The fastest car in the world 0-60 in 1.74 seconds Over 1900 horsepower 100% electric power Was made by this guy A Croatian engineer that you
probably have never heard of. An engineer that is now in part responsible
for not only the future of his own brand, but electric supercars from
giants like Porsche and Bugatti. But his journey to get there was one
that would have broken most people Now, you’ll probably never
get to set fire to a supercar, but you can set fire to your bank account… All you gotta is exchange some money with
some sketchy characters from the internet I can’t promise that its ethical, I can’t
promise that you won’t end serving hard time But unlike with the soap, now when you
drop your phone, you’ll be perfectly fine Thanks to dBrand The Grip case is precision engineered by heartless robots to ensure maximum
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Something skin to tell the world that you love tech so much that
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retro darkplates for your playstation Those are actually pretty cool, damn. So go to dbrand.com/albon and buy something Because if you pay them, then they’ll pay us,
and it's a win-win for everyone, mostly us. dbrand.com/albon, links in the description! Anyways, back to croatian supercars The engineer behind the car that
nearly killed Richard Hammond is Mate Rimac and his story starts
in present day Bosnia in 1988. At just the age of 3, widespread violent
conflict broke out in Mate’s home. Later known as the Yugoslav wars, the soviet
federation of Yugoslavia was disintegrating, and the rampant bloodshed forced Mate
and his family to move to Germany. But while free from the conflict at home, tensions
between Europeans continued through the 90s, so just 9 years later his family
moved again, this time to Croatia. And with all the moving at such a young age,
Mate had a hard time adjusting in school. He didn't fit in with the local kids and
he was bullied for his Bosnian Accent, And so after school, Mate would spend all
his time by himself in his family garage. Tinkering and exploring the world
of electronics and technology. By the time he was halfway through high school, his obsession with tech, and most notably
cars, was consuming every ounce of his time It got to a point that one of his
high school professors, Ivan Vlainic, pushed him to compete in local engineering
competitions after seeing his unique capabilities. And it didn’t take long for Mate’s
brilliance to impress the outside world. He won first place at a national level competition after designing a glove that
replaced a keyboard and mouse. When he got to college, Mate’s extraordinary
mind expanded to the automotive industry He designed and patented a car mirror
that increased blind spot visibility and it wasn’t long before a company
reached out and bought his patent. To have his tech used in production cars,
as a college student, was huge validation. And with that small victory pushing him
forward, there was nothing stopping Mate Rimac Of course, he wasn’t just designing
technology for cars in a lab. He was a car enthusiast, and so
he had his own project cars too. Mate bought his first car at 19 years old,
and it was the ever iconic 1984 BMW E30 323i. And he did what any of us would do, he modded it. But unlike you or me at 19,
he didn't cut his springs, throw on some knockoff wheels and
install LEDs to call it a build. Mate’s 323i was his ticket into racing, and so he dedicated his time and money
to making it fast on the circuit. Well, that was until he blew his engine. But this is where Mate separated
himself from everyone else He didn't just rebuild the mote, and he
didn’t swap in an S38 or a small block. He stripped the whole damn thing
and converted it to an electric car. And if you thought he was going to race
that electric car, then you were right… But let's be real… if you brought your 1985 electric swapped car to
the track today, you're probably getting roasted right from the drivers meeting, so imagine
everyone's face when he did it in 2006!? The track bros laughed at him for
bringing a washing machine to the race track and asking if they could charge
their phones with his battery bank of a car But Mate wasn’t fazed by jokes, he’d been
dealing with clowns like this since he was a kid. And well, he shut them up quick Because, as I’m sure you can expect from
Mate Rimac, that BMW was a track monster. He set 5 FIA and Guinness world records in that car.. Records for the fastest
acceleration and speed in an EV And he didn’t just leave it the way
it was, that electrifying E30 went through 7 iterations of mods
until he got it jussst right. It became his life’s work, and he had
made such strides with that EV Bimmer, that he decided to start his own
electric car company at the age of 21. He called it “VST Conversions”, With
VST being the formula for speed ( v=s/t) And VST did what Mate was already known for, they took consumer vehicles and
converted them to electric cars. But it didn’t take long for Mate
to realize that VST Conversions sounded more like a currency exchange than
a cutting edge electric car manufacturer. And even though he was a humble kid, some of his friends convinced him that all
great cars were named after their founders. So not long after it was founded, VST
conversions was renamed to Rimac Automobili. Now you might think that this the
part where we talk about how Rimac blew up and how Mate’s wildest dreams came to life But, even with all that ambition and talent,
Mate and Rimac Automobili kinda went nowhere. In fact, Mate remained the sole employee
at Rimac for the next two years. He just wasn’t growing; Converting ICE cars to EV just wasn’t
the huge market that he thought it was. And so Mate realized he needed to do
something different, something bigger Something that was far beyond
throwing batteries in an old BMW But to do something like that, Mate needed help, he needed another brilliant mind to
complement his engineering prowess But it was just him in that Rimac office,
so Mate had to take to the Rolodex And there was one friend that stood out. Adriano Mudri. Adriano was a designer at GM, and he
was a close enough friend to Mate to know all about the business, and
all about Mate’s unique mind. So Mate rang him up and asked, “Adriano,
do you want to build an electric supercar?” It was an insane ask, but
Adriano knew Mate’s capabilities, There was just one issue,
Mate was a college student, and Adriano wasn’t just going to quit his day job. So the electric supercar project
became their part time pet, one that they would work on
during late evenings and weekends Naturally, Rimac focused on the car’s
technology and Adriano focused on its design All the while though, Mate’s BMW was
still making waves at the racetrack. He kept winning races and breaking records..and eventually.. The car
got attention, serious attention. A middle eastern royal family reached out to Rimac
and offered to be an investor in his company. They had seen his work put to the test and were tantalized by the idea of Mate
creating a dedicated sports car But of course, he didn't have
the manpower or the facilities. And that's exactly why a cash injection would
be life changing for the future of Rimac So he took them up on it, And with this newfound cashflow, Mate
put a team together that he could trust, A variety of experts, all of whom understood
the vision that Mate and Adriano had created They named the project “Concept One”, and
with the technologies they were developing, it seemed like only a matter of time before the
world would see an extraordinary Rimac creation But, it turned out, behind closed doors,
things weren’t going as well Mate hoped The team was talented, yes, but they
were inexperienced, and without a solid business background, the company was burning
through their cash reserves at breakneck speed And remember, it wasn’t their money,
it was the royal family’s money. And what Mate didn’t realize was the
issue with bringing in investment, is that you also bring in influence. The investors felt they were too far away
from Rimac to keep an eye on the company And seeing how quickly Rimac was spending
their money without delivering a single car, the Royal family gave Mate an ultimatum. Rimac was to pack up in Croatia and operate
closer to them, in Abu Dhabi to be exact. And if they didn’t, well, then
the money taps were shut off. But Mate had made Croatia his home. He
had built his entire foundation here, despite the countless obstacles. And let’s not forget, Mate had to flee his
home once before and it wasn't by choice. This time, though, he did have a choice. And his choice… was to stay. Money be damned. This was Mate’s home, this was Rimac’s home. And he wasn’t going to leave behind
all his friends and employees that had helped build up Rimac in the first place. So, the investors dropped out, And Mate was left with the
responsibility of himself, his family, his employees, and the Concept One And this, this would be the point
that most would crash and burn. But Mate was a visionary, So he
did what any great visionary does, when doors are closed in front
of him, he forges his own path. Rimac may have not had a
finished electric supercar, but they certainly had developed
a lot of the technology behind it And so, Mate thought, Why can’t we
do the same for other companies? So Rimac pivoted, and became an
automotive technology consulting firm. They started designing and
manufacturing batteries, electric motors, & software
solutions for car manufacturers, and in many cases were even fully
developing clean slate electric powertrains And their clients weren’t just
some no name manufacturers, these were industry giants like
Koenigsegg and Aston Martin. And over the next year, with client
after client and project after project, Rimac managed to turn themselves around and keep
the lights on. No outside investment needed! And in 2011, at just 23 years old,
Mate introduced the first official Rimac at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor
Show, the long awaited Concept One! The world had never seen anything like it, it was the first ever electric hypercar
and it showcased Rimacs potential The 4 electric motors made 1224
hp and 1180 ft lbs of torque! And with an estimated 0-60 in 2.5 seconds,
there wasn't much else that could beat it Keep in mind this was over a decade ago! And now with Adriano Mudri
now joining Rimac full time, and the world beginning to finally
recognize Mate’s brilliance, Rimac finally had the springboard
to bring the Concept One to life. Of course, it wasn’t quite that easy. It took another 5 years before
the first production Concept_One made it to market, that one made
for a Spanish engineering company, And the initial projected run of
88 cars was cut down to just 8, But nevertheless, production was happening! And along with that came significant
investment. This time from more legit sources. Everything was finally
clicking into place for Rimac. That is, until Richard Hammond decided
to get behind the wheel of one. It was June of 2017 The Grand Tour was on its second season after a triumphant rise from the ashes of
Jeremy Clarkson’s Top Gear “fracas” And the first episode of the series
was an exposé on the Past, Present, and Future of sports cars,
with the future being Rimac. The boys took to a hill climb in Switzerland,
and for most of the day, everything went well Until Hammond’s last run in the Rimac. He approached a corner carrying far
too much speed in his Concept One, and lost the rear end under braking The car broke through a barrier,
slipped down a steep hillside, and then rolled end over end a number of times. The car landed upside down, and emergency
crews ran to pull Hammond out of the wreckage. Thankfully, when they pulled him out,
his only injury was a fractured knee, But not long after they got him
out, the car burst into flames Just a few moments late, and Richard
Hammond would have been no more. It wasn’t good press for Rimac. Sure, it was Hammonds fault for crashing the car, but with EV fires already
in the automotive zeitgeist, It was a big blemish on Rimac’s reputation to have a burning Concept_One plastered on the
front page of dozens of publications. But Mate wasn’t the type of person to lose faith People always looked down on him,
people always counted him out But he always kept pushing And in 2018, Rimac introduced
the Concept_Two to the world. And this… this was a step up in every
way from the previous generation. A Hyper EV with 1914 horsepower
and a 0-60 time of 1.85 seconds. Not to mention a full suite of autonomous capabilities and 400 miles
of range on a full charge. It was insane, seriously unbelievable specs Genuinely! Many people just did
not believe a small company from Croatia could produce a car that the
world’s major manufacturers couldn’t. That is until, a few months later, Rimac
got the validation they had always deserved. Porsche, yes that Porsche, announced that they
would be a leading investor in Rimac’s future. Mate would remain majority shareholder, of course and Porsche’s investment would lend them access to Rimac’s expertise in developing
world-leading EV technology. For Mate, this was the boost they needed to
take the Concept_Two forward, and not long after they renamed it to something that better
symbolized the ethos of an electric hypercar. Nevera The Croatian word for a violent lightning storm The Porsche money also helped them build a manufacturing facility for
the Nevera in June of 2020 And while they were getting
ready for Nevera production, Rimac took perhaps its biggest step yet. Porsche, as many of you know,
is part of the Volkswagen Group. You know who else is part of
the Volkswagen Group? Bugatti. And Bugatti, once considered the
cutting edge of hypercars, had found itself looking very old fashioned
in the age of electrification. So, in a an effort to push hypercar
development, Porsche created a joint venture, Bugatti Rimac. A collaborative effort to take Bugatti’s
100-plus year history and combine it with the technological advancement of Rimac Group. And along with the joint venture came
hundreds of millions of dollars of funding. By August of 2022, production was underway, and Nico Rosberg became the
first owner of a Rimac Nevera, And to further prove their dominance in the space, Rimac went on to top even its
own ridiculous spec sheet, Taking a production Nevera from 0-60 in just 1.74s And setting a ¼ mile time of 8.25s Not only making it the fastest electric vehicle, but one of the fastest
production cars in the world And to think, all this started with a boy, cast
out of his country, alienated by his peers, Who devoted his time to curiosity and learning Who, with enough time, and through enough struggle Achieved things greater than
even he could ever dream of Thanks for watching If you want to support Albon, buy a
shirt and tell us about it on Discord. Or hit the link to our Patreon and join us there. I’ll see you in the next one.
