Skip to main content

Electricity or Ethanol: What really powers the world's quickest car?

The title of world's quickest-accelerating car to 60 mph is up for debate as the performance car makers Rimac and Dodge make rivalling claims.

The Rimac Nevera took all the marbles this week.

The $2.2 million Croatian electric "hypercar" laid claim to an astonishing 23 production car performance records that it set in one day.

But at least one of them is up for debate.

The 1,914 horsepower Nevera accelerated from 0 to 60 mph in 1.74 seconds, which beat a previous mark of 1.79 seconds set by the Pinninfarina Battista last year.

ELON MUSK SLAMS WORLD'S FASTEST ELECTRIC CAR ON TWITTER

It's not that much of a surprise, since the Battista uses the same chassis and powertrain as the Nevera but is designed to be more luxurious.

However, something else happened in between those to events.

This March, Dodge unveiled the Challenger SRT Demon 170, which will be the last V8-powered muscle car it ever builds before launching an all-electric model next year.

The $100,361 coupe's supercharged engine is rated at 900 horsepower when running on gasoline, but filling up the tank with E85 boosts that to 1,025 horsepower, thanks to the higher octane of the ethanol blend.

Using the good stuff, Dodge said the Demon 170 was able to sprint to 60 mph in 1.66 seconds, a figure certified by the NHRA. So, that's the record, right? Well . . . .

Dodge set its mark on a drag strip that had traction compound at the starting line to help with acceleration, while the German test track used by Nevera was bare asphalt. Rimac also engaged the services of two companies to record the car's performance, neither of which was the NHRA.

Ultimately, there is no single automobile recordkeeping authority, which makes this a bit of a gray area. Even Guinness World Records doesn't currently have one listed for 0-60 mph, according to a spokesperson, so we went straight to the horses' mouths to find out what they had to say about this horsepower race.

"We can’t comment on another company’s claim, but we can confirm the Rimac Nevera achieved a 0-60 mph time of 1.74 seconds on an unprepared surface with road-legal Michelin Cup 2 R tires, verified by two third parties – Dewesoft and Racelogic," Rimac said in a statement given to Fox News Digital. "We believe our record is a significant achievement for a road car, and applaud any other car company working on pushing the limits."

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE FOX NEWS AUTOS NEWSLETTER

The Demon 170 also used road-legal tires, but they were Mickey Thompson drag radials, which are nearly slick and primarily designed to optimize acceleration, while the Nevera's Michelin's provide more all-around performance.

Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis raised a different point about the Nevera's record, but was also complimentary of its achievement.

"I'm not sure a car that costs $2.2M is a ‘production car’ . . . but, there is no taking away from the incredible engineering -- congratulations," Kuniskis told Fox News Digital.

What's less disputable is the Nevera's claimed quarter-mile acceleration time of 8.25 seconds, which beat the Demon 170s 8.9-second run by a wide margin.

Stock Quote API & Stock News API supplied by www.cloudquote.io
Quotes delayed at least 20 minutes.
By accessing this page, you agree to the following
Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions.