Porsche Taycan sets world record going sideways

Porsche has just set a Guinness World Record, by having the Taycan electric sportscar drift around a wet skidpad for 42.1km, over 55 minutes. With no record of its type existing, Guinness officials had set the bar at a continuous drift of 2km, or 16 laps of the skidpad at Porsche's Experience Centre at the Hockenheimring. Porsche instead went the distance, clocking 210 laps at an average of 46kmph, with the rear-wheel drive Taycan being piloted by Porsche instructor, Dennis Retera. Notably, the rear-wheel drive Taycan variant is only being offered in China at the moment, as the base model in the Taycan lineup.

For reference, BMW set a drift record with the current-gen M5 in 2018, which stands at a dizzying 374km spread over eight hours, during which time the car needed to be refuelled a couple of times. The Taycan, on the other hand, was driven till the battery ran dry and the car's electronics cut power before the 211th lap could be completed. Retera has mentioned that the record was set with the mindset of monitoring efficiency as well, with the car being set into a drift, and drift angle maintained, using weight balance and steering inputs more than outright power/torque - of which the Taycan has plenty, even in the single-motor RWD variant. Though, the continuously-irrigated asphalt track did have a part to play in ensuring the surface was slick enough for continuous drifts, without the worry of wearing the tyres down to the rims. Prior to the final record attempt by Retera, Top Gear presenter Chris Harris also set a record at 19 laps of the track, or 3.3km overall.

In the China-only model, a single electric motor sits on the rear axle, providing 402PS when paired with the 79.2kWh battery pack, or up to 469PS with the 93.4kWh battery. Driving range for the RWD model varies between 413-489km, according to the NEDC testing. The Taycan 4S, the twin-motor AWD available as the base model everywhere else in the world, has a range of 407km for the smaller battery, and 463km for the larger battery, according to the more realistic WLTP cycle.