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Special Aston Martin DBS Superleggera Concorde takes flight

By
Richard Aucock
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Aston Martin DBS Superleggera Concorde

Aston Martin has teamed up with British Airways and Bristol car retailer Dick Lovett to create a limited-to-10 special edition DBS Superleggera Concorde.

The launch coincides with 50 years since Concorde’s first flight, and the centenary of Concorde flag-carrying airline, British Airways.

Aston Martin DBS Superleggera Concorde

Just 10 DBS Superleggera Concorde will be sold, all through the local retailer Aston Martin Bristol – which is located ‘just a long runway’s length away from Aerospace Bristol at Filton’, where the final Concorde ever to fly is now located.

Fittingly, British Concordes were also built at the Bristol site.

Making today’s announcement even more timely, the launch of the DBS Superleggera Concorde coincides with the last Concorde flight when G-BOAF touched down on 26 November 2003.

A donation for every car sold will be made to the Air League Trust, which teaches under-privileged children how to fly and supports them in work for engineering.

Aston Martin DBS Superleggera Concorde: in detail

All DBS Superleggera Concordes feature bespoke livery with British Airways colours on the roof strake, aero blade and rear diffuser. The roof itself is black tinted carbon fibre with a Concorde graphic.

The British Airways ‘Speedmarque’ logo is depicted in chrome on the front wings.

Aston Martin DBS Superleggera Concorde

Painted Civil Aviation Authority identifier numbers are depicted on the side sills.

Aston Martin DBS Superleggera Concorde

Aston Martin Lagonda president and CEO Andy Palmer and British Airways CEO Alex Cruz have also signed unique inspection plates for each car.

The Concorde logo features on the front seats and there’s a ‘sonic boom’ graphic for the Alcantara roof liner.

Aston Martin DBS Superleggera Concorde

There’s even a Mach Meter graphic for the sun visor…

…while the seatbelt buckle badges are made from solid aluminium.

Aston Martin DBS Superleggera ConcordeAnd the steering wheel paddle shifters are made from titanium, sourced from actual Concorde engine compressor blades.

All cars use the stock DBS Superleggera 5.2-V12 twin-turbo, producing 725 horsepower. This is good for 211mph and 0-62mph in 3.4 seconds. The DBS will go from 0-100 mph in a scant 6.4 seconds.

Gives you wings

Aston Martin DBS Superleggera Concorde

The Aston Martin DBS Superleggera Concorde is part of the Aston Martin Wings Series of special editions. It is built by the firm’s bespoke Q by Aston Martin division.

Aston Martin DBS Superleggera Concorde

Other aviation-inspired models include the Vanquish S Red Arrows Edition, the Vantage Blades Edition and the V12 Vantage S Spitfire 80.

Marek Reichman, chief creative officer at Aston Martin Lagonda, said: “It’s only fitting that our great British sports car brand marks the achievement of the incredibly dedicated, talented and ambitious teams of British and French scientists, engineers, designers and aircraft workers who made Concorde, and supersonic air travel, a reality in our skies 50 years ago.


“Using the DBS Superleggera as our starting point, and with the support of the talented personalisation experts in the Q by Aston Martin service to draw on, we have been able to subtly and sympathetically enhance and highlight some of the car’s most notable features while preserving the elegance, style and sheer brutish road presence for which the Aston Martin DBS is rightly known.”

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California will no longer buy gasoline-only cars

By
Ethan Jupp
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0

California will no longer buy petrol-only cars

The State of California will no longer buy vehicles solely powered by internal combustion engines, says the California Department of General Services (DGS).

State agencies will also avoid buying vehicles from a company that doesn’t adhere to California’s upcoming strict new rules on fuel economy. 

The specifics don’t mean that California is necessarily going all-electric. Looking in finer detail, ‘solely-powered’ basically means conventional non-hybrid automobiles. So-called ‘electrified’ gasoline cars, such as plug-ins and hybrids, will still be allowed.

Exceptions will also be made for some public safety vehicles – where suitable electrified alternatives aren’t available for the specific use case.

California will no longer buy petrol-only cars

The ‘no non-hybrids’ rule is effective now. As for compliance with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) rules, that will come in on January 1, 2020.

California has its own standards for fuel economy, that are more strict by comparison with the rest of the United States. Only Ford, Honda, Volkswagen and BMW are on board with these fleet-average standards, over and above the more relaxed national rules.

California’s fleet rules: money to gainCalifornia will no longer buy petrol-only cars

It’s estimated that around $74 million was spent on fleet purchases in 2018 by the state of California. Of that, ‘non-compliant’ marques like Chevrolet, Fiat-Chrysler and Toyota made up over $40 million.

Even though all of these marques will have low and zero-emission / fuel consumption vehicles under their umbrellas, they won’t be part of the Californian new car fleet next year. Why? Because they’ve chosen to follow nationwide standards, not California’s – a move for which all have been criticised.

Compliant Ford, meanwhile, made up $18 million of that California state spend. It could stand to win big, as a vacuum of sorts opens for 2020 and beyond.

Indeed, could the state of California be the first big buyer of the new all-electric Ford Mustang Mach-E? It looks possible.

In 2018, the Californian fleet had a six percent figure for fleet BEVs and plug-in hybrids. Big changes are to come, then – and fast… 

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BP customers ‘stay too long’, get £100 parking charge

By
Ethan Jupp
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0

parking fines petrol station

An unexpected cost facing many UK drivers is the maximum-stay parking fine. Supermarkets and retail parks have been quietly installing CCTV and ANPR systems to make sure customers aren’t outstaying their welcome. Now, petrol stations are getting in on the act. Customers are finding out the hard way.

Gareth Hughes received a £100 fine for exceeding the 30-minute maximum stay limit at BP on Mitcham Road in Croydon. He didn’t park and ‘abandon’ his car, though. He got fuel, he paid, then chose to use the car wash. The resulting charge came after Mr Hughes took a full 17 minutes more than the allotted time. He claims there was no signage to denote the maximum stay period, either.

Another customer of the same BP outlet received a similar £100 fine. Media trainer and journalist Guy Clapperton browsed the adjacent M&S Simply Food to grab a few bits and to avoid the queue to pay. He paid and used the on-site car washing facilities, which amounted to him being there for 42 minutes. He appealed the fine and was eventually refunded, but got no sympathy from BP.

parking fines petrol station

“How can it make sense to penalise people who spend £80 or more on your services. An allowance of 45 minutes would be far more reasonable,” he told The Guardian.

When approached, a cashier at this BP admitted that they’ve been getting a lot of complaints, and that he thought those using the car wash got more time.

Similar experiences have occurred at other vendors too. The Guardian featured the case of a customer of Shell in Kilburn, who received a fine after being stuck in a queue for the car wash.

parking fines petrol station

The vendors and representatives of the retailers insist these limits and charges are there to stop rogue parkers from taking up spaces for excessive periods. Drivers contest, however, that not only are these restrictions unfairly tight, but they’re poorly publicised. In spite of parking enforcement companies often insisting they are ‘clearly signposted’, motorists still feel like they’re being taken for a ride.

Appealing parking fines

All time-limited parking vendors have appeals systems that you can use. If you feel a fine you’ve received is unjust, it’s worth the effort. If your fine comes following nothing but your use of the on-site facilities taking longer than you’d like, due to queues or similar, there’s a good chance you can make a successful appeal.

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Nissan GT-R Nismo is the latest Lego ‘Speed Champions’ set

By
Ethan Jupp
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0

LEGO Nissan GT-R

Lego and Nissan have teamed up for the first time to recreate the Nissan GT-R Nismo in brick form. It’s the first time a Japanese manufacturer has team up with the Lego brand. The toy is a recreation of the GT-R Nismo that holds the world record for world’s longest drift.

Being a smaller ‘Speed Champions’ 298-piece set, it’s more difficult to capture the essence of the real thing. However, by recreating crucial elements of the GT-R, this latest addition to the Lego roster couldn’t be mistaken for anything else. Just look at the back of it, with those enormous quad tailpipes, the unmistakable GT-R lighting and that enormous wing.

“The GT-R has been part of my life since I was 10 years old,” said Hiroshi Tamura, Nissan’s chief product specialist for the GT-R – known to many as ‘Mr. GT-R‘.

LEGO Nissan GT-R

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“Working with the Lego Group was like awakening my inner 10-year-old self to rediscover what makes the GT-R so special to me. It’s amazing how much the Lego Group’s attention to detail reminds me of our own craftsmen.”

The Speed Champions GT-R took around a year to develop, and will be the first reveal in this line for 2020. Previous entries include the McLaren Senna, which was famously the poster car for the Lego Speed Champions Forza Horizon expansion, and the Porsche 911.

LEGO Nissan GT-R

Being part of the smaller Speed Champions line comes with a number of advantages over, say, the several-thousand-piece monsters like the Chiron.

Firstly, it’s cheaper. When it arrives in January 2020, you won’t get buyer’s guilt for picking it up, even if you’re closer to 40 than four… It’s a shame, however, that it won’t be available in time for Christmas.

LEGO Nissan GT-R

It’s less intricate, so you’ll have it together in no time, even if some of the build team aren’t quite as disciplined as you. Lego reckons an expert Lego builder can have it together in 20 minutes, but that novices should allow an hour.

It’s also smaller and therefore easier to store once it is together. Due to its relative simplicity, it should be easier to repair if a fellow family member stands on and tries to drift it, too.

“The Nissan GT-R and the Lego brand are both renowned and loved by fans of all ages throughout the world, and we are honored to be the first-ever Japanese car manufacturer to partner with the Lego Group,” said Asako Hoshino, executive vice president at Nissan.

“Many of our Nissan customers can trace their automotive passion back to when they built Lego cars as children. With this partnership, everyone can be a `takumi’ – the specialised craftsmen that build the GT-R. And, it’s the GT-R’s 50th anniversary this year, so what better way to celebrate than to share the GT-R with Nissan and Lego fans around the world!”

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The Grand Tour season 4: first trailer released

By
Ethan Jupp
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0

The Grand Tour season four trailer

The trailer for season four of The Grand Tour is here, previewing the first in a series of feature-length specials. The ‘big three’ ex-Top Gear presenters, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, famously abandoned their traditional studio format at the end of the previous series, favouring themed ‘adventure’ episodes.

The first takes place in Cambodia and Vietnam, as the trio cross the Mekong Delta. It’s called The Grand Tour presents: Seamen. As the title suggests, transport will be via boats rather than cars – and we all know how well that usually goes. We fully expect the seamen to become swimmers…

“We are excited to announce the launch date for The Grand Tour presents: Seamen, the first of our epic adventure specials from Prime Video’s much-loved trio, Clarkson, Hammond and May,” said Georgia Brown of Amazon, which streams the series via its Prime service.

  • Freddie Flintoff crashes jet-powered tricycle while filming Top Gear

“We know fans love to see the guys take on these incredible adventures across exotic locations and The Grand Tour presents: Seamen does just that – this feature length special promises to be a thrilling off-road escapade, full of challenges and jeopardy, climaxing in one of the most dangerous and exciting challenges Jeremy, Richard and James may have ever endured – viewers are in for a rocky ride!”

The boat choices are as you might expect. Clarkson has opted for a military patrol boat, Hammond has gone for a speedboat and May has a relaxed river cruiser. Amazon says the end of the film contains ‘one of the most dangerous and exciting challenges’ the team have ever faced.

Get a taste for what’s to come with the above trailer. The first episode of The Grand Tour season four will be available to watch on Friday 13 December.

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Magic e-bus: Volkswagen electrifies its classic camper

By
Ethan Jupp
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0

Volkswagen e-Bus electric camper

Volkswagen has followed up its electric Beetle with a battery-powered bus. The Type 2 camper uses the running gear from an e-Golf.

Like the Beetle, the Type 2 swaps out its rear-mounted air-cooled engine for an electric motor and battery pack. It features the Golf’s 35.8 kWh battery and 100 kW synchronous AC permanent magnet electric motor. That gives the ‘e-Bus’ an approximate range of 125 miles.

It also borrows the Golf’s single-speed transmission and charging system. The batteries can be found under the front seats, as well as where the fuel tank used to be. 

Volkswagen e-Bus electric camper

That is where the changes end, however. As with the Beetle, the aesthetic of the Type 2 Bay Window goes largely unchanged, maintaining its classic appeal.

Even the long-throw gear shifter of the original bus remains, albeit with new park, reverse, neutral, drive and regenerative braking modes. What is different inside is the digital dashboard, but even that is classically-styled.

The project is a collaboration between Volkswagen USA and EV West, an electric vehicle parts and EV conversion company. The latter has plenty of prior experience swapping electric powertrains into everything from classics to track cars. 

Volkswagen e-Bus electric camper

“Their passion for classic-car culture and commitment to renewable energy made EV West the ideal choice for this project,” said Mathew Renna of Volkswagen. 

“We thought, who better to see if the e-Golf powertrain would be the perfect fit for our older vehicles? It’s great to see that the spirit of hot-rodding is going to live on into the electric age.”

Volkswagen e-Bus electric camper

“We are very excited to be a part of this project,” said Michael Bream, CEO of EV West. 

“Merging a historic model from an iconic brand with the technology of today, is just one of many ways that we can step closer to a more sustainable future while continuing to enjoy our rich automotive heritage.” 

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BMW makes subtle dig at Tesla following Cybertruck launch event

By
John Redfern
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0

BMW makes dig at Tesla Cybertruck launchEven in a week which included the launch of a battery-powered Ford Mustang, the biggest talking point from Los Angeles has been the Tesla Cybertruck.

Revealed with typical Tesla theatrics, the futuristic all-electric pickup truck has generated controversy. This ranges from its looks, to the actual ability of Tesla to even build it.

Yet the shattered glass at the launch event, caused by a metal ball, prompted BMW to subtly remind the world that its vehicles already offer bulletproof windows. 

Tesla’s troubles came when design chief Franz von Holzhausen attempted to demonstrate the strength of the glass in the prototype Cybertruck. With Tesla CEO Elon Musk claiming the windows were “bulletproof to a 9mm handgun”, a metal ball should have been no issue. 

Instead, the side windows of the Cybertruck shattered when von Holzhausen lugged a metal ball at them, causing splinters and shocked faces in equal measure. 

Musk was keen to point out that previous attempts had failed to damage the glass. He added it would be sorted before customers took delivery of production Cybertrucks.

BMW’s tweet about metal balls and splinters was clearly referencing the Tesla event. But also reminding buyers about the impressive abilities of the armoured X5 Protection VR6.

The X5 VR6 has been certified as resistant to firearms and explosives, with its windows one of the key components. It uses multilayered safety glass capable of withstanding attacks by impact weapons – like metal balls – and comes with an internal polycarbonate layer to stop splinters.  

BMW makes dig at Tesla Cybertruck launch

BMW does not disclose prices for the X5 VR6, but the X5 M50i that serves as the base for the armoured version begins at £74,620 ($82,150). This makes it considerably more expensive than the anticipated £31,000 ($39,900) Cybertruck.

Although Tesla may have dominated social media with the reveal of the Cybertruck, the event has financial investors worried. Tesla’s share price fell by 6% on Friday after the launch, with Forbes noting that this would wipe $768 million (£599 million) from Elon Musk’s personal wealth alone.

BMW makes dig at Tesla Cybertruck launch

Tesla’s entry-level Model 3 has found success this year, becoming a UK top-10 best-seller earlier this year. Yet the company is also building up a backlog of models to launch, which the Cybertruck only adds to. 

Along with the new pickup for 2021, Tesla is promising to launch the Model Y compact crossover, new Roadster, and its Semi truck during 2020. This pressure to deliver, rather than the Cybertruck launch, may be causing investors to worry. 

For those needing an armoured pickup truck right now, there is always the option to try and persuade BMW to build a VR6 version of the X7 Pick-up concept.

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Today’s non-Cybertruck news: Lara Croft, snow sticks and a stuck Skoda

By
Gavin Braithwaite-Smith
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0

Lara Croft wax model

Where were you when Tesla unveiled the Cybertruck?

It’s not quite the moon landing, the fall of the Berlin Wall or a meal at Pizza Express, but for Tesla fans, it’s another moment in history. A significant date for the memory bank.

Tesla – and more specifically, the Cybertruck – has been trending on Twitter ever since. It’s secured top billing on the BBC homepage, while the Daily Mail has even given it greater prominence than Millie Mackintosh’s ‘bare bump’ and the ‘plunging gown’ of Charli XCX.

When you’re getting more exposure than Charli’s ‘floral tubing around the bosom and asymmetrical hemline’, you know you’ve managed to spin the PR thing to perfection.

Aside from a well-known yeast extract, nothing divides opinion quite like a new Tesla. Everything Elon Musk does appears to usher in an open season for opinions, memes and witty critiques.

This morning, the Tesla Cybertruck was likened to everything from Lara Croft’s ‘enviable assets’ (to use the Mail’s terminology) to a rubber door wedge. Some were witty – a few were even original.

Every day except Wednesday, Motoring Research asks me to write an opinion piece on something topical or newsworthy. I get the day off on Wednesday, presumably because, aside from the bin collection, nothing ever happens on a Wednesday.

As today is Friday, I’m free to write something on the Tesla Cybertruck. But I won’t. Not only has Ethan got there first, but there are literally no opinions left. I’ve shone a torch into the bowels of the opinion-o-generator and there’s nothing there. Zilch. Zero. Nadda.

More news than you can shake a stick at

Toyota Corolla

Instead, allow me to take you on a tour of some of the stories you might have missed. While you were watching the Cybertruck break new ground – and windows – in Los Angeles, here’s what was going on in the real world.

‘Halfords has launched a ONE METRE snow salt stick which quickly removes ice.’ As press release headlines go, this one goes straight to work. Note the emphasis on the size, because in the world of snow salt sticks, size matters.

Forget pointy trucks, what you need is a pointy stick. ‘The monster stick works like shake ‘n’ vac and home-owners and motorists just need to shake their stick and spread the salt over the affected area,’ claims Halfords.

Get out there and shake your stick.

Halfords snow stick

Temperatures aren’t expected to drop below freezing in Keighley over the coming days, but the biggest news in West Yorkshire is the long awaited Keighley News verdict on the new Toyota Corolla.

“Plenty of clever stuff then in arguably the best-looking Corolla so far, that continues to prove that reliable does not have to mean dull,” is the verdict. Rest easy, residents of Keighley.

Meanwhile, shoppers in Milton Keynes are being invited to enter a raffle to win a Volkswagen e-Golf, with all the proceeds going to a local charity.

Dude, where’s my Range Rover?

Literally and metaphorically, MK is a long way from LA, but that’s where we head next for the startling revelation that Hollywood actress Jennifer Garner lost her car.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5HAChZDxz0/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Garner, who starred in the film Dude, Where’s My Car, was so traumatised by a visit to Build-A-Bear that she spent 25 minutes searching for her Range Rover. Two things: why is this news and how can you lose a Range Rover?

Maybe she needs to order a Ford Mustang Mach-E in Grabber Blue Metallic. Try losing that in a parking lot.

Speaking of parking, the Advertiser & Times reports on a Skoda Karoq driver who, in a blatant attempt to avoid car park charges, headed down to the beach. Either that or it was an unsuccessful attempt to reach the Isle of Wight without paying for a ferry.

Skoda Karoq on the beach

‘Cleans ya window screen’

There’s more. Over in the world of commercial radio, Heart has revealed how a bottle of Dr Beckmann’s carpet stain remover can treat frozen windscreens. “I’m a genius, get ya self one of these bottles, fill it with warm water and ya sorted,” said the ‘inventor’.

“No cold hands scraping anymore and it cleans ya window screen too, the brush bit is ideal.” Still want that Ford Quickclear heated windscreen? “With a salt stick and Dr Beckmann by your side, the winter blues will be a thing of the past,“ said an onlooker. Probably.

Finally, Farmer Tom might not have the social media following of Elon ‘Major Tom’ Musk, but he has come up with a very good way to stem the ‘constant tide of littering’ in the countryside. Printing car registration numbers on takeaway packaging could reduce the amount of litter thrown from car windows.

Discarded McDonald’s wrappers nestled in the roadside verges of Britain is a world away from the glitz, glamour and dry ice of a Tesla launch in Los Angeles, but it’s somehow more authentic and relevant.

More than 800 words later, you’re still here (thank you) and I still don’t have an opinion on the Tesla Cybertruck. I really ought to get my carpet cleaned, mind. Is there a doctor in the house?

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New Tesla Cybertruck revealed: yes, it really looks like this

By
Ethan Jupp
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0

Tesla Cybertruck reveal

Looking like a vision from a sci-fi future, this is the new Tesla Cybertruck. Far from the Tesla-ified Ford F-150 pick-up we were all expecting, it seems to have been abducted from the set of the next Blade Runner film.

The reveal was genuinely frightening. As company boss Elon Musk exclaimed “So, I present to you: the Cybertruck!” smoke machines billowed and dystopian dubstep played. A YouTube commenter said “I thought four more Elons were going to get out of the truck”. At this point, would that surprise anyone?

What did surprise everyone was the styling. This jagged, otherworldly machine reminded us of the cuboidal on-board robot TARS from Interstellar. Musk’s claim that “it doesn’t look like anything else”, is certainly true.

Don’t think it isn’t serious, though. There are some very impressive real-world claims Tesla makes about the truck. Let’s first explore the stuff we’re used to talking about.

Tesla Cybertruck: the figuresTesla Cybertruck reveal

Range figures start from 250 miles for the single-motor RWD model, rising through the 300-mile dual-motor AWD to a massive 500 miles for the tri-motor AWD. Three motors suggests the top-end variant could be running a version of the PLAID powertrain Tesla has been testing at the Nurburgring in the Model S. However, no specifications for the battery sizes have been revealed thus far.

Performance ranges from a 0-60mph time of 6.5 seconds for the single-motor, to a scarcely-believable 2.9 seconds for the tri-motor. Towing capability goes from 3.4 tonnes to a massive 6.3 tonnes. The dual-motor, for the record, will hit 60mph in 4.5 seconds and tow 4.5 tonnes.

The load rating for the bed in all three models is 1.5 tonnes, with 100 cubic feet of capacity. Tesla claims it’ll be the most capable truck off-road, too, with a 35- and 28-degree approach and departure angles.

Musk also mentioned an adjustable 16 inches of ground clearance, achievable with the full air suspension and the adaptive damper system. It can drop the rear for loading, which he demonstrated with their ATV ‘Cyberquad’, as it drove up a ramp onto the bed. The truck also has an on-board air compressor, giving the air suspension system a second use.

How much will the Cybertruck cost?Tesla Cybertruck reveal

This is an area where trailblazing electric cars tend to come unstuck. Not so the Cybertruck. For the single-motor with 250 miles of range, Tesla claims you’ll pay the equivalent of £31,000 before any grants. That rises to £38,700 for the dual-motor, and £55,200 for the tri-motor. These are, of course, dollar prices converted to pounds at the current exchange rate. But you get the idea.

You can reserve one now for a fully-refundable £100 (yes, it’s in pounds on Tesla’s website). Production will ‘near’ in late 2021, while the tri-motor will arrive in late 2022 and into 2023.

The trapezoidal truckTesla Cybertruck reveal

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Much as the world likes to give Elon grief, and much as he gives it cause to, he raised some interesting points about the current state of pick-up design. Fundamentally, it hasn’t changed for decades. Musk described the body-on-frame and bed-on-frame as “carried cargo, like a sack of potatoes. They don’t do anything useful”.

Looking to get away from that, the Cybertruck uses an ultra-hard cold-rolled stainless steel exoskeleton. The mass is on the outside – what you see, most of the bodywork, is also the chassis. A major benefit of this is strength, as Musk spent much of his presentation demonstrating with sledgehammers and shooting videos.

Also new is the Tesla armour glass, referred to by Musk oh-so-humbly as “see-through metal”. Although a sample survived a live drop test very well, the glass on the truck itself didn’t prove so strong. Musk didn’t like the taste of humble pie, shouting expletives as the glass smashed. “There’s room for improvement,” he followed.

  • Tesla Model 3 is 11th bestselling car in Europe

Tesla Cybertruck reveal

Other observations? That slab top that goes from the windscreen to the end of the loadbed appears to roll and fold away like shutters. In the ATV demonstration, it rolls into storage at the point where the bed meets the cabin.

The inside is tame by comparison with the exterior. Seating for six is available, as per pick-up convention. The steering wheel looks to be borrowed from the Roadster supercar (still unreleased) and the 17-inch screen is very much in the style of the Model 3.

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Tesla Cybertruck reveal

We do have some queries. For one, the design doesn’t look too pedestrian-friendly. We’d love to hear what Euro NCAP thinks of it, and indeed how it performs in a wind tunnel. Also, given the ‘chassis is the body’ design, how much will it cost to repair after an accident? Food for thought. That’s all to come, though.

For now, Tesla has yet again reminded us why it’s so often referred to as a ‘market disruptor’. Mock Musk and his endeavours all you want, but he knows how to grab a headline. He also seems more like a Bond villain with every passing day, and he’d probably take that as a compliment.

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Rimac C_Two: why this 256mph, £2 million hypercar matters

By
Tim Pitt
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0

Rimac C_Two
“I am a petrolhead. I get goosebumps whenever I hear a V8,” says Mate Rimac. “But this is the future: a whole new level of capability, speed and excitement.”

The future isn’t quite ready yet, though. The showroom-ready Rimac C_Two – a Croatian-built electric hypercar – will debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March. For now, all we have is a work-in-progress prototype.

Battle-scarred and wrapped in camouflage, it has arrived in London after a month of intensive track testing at Nardo in Italy. And charismatic Rimac (say it ‘Ri-mats’) founder and CEO Mate (‘Mat-tay’) is giving me a guided tour.

Rimac C_Two

If Top Trumps launches a ‘Supercars’ set for 2020, the £2 million C_Two will be the killer card. But before we delve into its astonishing stats, a word about the company itself.

Mate founded Rimac Automobili in 2009 at just 21 years old. Three years later, he achieved a Guinness World Record when his home-built electric E30 BMW M3 blitzed a quarter mile in 11.85 seconds. “I combined my two passions: electronics and cars,” he explains. “People laughed at first – I was a total nobody. It’s taken a long time to build up our position in the industry.”

I’d beg to differ. In 10 years, Mate has gone from his garage to a company employing 600 people. Both Porsche and Hyundai have sizeable stakes in Rimac, and most of the firm’s work involves high-end electrification tech. The forthcoming Hyundai N-branded electric sports car, for example, will lean heavily on Rimac components. 

The C_Two is really a shop window for what Rimac does. Even at around £2 million each – and sharing much of its technology with the equally exotic Pininfarina Battista – it seems unlikely that the 150-car production run will make much profit. “We’re approaching this like an OEM [a mainstream car brand], says Rimac PR, Marta Longin, “with 20 prototypes and full crash-testing. That doesn’t come cheap.”

Rimac C_Two

Time for some numbers, then. A 6,960-cell battery pack delivers 1,914hp – a nominal 11hp more than the Battista – and 1,696lb ft of torque, the latter available from standstill. Zero to 60mph takes 1.85 seconds, 186mph arrives in 11.8 seconds and top speed is limited (!) to 256mph. Oh, and a quarter-mile is dispatched in 9.1 seconds: even quicker than Mate’s record-breaking M3.

Apparently, the C-Two can manage two laps of the Nurburgring (about 28 miles) at maximum-attack before performance starts to tail off. But drive it like a G-Wiz and you’ll manage a WLTP-certified 342 miles. Charging to 80 percent capacity takes as little as 30 minutes.

“When the McLaren F1 came out in 1992, people thought nobody will ever go faster,” smiles Mate. “Now a BMW M5 has that kind of power and the C_Two exceeds 1,900hp.” But the control of all that oomph is where Rimac really gets clever.

Rimac C_TwoWith one electric motor for each wheel, the Rimac has infinitely variable torque vectoring. This, says the Rimac website, allows for ‘minute calibration of intent and behaviour, from a rear-biased driftable sports car to a vehicle that meters traction perfectly on slippery surfaces’. As Mate rightly points out: “You may have the funds to buy this car, but that doesn’t mean you’ve got the skills to get the best from it.”

The C_Two also boasts Level Four autonomy tech, with eight cameras, a lidar, six radar emitters and 12 ultrasonic sensors. So it can literally show you how to drive. Select Driving Coach mode on selected race tracks and it will whisk you round autonomously – sticking resolutely to the racing line with perfect braking and steering inputs. Rimac claims ‘a near-gaming learning experience, with real-world excitement’.

The raw computing power is mind-melting. The car’s 400 sensors and 72 ECUs process six gigabytes of data every hour. “If there’s a cool situation, like you drift around a corner, the cameras can start recording automatically,” explains Mate. “Then you can share the video on social media later.” What, ahem, could possibly go wrong?

Crucially, some of this technology is already trickling down to more affordable cars, as the market shifts towards an electrified, self-driving future. What you see on a Rimac today could be fitted to a Hyundai in 10 years’ time. Maybe sooner.

  • We go supercar spotting in a supercar

Rimac C_TwoIf all that sounds a bit new-fangled, you’re probably not the target customer. Mate admits that the C_Two will appeal, in part, to “tech guys who don’t care about V12s”. Yet there is a new breed of environmentally-conscious hypercar buyer too: “people whose beliefs don’t fit with a combustion car”.

Either way, I doubt Mate will have trouble shifting all 150 examples of the C_Two. There really is nothing quite like it. The ultimate proof will be in the driving, of course (drops heavy hint to Rimac PR team), but as a showcase for what his still-young company can do, it’s already a startling achievement.

The C_Two will be sold exclusively through H.R. Owen in the UK, which has showrooms in London, Manchester, and Hatfield, among other locations. Start saving now. 

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