed of the next-gen Shinkansen bullet train.
The 0 to 400 km/h world record stood untouched for 6 years. It was taken by Bugatti Chiron in September of 2017, the car reached a top speed of 420 km/h, and it accelerated to 400 km/h in 41.96 seconds. That was already ridiculously fast, but only 6 short years later, Rimac Nevera halved that time. And it made it look as easy as taking candy from a kid.
How long will the new record stand? That will depend on the Pininfarina Battista team, the Italians are not known for walking away from the challenge. 6 years ago, Bugatti Chiron was celebrated as the marvel of technology, a pinnacle of combustion engine technology. 6 years later, Rimac owns Bugatti - on the road and in the boardroom.
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