dangerously fast, this shouldn't be legal. if you were to build a drag racing car to those speeds you'd need a cage certified to 7.50s, something like this https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0362/8420/3141/products/25...
These things are luxury/billionaire bragging devices first and foremost.
They get demoed, but they're not safe nor legal to use much of the performance on the street. And once you take it to the track you'll be hit with a massive bill to make it safe and then a bunch of restrictions because at the track they tend to do the math and actually be more rational about what is safe and what is not safe.
F1 would not allow this car to race on its closed courses, and F1 is about the most demanding there is in terms of track safety. There are basically no tracks that are actually designed to be safe for the speeds this car can hit. Especially in the US where most tracks have a far lower safety factor designed in.
On the German autobahn there are parts without any speed limits so you can use all of the power there.
Also Nürburgring during public sessions is legally considered a public street (if you crash you will have to get police to make a report etc) so you can drive any road legal car there which the Nevera is.
> And once you take it to the track you'll be hit with a massive bill to make it safe and then a bunch of restrictions because at the track they tend to do the math and actually be more rational about what is safe and what is not safe.
Nah you can go to any track you want and the owner won't care (outside of you paying the damages if you crash).
The problems will arrive once you try to enter some racing series but Rimac could just create their own Nevara racing series just like a some supercars have.
But still the Nevera is not a race car. If it was it would have been built to fit into some racing series spec but it clearly isn't.
What a world we live in.
loud flashy, cramped exotics being humiliated by quiet practical commuter cars 1/10th their price calls the whole hyperbolic attentiin-seeking costume show of the former into question.
EVs broadly embarrass sports cars all while being more comfortable, more practical, and... usually cheaper.
Most often the most annoying vehicles are Harley’s (slow), scooters (slow), and various sub $50k cars with modified exhausts.
The people with money aren’t really interested in flashing it among the poors. They’re interested in flashing it to their other rich friends…
In all cases they are all pretending that they are interested in the speed as if it is a proxy for their ability to appreciate the fine technology and precision engineering of their automobiles. When in reality a Toyota Prius is equally if not more an accomplishment of refined technology than any exotic.
The whole thing is just an excuse to project an image of wealth and status to impress strangers and play a one-upsmanship game with the rest of your interest group, very much like watches except with the ability to annoy the neighbors as a petty power tripping bonus on the side.
Like, I agree we shouldn't have cars that can go over even 100mph on public roads, as that risks other people's lives, but all of them can already. If someone wants to risk their own life with an insufficiently caged car at a race track, that is their business, no need to make it illegal.
Plus drag racing has recently changed the thresholds where cages are needed to be more in line with modern cars, which are stronger and can go 8 seconds without any drama, and have good brakes to stop from there.
Do you mean in the U.S.? Everywhere? My understanding is that cars in Germany often exceed 100 MPH.
Then again, Germany is a tiny country compared to the US. Of course you can build expensive roads if you don't have to build long roads.
By the way, if you drive from Germany to Austria, you'll get that feeling again: they spend even more money per km of highway; it's again a significant step up.
Safety takes into account many other factors, this is why speed limits vary. Driving in Germany is safer than in places with worse infrastructure, general state of the vehicles, or driver education (as in "obeying the rules"). Simply put, better roads, better cars, and more conscious drivers will lead to higher safety even at higher speeds.
Romania and Bulgaria have a whopping ~3 times higher road death rates than Germany despite having low speed limits. This obscures the fact that both countries have a relatively poor general state of the infrastructure, of the vehicles, and of driver behavior.
I'm sure lowering the speed limits would make traffic even safer and also lower pollution, energy consumption, noise, road wear. But thinking safety is an absolute thing is making the same mistake people buying SUVs make.
[0] https://transport.ec.europa.eu/news-events/news/preliminary-...
US roads are much easier to drive though. Even in LA driving is much more relaxed. That city is just built for cars. I think it's reasonable that the US driving test isn't as strict.
EDIT: Sweden also has a mandatory snow & ice training as part of the learning. You can do that in Germany, too, but it's not part of your driving exam. Makes, of course, perfect sense given the weather in each of these countries.
Though convincing FIA of that fact is going to be really hard so probably easier to just weld one in there if you want to race it for some reason (and find a racing series that would accept it)
edit: And a cage without a proper racing harness and a helmet (+ HANS device) can be really dangerous.
As for other people on the road, yes the added mass is dangerous. But the Rimac is SUV heavy too.
And SUVs are more dangerous for many reasons, not only mass. For example "regular" cars hit you in your legs and you roll over the car which dissipates some of the energy and spreads the rest over time better. Accelerations experienced can be several times lower if you spread the collision over time. Also you're less likely to go under the car than if a SUV hit you.
> today SUVs are safer for it's own occupants than cars on average
in a crash - possibly (I've seen studies both ways, but they did started to turn more in favor recently). But you're more likely to have a crash in SUV in the first place, because of worse visibility, breaking and turning performance, as well as mental factors (I'm higher and safer, I can take more risks).