Electric motors don't much care whether they're going forwards or backwards – certainly not as much as passengers tend to. So the latest Guinness World Record for Rimac's electric Nevera hypercar is the fastest speed ever recorded in reverse.
The record was confirmed at the Automotive Testing Papenburg facility in Germany – incidentally, the same place where the Nevera broke 23 world records in a single day back in May.
In the name of "a bit of fun," Rimac Test Driver Goran Drndak hopped in the Nevera, selected reverse gear, fixed his gaze on the rear-view mirror, and stomped the accelerator, unleashing a similar level of performance in reverse as the 1,914-horsepower (1,426-kW), 2,655 lb-ft (3,600-Nm) electric hypercar can do moving forward.
A Guinness World Records representative was in attendance, and officially endorsed the new top speed record – a blistering 171.34 mph (275.74 km/h). Faster, Rimac notes, than the V12 Lamborghini Miura managed going forwards when it became the world's fastest car back in 1972.
We have no idea how Drndak managed to keep this US$2-million-plus machine pointed straight down the track while driving in reverse at nearly three times highway speed. The car's aerodynamics and cooling systems are obviously not designed for such shenanigans, and the slightest wrong nudge on the steering wheel would've sent the Nevera flying off course like a rocket-powered supermarket trolley.
"It definitely took some getting used to," said Drndak in a press release. "You’re facing straight out backwards watching the scenery flash away from you faster and faster, feeling your neck pulled forwards in almost the same sensation you would normally get under heavy braking. You’re moving the steering wheel so gently, careful not to upset the balance, watching for your course and your braking point out the rear-view mirror, all the while keeping an eye on the speed. Despite it being almost completely unnatural to way the car was engineered, Nevera breezed through yet another record.”
Good grief, this man is being way too cool about what he's just done. If it had've been me, only two words of that quote would've been printable, and those would've been a dad joke: "Nevera gain."
Watch the record-setting run in the video below, after which Drndak celebrates with some gratuitous 360-degree spins and then launches an absolutely savage smoke-billiowing powerdrift that looks like it'd consume a full set of tires in about 30 seconds. You've earned that one, old sausage!
Source: Rimac
