Top Gear

Chris Harris Sets A World Record Behind Wheel Of Porsche Taycan

The Top Gear presenter Chris Harris has set a world record in drifting behind the wheel of the all-electric Porsche Taycan. His objective, before he began, was to maintain a drift for 2km around Porsche’s skidpan at the marque’s Hockenheimring in Germany.

The video of the spectacle was released onto the Top Gear YouTube channel, where he managed to set a record of a ridiculously impressive 3.4km, which is 18 laps of the skidpan according to Top Gear. Can you imagine doing 18 laps, constantly balancing the car between oversteer and spinning out, while also trying not to chunder? Yeah, we’ll give him props for that.

Annoyingly for Chris, his record was broken merely hours later, as an instructor from Porsche named Dennis Retera attempted the same record. He, shockingly, set a 42.171km record of sideways action.

This attempt took 55 minutes of pure drifting, and equated to 210 laps of the skidpan – a 200-meter circumference each lap. This went on for so long, the battery of the car completely emptied itself of energy, forcing him to stop. Top Gear tells us that the average speed of this record was just 29mph.

“It was very tiring for me to keep my concentration high for 210 laps,” Retera told Top Gear, “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.”

These attempts were both completed using a RWD Taycan, one that’s already on the market in China and available in two levels of power. The lower-end version produces 402bhp from a single motor on the rear axle, and the top-spec featuring 469bhp thanks to the ‘Performance Battery Plus’ feature. Both variants will hit 62mph in just 5.4 seconds and will carry on until 143mph.

Now come on, watch that video and try not to get dizzy.

Alex Harrington

Alex started racing at a young age so certainly knows his way around a car and a track. He can just about put a sentence together too, which helps. He has a great interest in the latest models, but would throw all of his money at a rusty old French classic and a 300ZX. Contact: [email protected]

Related Articles

One Comment

Back to top button