Rimac Nevera Sets the Production Car Hill Record at 2023 Goodwood Festival of Speed

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 event’s final day, 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 2023’s 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 one of the scariest places to drive a car quickly. But this is the record-setting year for the Nevera, and the 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. Still, 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 event’s three days, 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. In 2011, the e-M3 thrust Rimac into the limelight by setting several Guinness and FIA-approved all-electric speed records. And now history repeats itself. This livery debuted on the Nevera, breaking 23 acceleration and performance records a 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 – composed of two 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 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 is currently being built on the outskirts of Zagreb, with deliveries ongoing to customers worldwide.

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