How long could you continuously drift a car?

RECORDS are made to be broken - in this instance, by the same brand. Again.

Porsche has set a Guinness World Record for the longest continuous vehicle drift on ice by an electric vehicle. With the Taycan electric sedan.

This might seem like old news. Because it is. Porsche has been there, done that before.

But then another brand bettered. And so Porsche came back.

So the latest feat to beat is a distance of 17.503 kilometres, amounting to 132 laps of a 59-metre circular track carved out on a frozen Finnish lake. This took 46 minutes to set.

Well, actually it took a bit longer than that, really. Porsche’s first attempt was on January 14, but that one was thwarted by “difficult external conditions” according to Porsche Experience instructor Jens Richter, who was behind the wheel.

“Under the extreme continuous load of the drifting Taycan, the ice track deteriorated faster than expected. We therefore had to abort the first attempt after around 11 kilometres.”

For the second attempt, Richter and the Porsche team switched the Taycan’s tyres for versions with shorter ice spikes, and decided to make the drifting run after dark, so that lower temperatures would preserve the ice surface.

That was a winning formula. They improved on the old EV ice drifting record by a full three kilometres.

“With our new Guinness World Records title on ice, the Taycan has once again proven its sideways driving qualities," said Richter. "And this time even with all-wheel drive. The fact that the Taycan GTS can be controlled so well even under extreme conditions speaks volumes for its excellent chassis and balanced performance.”