The good folks over at The Hamilton Collection have recently gone to great lengths to assemble two of the fastest cars in the world for a head-to-head battle (or two) for top-speed supremacy. Now, let's see who came on top.
If you think that it's quite easy these days to bring a couple of hypercars for a drag race or two, think again – and watch this video to see the kind of preparations one needs to get it done. So, the crew first needed the battle royale members, and they selected Bugatti's Chiron SS to go against the Rimac Nevera. They didn't just throw them together, though, as they first needed a location that was wide enough and especially long enough to cope with their performance specifications.
That was Space Coast Testing – aka 'The Ultimate Test Facility' located on Merritt Island in Florida, which has a 100-yard-wide runway that's long enough for "straight line aerodynamic testing." The chosen setup was combined with the classic drag race scenario, but this time around, they didn't go for the traditional quarter-mile length but upgraded to a full one-mile and then two-mile race.
The cars aren't left unattended, either – the guys got help from FlexShield for the paint protection film needed to keep the paints in one piece after the testing was done, and Michelin provided brand-new tires for the races. The setups weren't left to chance, either, as Bugatti and Rimac each provided their specialized test drivers – Jamie Morrow is Bugatti's US test driver and also a two-time Nürburgring 24-hour class winner, 24-hour series champion, and the world record holder for most consecutive donuts in a production car.
In the other lane sits Goran Drndak, Rimac's official test driver – and the world record holder for the fastest speed in reverse, along with 20+ other world records for acceleration, all achieved alongside the Rimac Nevera. As for the cars, the Bugatti Chiron SS was once the world record holder for top speed, has 1,600 horsepower, and a $4.2 million sticker price. Next to it resides the Rimac Nevera EV, with 20+ different speed-related world records, 1,913 horsepower, and a $2.5 million sticker price.
The head-to-head drag battles are easy and straightforward, though: one round across the one-mile distance and another round extends the stretch to beat at two miles! Of course, nothing ever goes according to plan, so the round one was actually on repeat because the first time Bugatti's launch control failed, and the driver was relaxing while the Rimac was doing more than 250 mph (403 kph) like it's nothing.
The second time is the charm, and they both accelerate like there's no tomorrow – the Rimac Nevera sounds like a stealth machine with a loud electric whistle, and the Bugatti Chiron SS hurtles down the runway like a ghost from the ICE past. There's no point in keeping the suspense, though, as the EV hypercar destroys the ICE-powered rival as if a human squashed a fly. The attempt across the two-mile distance is more of the same – obviously, the Chiron can't match the initial brute force of the EV, and maybe if it had three miles of runway, it might have had a chance of catching it.
So, another ICE versus EV case is closed; the Bugatti Chiron SS is officially a lot 'slower' than the Rimac Nevera – although, of course, both are stupid fast compared to any other (normal) performance vehicle! So, which was your favorite?
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News