Taste
Masters of Power
Better… Stronger… Faster… That is the bar for many car manufacturers in the high-end segment. Which cars can now join the Masters of Power?
Car manufacturers, especially in the higher segment, are involved in a constant arms race. Who can put the biggest exclamation points on the table? It's all about the highest top speed, the fastest acceleration, the shortest braking distance, the fastest lap time. But also: who can overcome the greatest angle of inclination or has the most loading capacity? Load capacity is not really a criterion for sports cars, but even more so for pick-ups. However, we should not underestimate the acceleration of modern pick-up trucks. The top 5 fastest accelerating pick-ups need less than 4,2 seconds to sprint from 0 to 100 km/h, even many sports cars have great difficulty with that. And these 'trucks' weigh almost 3.000 kilos. The fastest of this top 5, the GMC Hummer EV 3X, even weighs 4.100 kg and yet only needs 3,1 seconds to sprint from a standstill to 100 km/h. This Hummer is so heavy that you are not even allowed to drive it with a driving license B. The Hummer is a light truck according to Dutch law.
ONE
Three of the pick-ups in this top 5 are electric, and that is where their strength lies. With a traditional combustion engine, the manufacturer basically has to make a choice. Will the power source be somewhat economical or uncompromisingly powerful? Even though it is possible to offer an Economy and a Sport mode, you should not expect miracles. The manufacturer of an electric vehicle, on the other hand, can write much greater differences into its software. This way, maximum power can be used for a sprint from zero to one hundred or, for example, one fast lap on the Nürburgring. On the other hand, if the car has to cruise on the highway, then the minimum necessary is sufficient and the batteries can be saved. The aforementioned lap around the Nürburgring has become one of the standards on which manufacturers compete fiercely in recent years. The current record for production cars has been held by the Mercedes AMG ONE since October 2022. This hypercar completed the 20,8 km on the Nürburgring Nordschleife in 6 minutes and 35 seconds. Despite a standing start and 73 turns, the ONE achieved an average speed of about 192 km/h. The ONE is a hypercar, including a Mercedes Formula 1 engine, a lot of hybrid power, four electric motors, an F1-inspired DRS system, a carbon fiber construction, an F1-related gear and clutch and a price tag of 2,5 million. (excl. taxes). But because 275 were built, this is a production car.
The Green Hell
There are also cars like the VW ID.R. This is Volkswagen's first electric racing car, and also their farewell to motorsport. From now on, they will leave racing to the premium brands of the Volkswagen Group, such as Audi, Lamborghini, Porsche and Ducati. The ID.R is a prototype, so not a production car like the ONE, and that's a good thing for Mercedes, because the VW racing monster needed 30 seconds less for a lap Green Hell. The fastest time ever at the Nürburgring is also in the name of the Volkswagen Group. The Porsche 919 racing car won the 2014 Hours of Le Mans three times between 2017 and 24. In 2018, Porsche launched the 919 Evo, a special edition of their successful racing car that was modified to break lap records. That worked out quite well, the Evo had been fast enough at Spa-Francorchamps to qualify right at the front for that year's Grand Prix. Two months later the Porsche went to the Green Hell, and the almost 21 kilometers were completed in 5 minutes and 19 seconds. This happened on racing tires, while the production cars are only allowed to use their production tires for a record attempt.
Unlimited electrical power
In 2016, Tesla introduced Ludicrous Mode. The option no longer exists in this form on their new models, but in short it means that certain Teslas had a mode that sent a lot of extra power to the electric motors. So suddenly a Model S could accelerate from 2,5 to 0 in less than 100 seconds. That is an achievement that is mainly reserved for hypercars with a price tag of at least a million. With this 'Ridiculous Mode', Tesla illustrates one of the advantages that electric cars have over their fossil counterparts. Because no matter how nice it is to have a ridiculous amount of power at your disposal, you rarely need it all. And that is the power of an electric hypercar: it can perform most tasks excellently with just a fraction of its perhaps 2.000 hp. Sounds exaggerated, two thousand horsepower. Yet that is becoming the new standard. Ten years ago the magazines were bursting with headlines about hypercars such as the McLaren P1, Porsche 918, La Ferrari and Bugatti Veyron that tickled the 1.000 hp mark. Electric hypercars such as the Lotus Evija, Pininfarina Battista and Rimac Nevera (with which the Battista shares a subcutaneous platform) now have more than 1.900 hp. By the way, the Nevera went for a day of playing on a closed piece of asphalt in May 2023 and came home with no fewer than 23 new records. We'll pick out a few. The Rimac went from 0 to 400 km/h and then braked back to 0 in 29,93 seconds, the sprint from 0-100 was completed in 1,81 seconds and from 0-200 in 4,42 seconds. Unprecedented figures, but the question is how long they will last.
MASTERS MAGAZINE #54
Curious about which car is the winner? The summer edition is a fresh cocktail of entrepreneurship and sport. In this edition, several entrepreneurs from the Champions League of business are reviewed. Including Freddy Heineken and hospitality tycoon Richard Caring, whose expanding empire has been called the 'restaurant equivalent of LVMH'. Doing business is top sport, but top sport is also doing business. Take Formula 1: the sport is increasingly developing into an octopus with arms that touch all aspects of our society. Jaap de Groot investigated how millions are converted into billions. Also interviews with gymnast Sanne Wevers, two-star chef Guido Braeken, hotelier Robert-Jan Woltering, designer Maarten Baas and Rico, together with his Naomy. The 'King of Kickboxing' also turns out to be an octopus (with very strong arms): as an entrepreneur he is active in various industries. “When I look back later, I don't want to think 'I wish I had this or that'. I just want to, boom, accelerate, do fun things, enjoy.” Boom, the new MASTERS: enjoy!
