Rimac Nevera set world record for how fast it can travel in reverse and it's quicker than most cars can drive forwards

Croatian EV manufacturer Rimac took its 1,914-horsepower hypercar, the Rimac Nevera, to a test track in Germany and set an incredible Guinness World Record.

The car reached around 170 mph… in reverse.

That’s impressive, like physics forgot to physics for a second.

And there’s a reason why this record will never ever be broken by a gas car.

How the Rimac Nevera set this incredible record

Despite the obvious physics constraints, driver Goran Drndak kept the car pointed straight down the Papenburg track’s long straightaway and reached an incredible speed.

Data logged by Dewesoft confirmed the Rimac Nevera peaked at 171.34 mph (275.74 km/h), surpassing the previous Guinness World Record of 102.58 mph (165.08 km/h) set in 2011 by a modified Nissan Leaf.

That’s incredibly ironic, by the way.

When else are you ever going to be able to say a 1,900-horsepower hypercar beat a record set by a family EV?

But it did beat the record, and while it may be broken again, we can bet good money on something: this Guinness World Record will never be broken by a gas car.

Why EV powertrains excel in reverse

To understand how a car can travel backward faster than most sports cars go forward, you have to look under the bodywork.

In an internal combustion engine vehicle, going backward relies on a specific reverse gear engineered with short gear ratios intended for slow, low-speed maneuvering.

The main goal is to avoid engine damage.

In an EV, propulsion is propulsion.

There are no gears, but there is instant torque.

Specifically, in a Nevera, there are four individual electric motors that directly drive each of the four wheels independently.

An electric motor generates maximum torque instantly regardless of rotational direction.

By simply reversing the direction of the electrical current feeding the motors, the drivetrain provides identical power and torque backward as it does forward.

In theory, you could drive the Nevera at top speed in reverse.

The only reason you can’t is aerodynamic stability presents a major physical barrier.

The only way to reach top speed in reverse

In theory, it would be possible to reach the top speed of a car in reverse.

In practice, the only way to do it would be the turn the car into a Top Gear-style Salfa Romeaab/Salfaab.

About 20 years ago, James May built a stretch limo using the front end of an Alfa Romeo and… the front end of a Saab.

So technically, you’re never reversing in a car like that.

Short of doing that, physics would make it impossible.

Even if you somehow engineered the steering wheel to rotate around the interior and face backwards.

And even if you gave your car four-wheel steering for better control, you’d still be facing the wrong way, which means that the aerodynamics would be exactly backwards.

Not only would this make the car slower, but, at extreme speeds, even micro-adjustments on the steering wheel can cause severe oversteer or trigger immediate instability.

That’s why even reaching 170 mph must’ve felt incredible.