Porsche Taycan drifts 17.5 kms to Guinness World Record

News about the Taycan during 2024 was not very good with sales having diminished significantly (by as much as 49%, it was reported), so instead of talking about that, Porsche has started off the year with something more positive about its fully electric sportscar.

132 rounds, 17.5 kms
The Taycan recently got its fourth world record certificate from the Guinness World Records organisation for the longest continuous vehicle drift on ice by an electric vehicle. At the wheel of a Taycan GTS with all-wheel drive, instructor Jens Richter completed a total of 132 laps in controlled oversteer, covering 17.503 kms over a period of 46 minutes.

The record-setting run was actually the second of two as the first one had to be aborted due to the conditions of the ice track deteriorating after the car had covered around 11 kms. For the second attempt, the team switched to shorter spikes and took advantage of the fact that the ice temperatures dropped again as darkness fell. This attempt was successful and Richter was able to keep the car in a controlled drift using only throttle and steering adjustments. The distance exceeded the previous record of 14.809 kms.

Record set in Finland
The record run was done at the Porsche Arctic Centre in Finland, around 150 kms north of the Arctic Circle. The drift circle had a diameter of 59 metres and the vehicle was fitted with commercially available Michelin tyres with one-millimetre spikes.

The car was equipped with a professional GPS measuring device to measure the route precisely. This not only documented the distance travelled, but also recorded the driver’s actions such as steering wheel movements, accelerator and braking, and the G-forces acting on the vehicle.

The other Guinness records
With the new record performance, the electric sports car now holds 4 record certificates. The last one was set in 2023 when a Taycan Cross Turismo travelled along the Xinjiang-Tibet route. At 5,573 metres, the model covered the greatest altitude change by an electric car.

In 2021, racing driver Leh Keen accelerated a Porsche Taycan to 165.1 km/h inside an exhibition hall in the US state of Louisiana. He thus set the record for the fastest speed driven by a vehicle in an enclosed building.

And in 2020, Porsche Experience instructor Dennis Retera drifted exactly 210 laps in a Taycan at the Porsche Experience Centre Hockenheimring, covering 42.171 kms in 55 minutes.

Porsche World Road Show at the Sepang International Circuit