Rimac Concept One

All posts in “Rimac Concept One”

McLaren’s electric supercars are not quite there yet

While Rimac is all about electric supercars and has just revealed its outrageous-sounding 1,914-horsepower C_Two car at the Geneva Motor Show, McLaren is cautious about producing an EV quite yet. Hybrids are far more suitable for McLaren’s immediate need than launching a full electric vehicle, says McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt.

In an interview with Autocar, Flewitt says McLaren’s electric portfolio is still very much in development, and that one in two McLarens sold in 2022 is to be a hybrid. But it wouldn’t be right for the brand to launch a half-baked, full-electric supercar, and McLaren’s standard is that any EV would have to offer performance equal to its existing cars. “It’s a challenge for us to produce the same engagement as with the P1, the Senna and the 675 LT,” says Flewitt.

Earlier, he has stated that for an electric supercar to match the P1’s performance, it would have to weigh two tons.

EV development, however, is still on track, and McLaren has “an electric mule running around.” For the company, getting the desired electric performance in a production-viable package is still at least five years away, Flewitt says. “It’s not in [the Track22 plan] because we don’t have an answer yet.”

McLaren is a lot more positive about hybrids. Flewitt says hybrid tech is a lot easier to integrate into a powertrain design, making it integral instead of bolt-on. As he said a month ago: “Hybrid design is part of the next platform. It is designed-in from day one rather than having to adapt an existing chassis.”

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March 7, 2018 / Comments Off

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Hillclimb organizers fined $5,000 for Richard Hammond’s Rimac hypercar crash

Organizers of a Swiss hillclimb event have been fined and suspended over the crash in which Richard Hammond lost control of a Rimac Concept One in a curve. The $5,000 fine is a drop in the bucket compared to the loss of the $1 million electric hypercar, which was incinerated.

The Rimac left the mountain road, cartwheeling down a steep incline and narrowly missing a house before landing on its roof and burning. Hammond crawled from the wreckage and suffered a fractured knee.

Hammond was not a participant in the Swiss Hillclimb Championship. He and his co-hosts of Amazon’s “The Grand Tour” were there filming a segment. Jeremy Clarkson was driving a Lamborghini Aventador S, and James May was driving a Honda NSX. Clarkson said on Twitter that Hammond’s Rimac accident “was the biggest crash I’ve ever seen and the most frightening.”

From the video, it appears that Hammond entered the curve too hot on the Hemberg Bergrennen hillclimb, and simply lost control. He later did a video interview that gave his take on the crash. The Swiss sporting authority, Auto Sport Schweiz, in levying the fine, said the event had violated the FIA’s code of conduct. It’s a little unclear exactly wha’s meant by that, but the FIA had started looking into the crash immediately after it happened back in June, basically on the grounds that it made racing look bad.

“This accident tainted the reputation of motorsports in general and mountain races in particular, and the FIA has been forced to demand an opinion from [us],” Auto Sport Schweiz said in a statement at the time.

In addition to the fine, the hillclimb director and three stewards were suspended for six months. Motorsport.com says the future of the event is in question. Surely we’ll learn more about the circumstances of the crash when “The Grand Tour” second season begins in October.

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August 15, 2017 / Comments Off

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Richard Hammond and Mate Rimac dish on the hillclimb crash

The internet has been all atwitter – sometimes literally – about Richard Hammond’s crash in a Rimac supercar, wondering what happened, and what comes next. Well, in this video from Drivetribe, Hammond himself, along with Rimac‘s CEO, Mate Rimac, try to put everything to bed.

It’s a lengthy video, and you’ll have to hop to the Drivetribe website to check it out, but it’s worth a look. Hammond gives the whole story about the crash from the very start, through the actual crashing, and through his recovery. As we surmised, he simply overcooked it at the end of his run, which unfortunately led to the crash.

It could have been worse, though. Hammond and Rimac look over photos of the crash that show the TV host narrowly avoided a house on the way down the hill. And according to Hammond, his daughter was not terribly impressed by his injuries, saying “Daddy you look like you’ve fallen over in the playground.”

Despite the crash, Hammond still had positive things to say about the car. He described it as feeling futuristic, and that it makes some great noises. He also praised the strength of the roof structure, which is likely not something other reviewers will have a chance to evaluate.

The video covers other topics, too. Rimac talks about his car and the company, and he states that he hopes the company will become a mass supplier of electric vehicle components. Hammond reveals he morbidly predicted his crash, and he tackles the question of starting a cooking show.

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June 28, 2017 / Comments Off

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Video shows point of impact in Richard Hammond’s Rimac crash

Following Richard Hammond’s scary crash in a Rimac Concept One, more and more details have been coming out concerning the crash. In particular, video was released on various YouTube channels, including the one above from Nature Pictures, showing just how and where things went wrong. Watching the video, you’ll notice that Hammond comes it pretty darn hot into a tight corner overlooking a hill. There’s a slight kink right before turning hard left, and as Hammond turns slightly right, you can see the tail of the car kick out a bit. He steers back left hard and gets on the brakes, but doesn’t have traction, so he hits the guard rail. From there, the car goes down the hill.

Mate Rimac, founder of the eponymous Croatian electric sports car company, spoke to Croatian car news site Vidi Auto, and told them that the car traveled about 1,000 feet horizontally and a bit over 300 feet vertically from point of impact. He said he didn’t know what speed Hammond was going when the car wrecked.

What we gather from the video and other information surrounding the crash is that the car wasn’t really at fault. It appears that Hammond got a little out of his element and couldn’t get control of the car back in time to avoid an accident. It also happened in a location where going off was significantly worse than if the course was a flat racetrack with plenty of run-off. This isn’t a condemnation of Hammond’s driving skills either, as anyone could have just as easily wrecked in the same way. These are simply the risks that come with driving a fast car on a tight course with elevation. Mistakes happen, and those mistakes sometimes lead to dangerous consequences. Fortunately, everyone involved seems to have come out all right.

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June 19, 2017 / Comments Off

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