The Rimac Nevera, already the fastest accelerating production car in the world and the production EV with the highest verified top speed, is now also the fastest electric production car to have ever taken on the famous Goodwood Festival of Speed hillclimb, as well as the fastest overall production car this year. In the Supercar Shootout on the final day of the event, the Nevera set a time of 49.32 seconds.
The car – fitted with Pirelli Pilot Sport 4S tires – was driven throughout the weekend by Bugatti Rimac Chief Test and Development Driver, Miroslav Zrnčević, who famously spent most of his time on the hill in Nevera during 2022 sideways, in smoky drifts through every corner. But for 2023, the focus wasn’t just on putting on a show, it was on setting a record.
Miroslav Zrnčević, Rimac Chief Test and Development Driver, said: “Taking on the narrow hillclimb at Goodwood, with its tight corners and off-camber sections, is actually one of the scariest places to drive a car quickly. But this is the record-setting year for the Nevera, and Goodwood hillclimb was yet another challenge to conquer. With tens of thousands watching on-site and millions more online, there’s a fine-line between glory and a trip into the hay bales, but I’m so happy to have showcased the incredible work of the design and engineering teams with another verified record for this revolutionary car.”
Throughout the Festival, Rimac Automobili hosted VIPs and customers at its track-side hospitality pavilion, and welcomed guests to join Miro in the car for the hill runs, able to experience for themselves the blistering speed and ability of a car that has been named Top Gear’s Best Electric Performance car, won a Robb Report Best of the Best Award and a GQ Hypercar of the Year.
Throughout the three days of the event, the Nevera wore a livery created by the Rimac design team, inspired by the Rimac BMW e-M3, the brainchild of Mate Rimac and the car that inspired Mate to create Rimac Automobili. Back in 2011, the e-M3 thrust Rimac into the limelight by setting a number of Guinness and FIA-approved all-electric speed records. And now history repeats itself. This livery was first debuted on the Nevera that broke 23 acceleration and performance records in a single day earlier in 2023.
Key to the Nevera’s speed is its advanced battery system, powertrain and software, all developed in-house at the Rimac Group. The front and rear powertrains – each composed of two individual motors – provide power to each wheel individually. At the rear, a 1MW dual inverter enables 900Nm and 470kW per motor, while an entirely bespoke front powertrain is designed to deliver optimum power and control. All systems are overseen by a complex web of in-house developed electronic control units, working in conjunction with an NVIDIA Pegasus-based supercomputer to calculate and send output to the four powertrain systems 100 times a second. The combination of all these systems, and the software that controls them, is known as Rimac All-Wheel Torque Vectoring 2.
The Rimac Nevera is limited to 150 examples and it is currently being built on the outskirts of Zagreb, with deliveries ongoing to customers all over the world.
