Mate Rimac, CEO of Bugatti, revealed he had considered Tesla Roadster-style thrusters years before the electric hypercar’s controversial reveal. Rimac shared an Instagram post reacting to Tesla’s demonstration of cold-gas thrusters and a fan suction system that allowed the Roadster to drive upside down and achieve momentary flight. The technology, however, had been on his mind since 2019.
In the post, Rimac referenced an email he sent in 2019 titled “Static downforce,” which outlined plans for a fan-based downforce system inspired by the Brabham BT46B F1 car. The 1978 racecar featured a large, engine-driven fan at the rear that sucked air from under the chassis, though the team claimed its primary purpose was engine cooling. “Flying cars, cold thrusters, finally, huh? Lots of people ask us if we ever considered something like that, and you would be surprised. The answer is actually yes,” Rimac said in the video.
The exploration extended further. Rimac disclosed that in 2020, he inquired about adding cold thrusters to the Rimac Nevera. He proposed that a cold-air booster system on the Nevera’s successor could have enabled acceleration from 0-60 mph in less than one second and even flight. “The second part of it is the cold thruster, and here we did a whole project in 2020 to add the cold thrusters to the Nevera. The idea was to have the tanks here and have all of this in the Nevera’s successor to go less than one second zero-to-sixty and do the flying and all that,” he explained.
Both initiatives were set aside when Rimac focused on developing the Bugatti Tourbillon’s V-16 engine. Managing both Rimac and Bugatti simultaneously limited his capacity to pursue multiple projects. Despite this, Rimac expressed enthusiasm for the divergent paths taken by Tesla and McMurtry. “I’m happy that Elon did it, that Tesla did it, that McMurtry did it. It’s more exciting; it makes the future even more exciting. We are doing V-16s; they do these things, so it’s all fun, and I love it,” he stated.
Rimac’s admission highlights that the concept of integrating advanced aerodynamic and propulsion systems into high-performance vehicles was not unique to Tesla. The 2019 email demonstrates his early interest in static downforce mechanisms, predating similar features in modern hypercars. While practical implementation required significant engineering focus, the alignment of ideas across different manufacturers shows shared innovation in automotive technology.
