I

T TOOKlessthanfivesecondsfora

22-year-oldtodefeata billionaire.

Nineyearsago,onthestreetsof

Zagreb,Croatia,therewasa drag

race.Oneoftheparticipantswas

drivingthenewTeslaRoadster.

TheRoadster,ona promotional

visittoCroatia,wastheembodiment

ofElonMusk’svisionthatelectriccars

couldbenotjustcleanbutcool.Itwas

themostadvancedsupercarontheplan-

et,theresultoftensofmillionsofdollars

ofinvestmentandhundredsofengi-

neers.And,Muskclaimed,it wasalsothe

fastestelectriccarintheworld.

Theothercarwasa 26-year-oldBMW,

drivenbya Bosnian-bornformerrefugee,

whoonlyconvertedit toelectricitybe-

The Bosnianrefugeewas

22 whenhisoldBMW,

poweredbyhisownelectric

engine,beatbillionaireElon

Musk’s Teslaina race.Nine

years laterMateRimacisn’t

onlyredefiningthelimits of

electric carsbuttransforming

theautomotiveindustryitself

BYTOMWHIPPLE

employeeletslipthat– aswiththebat-

teriesinmanybig-namesupercars– the

gutsofit camefromRimac.

Rimactechnologyisn’talways hidden.

Unfortunately,though,themost likely

placeyou’veseenit intheopen is when

it wassmoulderingina Swiss field – the

burnt-outwreckofa sports car from

which,miraculously,former Top Gear

hostRichardHammondemerged un-

NEED FOR

cause

petrol

Choos

stead

hislife

Tha

leased

ningfastandeerilysilent– andtheBMW,

a carwhosechassiswasfouryearsolder

thanitsowner,easilywon.

We know what happened to Elon

Musk. He did indeed go on to make elec-

tric cars sexy, cool and fast. What about

the man who beat him, Mate Rimac?

Actually, he did rather well too. You’ve

probably seen his cars, even if you didn’t

realise it. When Prince Harry married

Meghan Markle, they left for the evening

receptionina JaguarE-Type.The chassis

wastheclassic’60smodelbutbeneath

thebonnetitwasall-electric.Yetthiswas

no unsatisfyingeco-compromise.The

originalpetrolE-typecouldreach

9 0km/hin 6 ,8 seconds– thisversion

doesit in 5 ,5 seconds.

l

hecouldn’t affordtoputina new

lengineafterthelastoneblewup.

singtoputina forkliftmotorin-

wasa decisionthatwouldchange

e.

at dayinZagrebthestartersre-

dthecars,theyaccelerated– light-

t d il il t d th BMW

80 | 8 AUGUST 2019 you.co.za^