Porsche Taycan Sets World Record by Continuously Drifting for 26.2 Miles
Taycan drifted around a 200-meter circle for 55 minutes, setting the battery electric vehicle record.
The folks at Porsche put a tremendous amount of effort into making the new Taycan the best performing battery electric vehicle in the world. While performance claims are one thing, the German automaker recently put the new Taycan into the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest continuous drift by an all-electric vehicle. Porsche Experience Lead Instructor Dennis Retera handled the driving duties and after spending 55 minutes oversteering his way around the drift circle at the Hockenheimring in Germany, a new world record had been set.
According to the report from Electrek.co, the official record-setting distance is 42.171 kilometers with an average speed of 46 kilometers per hour during the 210 laps. Those figures translate into 26.2 miles of uninterrupted drifting at 28.6 miles per hour.
Porsche Taycan Record Attempt
The Porsche Taycan world record drift attempt took place on the drift circle of the Porsche Experience Centre Hockenheimring in Germany. This specially prepared section of track is a perfect circle, with each lap measuring 200 meters. To make drifting a bit easier, this unique section of track has an irrigation system that floods the surface, allowing the electric sedan to easily spin the rear wheels.
As mentioned above, Porsche Experience Lead Instructor Dennis Retera drove the preproduction Chinese market Taycan. They chose the Chinese market vehicle because it is offered there with rear-wheel-drive, whereas the Taycan in most markets is full-time all-wheel-drive. In these wet conditions, one of the all-wheel-drive Porsche electric sedans would likely be able to drift, but having all of the power sent to the rear wheels leads to a much better machine for sliding in circles for 26-straight miles.
Finally, while this is not mentioned in the video of the initial Electrek report, one of the Porsche images shows European drift champion Denise Ritzman inspecting the black Taycan. In this image, we can clearly see that the Porsche EV is wearing Pirelli snow tires, with intricate siping throughout the tread blocks. This tire design likely allowed for the best combination of grip and water displacement, helping Retera to consistently steer through the flowing water on the track.
Setting the Record
The Porsche team put together a video detailing the world record attempt and you can watch that below. In this video, we get a look at the basic preparation for the event, along with input from the Guinness World Records adjudicator, the European drift champion and the man behind the wheel.
After we watch the team get ready for the run, we watch at Retera heads out onto the track. The video shows a few of the 210 laps, jumping to the end of the 55-minute run. The fact that he was able to maintain a continuous drift for nearly an hour, making 210 laps around the small circle track, is nothing short of amazing. The fact that this run was made with a battery electric vehicle may be lost on some, but with the Guinness World Record title, the Taycan etches its name in EV history.
Join the Rennlist forums!
