Rimac Concept One demolishes Bugatti Veyron in drag race

Electric versus combustion engine showdowns are no new thing, but it’s always an eye-widening display whenever a video of two seemingly mis-matched powerplants going head to head hits the internet.

We’ve seen Croatian start-up Rimac savage a Ferrari LaFerrari before, but this time around the company takes on the ‘fast car’ archetype, the Bugatti Veyron. The quad-turbo, 16-cylinder Veyron may be a porky beast at 1.8 tonne, but with over 730kW, 1250Nm, and an official 0-100km/h sprint time of roughly 2.5 seconds, it’s no slug.

But, spoiler alert, the Rimac Concept_One is faster.

You’ll need to watch the video to find out just how much quicker it is over the quarter mile (and truth be told it’s a reasonably close result by the 400m mark), but the Rimac’s lead is a clear one. From the moment it leaves the line, it’s obvious it has the Bugatti hosed.

But with 800kW of power and a colossal 1600Nm of torque being generated by four motors and channelled through all four wheels via a sophisticated torque-vectoring computer, the Rimac holds the upper hand when it comes to performance metrics.

What’s interesting though, is that after a comparatively slow launch the Bugatti begins to gain ground on the Rimac about two-thirds of the way down the strip.

While the instant torque of electric motors results in astounding standing start sprints, combustion engines perform better when the speeds get higher – and it shows. Had this race been done over a half-mile rather than a mere quarter, the finishing order would likely have been quite different.