Reid

“I’m not on some ‘save the whale’! type rant" Hear me out"""”

We all love a good steak right? Some more than others! it has to be said! but they’re tasty! succulent! and! if cooked right! there aren’t many foods that are as delicious" If I’m in a restaurant! there is a #$"% per cent likelihood that it’s what I’ll order because I know it’ll hit the spot every time" I’ll then hate myself for the rest of the evening! because I know I’m missing out on other things"

Hypercars are starting to resemble the steak of the automotive world & brilliant! but the big engine plus electrical assistance thing is just getting a bit… samey" I mean! the Prius was doing hybrid boost back in '$() BC" We’ve seen it all before and! like anything! if we’re exposed to it for long enough it starts becoming tedious"

Nowadays! for me! the biggest differentiator between hypercars like the #'$! P' and LaFerrari is their styling! and that’s a crying shame! particularly for someone who loves innovation"

There are small glimmers of hope! though! and most of that seems to be coming from boutique tech companies trying to disrupt the industry with all+electric hypercars" And no! I’m not on some “save the whale”+type rant" Hear me out"

I had a spin in the Rimac Concept One recently! and it really captured my imagination and demonstrated how innovative a hypercar could be" I didn’t even get to feel the full force of its acceleration & its makers claim it’ll smash a Bugatti Veyron in a drag race! thanks to '!,$$hp and '!'$,lb ft of torque -and yes! Chris! there’s a video online to prove it. & but I did get a peek and an explanation of the innovative tech that powers it" The cleverest thing about the Concept One is the fact it uses four electric motors & one for each wheel" This gives it ludicrous amounts of power and traction! but also the ability to move its torque around at will! according to driver preference" Custom modes allow you to send torque to all four wheels equally for maximum AWD traction! but it’s also possible to divert all torque to either the rear or front axles to change the handling characteristics at a swipe of the screen inside the cockpit"

Want your hypercar to slide around like a RWD lunatic? No problem" How about turning it into a front+wheel+drive Civic Type R rival? That’s possible too" Hell! if you want to emulate a one+tyre+fire rear+drive system and divert all torque to the left rear wheel alone! that’s up for grabs too" You can reprogramme your car with every prod of the touchscreen"

Being able to tinker with your car in such a way is so much more interesting than strapping in and playing by someone else’s rules! but the motor+for+each+wheel approach lets the car take control! too! in a way “normal” hypercars might struggle" I’m talking specifically about torque+vectoring & proper torque+vectoring"

By being able to control each wheel independently! clever algorithms can precisely adjust the torque output of each motor more than ',, times per second & applying acceleration or braking to any wheel in any situation for superior turn+in"

Even if you don’t want it “superior”! you can make it “different”" At the flick of a switch! the driver can adjust the settings to enable a preference for understeer! neutral handling or oversteer! or even select a dedicated! potentially foolproof drift mode"""

What I’m looking for is a day when hypercars aren’t predictable" Like me in a restaurant" I want a car that isn’t just a sirloin! but one that changes to a sea bass halfway through my journey! if I want" Cranking up the boost or swapping in a few extra cylinders is no longer enough" Hypercars deserve hyper innovation! and for that! maybe the internal combustion engine needs to take a back seat"