Which wins in a DRAG RACE: the 887bhp Porsche 918 Spyder, or the 1073bhp Rimac Concept One? The answer may surprise you…
Fans of Salomondrin will already be aware of his ‘Hyper 5’ and ‘Ferrari’s Big 5’ series (if not, click the links and catch up with us later). Now Alejandro and his team are back ‘Bangin’ Gears’ with the Rimac Concept One, the first all-electric supercar ever from Croatia.
We’ll come back to Rimac in a second, given that – like us – you’re here for the Porsche 918 drag race at the Milan Raceway in Michigan. We won’t spoil the result for you – the race starts at the 5m mark – but let’s just say Croatia’s supercar impressively holds its own against the 887bhp Porsche 918. Several times. In Alejandro’s own words, Mate Rimac – CEO of Rimac Automobili and his opponent today – is a “f***in’ beast” and “turned out to have the biggest balls in the universe.”
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That he does. After proving to drift fans that his electric-powered BMW 3 Series could take on and beat the region’s finest drifters, Mate went even more ambitious as he strove to build ‘create THE sports car of the 21st century’. The results speak for themselves. Built atop a spaceframe chassis, Concept One houses four electric motors – one powering each wheel – for a combined total of 1073bhp and 1600Nm (1180lb ft) of torque, enough for 0-100kph in 2.6 seconds and to tear your face off in the process. Perhaps more interesting is the bespoke Torque Vectoring system, that feeds inputs to each wheel 100 times per second for optimum traction, and the two-speed dual clutch gearbox mounted to the rear axle, the shorter of which produces that volcanic acceleration. Even still, against Porsche’s revered 918 – further details of which you can read HERE – Mate had his doubts.
“The 918 was dominant in most of the head-to-head comparisons between the Holy Trinity (McLaren P1, LaFerrari and Porsche 918) so we weren’t really sure what to expect. This was the big boy’s league and I must admit – I was nervous. The supercar market is a fascinating but also cruel place to be in. But we do want to show that we are confident in our products and their capabilities – and that Rimac Automobili is here to stay.” No kidding…
