World’s fastest? Rimac C_Two EV does 8.95s quarter-mile

April 28, 2021May 7, 2021 Iain Curry 1895 Views c_two, electric hypercar, hypercar, rimac

Is the Rimac C_Two the world’s fastest accelerating production car? With data logging video showing the electric hypercar cracking the quarter-mile in just 8.94 seconds, good luck finding anything quicker.

The Croatian company’s CEO, Mate Rimac, has posted a video on the RimacAutomobilia YouTube page, showing him accelerating a pre-production C_Two on a disused airfield with Racebox and Dragy GPS data loggers attached. It was filmed roughly 50km from Rimac’s Croatian headquarters.

YouTube player — Rimac CEO Mate Rimac does a sub 9-second quarter-mile in a pre-production Rimac C_Two.

Rimac said the current recognised production car quarter-mile record is a Bugatti Chiron at 9.4-seconds, so evidence suggests his carbon-fibre monocoque hypercar – which produced 1317kW (1792hp) on its quickest run – smashed that.

The Racebox shows an 8.94s pass @ 249.7km/h; a 0-100km/h time of 2.33s and 100km/h-200km/h time of 2.94s.

More to come

Suggesting it will ultimately go even faster, in the video Rimac said this pre-production test car did not yet have a launch control function and was “currently at about 85-90% of performance because of torque limitations.”

Pre-production Rimac C_Two hypercar acceleration testing in Croatia — Racebox figures for a pre-production Rimac C_Two hypercar acceleration testing in Croatia

The car used was “road-going and fully homologated,” and seen running on road-legal Michelin Pilot Sport tyres. A proper, grippier drag strip would also feasibly drop the sprint numbers.

The video already has over 280,000 views in its first day since posting to YouTube.

Rimac doesn’t claim the test to be anything official, merely showing what one of his vehicles is capable of doing in a straight line. For comparison, he drag races a Porsche Taycan Turbo S on the same rather sketchy bit of old runway.

Spoiler alert: the Porsche gets off the line quicker after Rimac admits to his own slow response, then the C_Two flies past as if the Taycan was merely cruising. The Porsche, remember, is a car able of 0-100km/h in 2.8-seconds. It’s mind-blowing to say the least.

Mate Rimac in his Pre-production Rimac C_Two hypercar acceleration testing in Croatia

$5 million in Australia

Rimac has said the carbon-fibre monocoque production car’s electric motors would produce 1408kW, hit 100km/h in 1.97 seconds and have a top speed of 412km/h. Electric range is up to 550km and it is priced at €2 million, or about $3.4 million.

Only 150 will be produced and Rimac plans to sell it to all markets, including Australia. With Aussie taxes, expect the final cost to be about $5 million.

Journalist tests could also happen “in the next few weeks” ahead of customer test drives.

Rimac Automobili is 24% owned by Porsche, while Hyundai Motor Group has a 14% stake. Mate Rimac has 47.7% share in the company. As we reported last year, rumours persist that Volkswagen Group will sell Bugatti to Rimac Automobili as it moves towards its own electric hypercar future.

Iain Curry

A motoring writer and photographer for two decades, Iain started in print magazines in London as editor of Performance BMW and features writer for BMW Car, GT Porsche and 4Drive magazines. His love of motor sport and high performance petrol cars was rudely interrupted in 2011 when he was one of the first journalists to drive BMW's 1 Series ActiveE EV, and has been testing hybrids, PHEVs and EVs for Australian newspapers ever since. Based near Noosa in Queensland, his weekly newspaper articles cover new vehicle reviews and consumer advice, while his photography is regularly seen on the pages of glossy magazines.