The Porsche Taycan now holds the record for the longest drift in an electric vehicle after it covered a total distance of 42.171km while entirely sideways! The feat took 55 minutes to complete at the Porsche Experience Centre (PEC) at the Hockenheimring, Germany with Porsche instructor Dennis Retera behind the wheel. Retera had the Taycan sideways at an average speed of 46kmph for 210 laps of the 200-metre-long wet drift circle. The record attempt was supervised and approved by Guinness World Records official record judge Joanne Brent.
The car used for the record run was an RWD Porsche Taycan, currently on sale only in China, which is a lot easier to drift compared to the all-wheel-drive version. Retera claims that with the electronic driving stability programmes switched off in the 402bhp Taycan, it was easy to powerslide the car for the requisite 55 minutes. The low centre of gravity and long wheelbase of the Taycan were an added advantage to clinch the world record.
To document the authenticity of the run prior to the record attempt, a local land surveyor measured the 80-metre-wide area at the Porsche Experience Centre with millimetre precision. Next, GPS and yaw rate sensors within the vehicle were calibrated to document the entire run, as was a camera installed on the roof of the track’s control tower, with which the record ride was filmed. Further, cameras installed on an auxiliary vehicle (a Nissan GT-R, no less) which recorded the drive in real time.
Denise Ritzmann, European drifting champion in 2018 and 2019, was brought in to ensure that the Taycan remained in a permanent drift throughout the record attempt. Before the vehicle went on track, she confirmed the standard and roadworthy condition of the pre-series Taycan with rear-wheel drive on behalf of DEKRA, a testing organisation which specialises in safety inspections and the evaluation of technical systems. Together with Brent, Ritzmann also counted the laps completed during the record attempt.
“You can see at a glance whether the front wheels are pointing in a different direction to the curve. As long as this is the case, the car is drifting,” she explained.
Commenting on the record run, Retera said, “It was 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. I concentrated on controlling the drift with the steering – this is more efficient than using the accelerator pedal and reduces the risk of spinning.”
The Porsche Taycan’s latest record comes as an addition to a long list of achievements, like the its 24-hour endurance run of over 3425km on the high-speed track in Nardo; the fastest time in its segment around the Nürburgring-Nordschleife of 7:42 minutes, and the 26 sprints from 0 to 200kmph at an airfield in Lahr.
We already knew how the ICE Porsches have always been an enthusiast’s favourite for many years, and now with their first all-electric car, Porsche seems set on securing many many more records.