If you’ve ever kicked out the tail of your car, you’re aware of the razor-thin line between a clean drift and a wild spin. Now, imagine holding that knife-edge for 55 minutes over a marathon distance of 26.2 miles. That’s exactly what Porsche driving instructor Dennis Retera pulled off in a Porsche Taycan EV, setting a new Guinness world record in the process.
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Retera set the record in a real-wheel-drive Taycan, available in either 402 or 469 horsepower versions with 79.2 kWh or 93.4 kWh hour batteries (Porsche didn’t specify which).
He performed the feat at Porsche’s Hockenheimring center on a 200 meter (656 foot) long drift circle that’s irrigated to save tire life and allow for lower speed drifting — about 29 mph on average for the Taycan record.
“When the driving stability programs are switched off, a powerslide with the electric Porsche is extremely easy, especially of course with this model variant,” said Retera. “Nevertheless, it was also very tiring for me to keep my concentration high for 210 laps, especially as the irrigated asphalt of the drift circuit does not provide the same grip everywhere.”
Guinness defines a drift as “being performed when there is a speed differential between the driven wheels of the vehicle and its ground speed,” with those parameters checked by yaw rate sensors and other instruments.
Retera’s record is specifically for EVs and there doesn’t appear to be a prior record in that category, so the Taycan has essentially laid down the benchmark. The longest drift in any car over 8 hours is a whopping 232.5 miles, achieved in a BMW M5 that was (insanely) refueled in the middle of the attempt — something you’ll clearly never see with an EV.
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