The Rimac Nevera is one of those cars that, even knowing the full backstory and how Rimac came to be, makes it hard to believe really exists. Some guy in Croatia decided to electric-swap a BMW 3 Series, and less than 20 years later, his company now makes a 1,900-hp electric hypercar that continues to shatter records. Oh, and that guy, Mate Rimac, is also now the CEO of Bugatti.
But how does a Nevera measure up against an actual Formula 1 car and one of the weirdest electric coupes ever conceived, the McMurtry Speirling? It’s a completely ridiculous (and arguably meaningless) drag race for anyone to put together, and yet, somehow, CarWow actually pulled it off. But also who cares? It’s fun to watch fast cars go fast.
When you look at power and weight figures, it’s immediately clear that all three cars are wildly different. The 1,914-hp Rimac Nevera weighs more than 5,000 pounds and is all-wheel drive. The 1,000-hp McMurtry Speirling, meanwhile weighs about half that, and while it’s rear-wheel drive, it also uses a fan to provide downforce right off the line. And then there’s the RB8 Formula 1 car, which makes about 800 hp, weighs about 1,500 pounds and is the only internal combustion car in the group.
The thing is, while F1 cars are ridiculously fast around a track, they’re not exactly designed for drag racing. As they admit right out of the gate, the RB8 pretty much starts behind the eightball. It’s light and has a lot of power, but it makes downforce when it doesn’t need it and needs it when it doesn’t make it. So not only does it lose every race to the other two, but it also loses pretty badly.
Well, at least until they decide to do a braking test from 160km/h. The RB8 may be rear-wheel drive, but it still has all-wheel brakes. And trust us when we say, that car stops so quickly, it looks like you’d lose your lunch if a normal person tried the same thing. Not that Red Bull would let a normal person behind the wheel of one of its race cars. Or that, even if it did, you’d be able to drive it semi-competently. But it sure does make for an entertaining watch.