A 22-year-old record for the fastest speed driving in reverse has been obliterated by Goran Drndak (Croatia), who reached a speed of 275.74 km/h (171.34 mph) driving a Rimac Nevera.
The previous record of 165.08 km/h (102.58 mph) was set in 2001 by Darren Manning (UK), driving a Caterham 7 Fireblade.
The Rimac Nevera is an electric hypercar designed and built by the Croatian automotive manufacturer Rimac Automobili.
Its four wheels are independently driven by surface-mounted magnet motors, giving it a total horsepower of 1,914 and a top speed of 412 km/h (256 mph).
Taking just 1.74 seconds to accelerate from 0-60 mph, it is one of the fastest cars ever made.
Additionally, the front and rear sets of wheels each have a single-speed gearbox, allowing full torque to be applied left or right of each axle.
“That was a showcase [of] what can be done with four independent electric motors, and it was also a fun test to do for us,” Goran said after achieving the record.
The Nevera’s production run has been limited to just 150 vehicles, manufactured at a rate of around one per week. Prices start from €2 million (£1.7 m; $2.1 m).
The first one was delivered last year to 2016 Formula One World Champion Nico Rosberg, who pushed the car to its limits while driving around Monaco, as seen in the below video.
“Driving the car, it’s easily the most incredible thing I’ve felt,” he said.
Rimac named the Nevera after the “quick, sudden and mighty” storms which occur along the Croatian Adriatic coast.
The car was initially unveiled at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show as the Rimac C_Two, before later being renamed.
It is the second car Rimac have produced; their first was the Rimac Concept One. They have described the Nevera’s development as the “pursuit of the ultimate electric hypercar driving experience".
The Nevera has a range of 490 km (300 miles) and can be recharged to 80% in under 30 minutes when connected to a fast charger.
The car comes with a fire extinguisher in the back, held in by a leather strap embossed with the words “In case of hill climb, extinguish fire”; a humorous reference to when The Grand Tour presenter Richard Hammond crashed a Rimac Concept One during a hill climb, setting it ablaze.
In addition to creating their own cars, Rimac make batteries and components for other big manufacturers such as Porsche, Jaguar, Aston Martin, Hyundai, and many more.
The company was founded in 2009 by Mate Rimac, who was just 21 years old at the time.
Mate won several national and international competitions for electronics and innovation when he was in high school, and aged 19 he began converting a 1984 BMW 3 Series into an electric car in his garage.
In 2012, he used the converted car to achieve two Guinness World Records titles for the fastest quarter mile by an electric car (11.85 seconds) and the fastest eighth mile by an electric car (7.6 seconds).
Mate recruited his first employees in 2011, and he now has over 1,000. After receiving major investment from Porsche in 2021, the Rimac brand was united with Bugatti under the banner Bugatti Rimac, with Mate serving as the venture’s CEO.
Mate remains steadfast in his goal of making Croatia a hub of automotive manufacturing, having turned down multiple offers of moving his company abroad.
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