Wednesday 30th July 2014

90 miles sideways

German drifter spends nearly two and a half hours on the lock stops in a GT86 to smash record

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PH recently got a few tips from five of the best on how to send and keep a car sideways. However, we're small fry compared to drifter Harald 'Harry' Muller, for the German has just set a new world record for the longest continuous drift at a dizzying - literally - 89.55 miles.

Muller eclipsed the previous record of 51.2 miles notched up by Johan Schwartz in a BMW M5 last May by a healthy 38 miles.

While Schwartz had 560hp and, more importantly, 501lb ft of torque from the M5's 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8, according to Guinness World Records, Muller had just 200hp and 151lb ft of torque to play with from the standard 2.0-litre naturally aspirated flat-four Toyota GT86 motor.

The first attempt failed, but once Muller had the GT86 hooked up, he continued the slide for 612 laps of the 235.5-metre circular course, taking two hours, 25 minutes and 18 seconds to complete the record. Even though the circuit was soaked, the tyres were toast, as you can well imagine. Independent witness and King of Europe Drift judge Gorkem Cosgun was there to verify the July 15 record, set in collaboration with the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Samsun, Turkey.

Muller's new claim to fame is actually the second title the GT86 now holds when it comes to oversteering expertise. Last September Polish driver Jakub 'Kuba' Przygonski (they all have nicknames...) set the benchmark for the fastest drift in his GT86 at a speed of 135.44mph on the runway of Biala Podlaska airport, Warsaw.

However, he had a bit more power to play with. An engine swap to a 2JZ Toyota Supra motor stroked to 3.4 litres in capacity, plus a Garrett GTX4202R turbo among other mods meant Kuba had 1,086hp and 723lb ft of torque to torture the rear tyres with - plus another 325hp hit of nitrous oxide if he fancied it.

We're starting to think we should book a GT86 in again.

 

[Pistachio]

Uhhh???? I suppose someone had to do it.

[FussyFez]

90 miles!

Incredible feat.

[wolves_wanderer]

Pistachio said:

Uhhh???? I suppose someone had to do it.

Unfortunately yes. Someone always comes and makes the effort to comment on something they aren't interested in to tell us how uninterested in it they are.

[Konan]

Neck ache from looking out of the side window?

[Greenslade]

Did he paly Dizzy by Vic Reeves whilst doing it

[OlberJ]

Slow news day?

[vinnie01]

so what tweaks to the car? surely they would have to beef up the cooling system due to the highish RPM and relative lack of air entering the heat exchanger.

[Limpet]

Had a go at drifting earlier this year with a half day session bought as a present. Spent hours skidding a 2WD R32 Skyline with a welded diff around an airfield. The most fun I've ever had in a car, and we didn't exceed 30 mph. Skidding a car isn't hard. Skidding a car at the kind of lock angles, and with the millimetric precision that these guys do, often barely a fag-paper off the lead car, takes incredible skill. The way they can transition from lock to lock multiple times, so smoothly and gracefully is impressive.

This is a hell of an achievement.

[TooMany2cvs]

Toyota in "average 37mph" shock. Hold the front page!

[toerag]

"325hp hit of nitrous oxide if he fancied it."

[SteveSteveson]

doogz said:

vinnie01 said:

so what tweaks to the car? surely they would have to beef up the cooling system due to the highish RPM and relative lack of air entering the heat exchanger.

The car was drifting, but averaging 90mph, I'd imagine there'd still be a decent amount of airflow and pressure differential across the radiator.

Welded diff?

He wasn't doing 90 mph, more mid 30's. However, I think there may well be enough air going through. I don't think the revs would be that high once he had broken traction. The abusive bit on the engine is probably going to be the risk of oil starvation, and possibly fuel, but I would guess they put in a high capacity fuel tank to ensure they had enough fuel, and reduce the issues from fuel slosh, although it is quite possible to do that distance on a single tank.

I guess the clutch will be knacked after that long.

I don't see why people can't see how impressive a feat this is. The concentration needed to keep the car under control and going round and round for that long is amazing, and the fact that the car put up with that abuse to the tires, clutch, suspension and all the other bits that are not designed to work sideways for more than a few seconds says allot about the car.

[R6VED]

That is extremely impressive, eminently pointless but extremely impressive nonetheless.

Quite frankly if you can't see and appreciate that, what the flying fk are you doing on Pistonheads? go and play on Mumsnet instead.

[Ninja182]

"Longest continuous drift". In the first few seconds of the video there is what looks to me like 'not drifting'. Drifting for 90 miles? Maybe. 90 mile drift? Definitly not.

[TooMany2cvs]

R6VED said:

Quite frankly if you can't see and appreciate that, what the flying fk are you doing on Pistonheads? go and play on Mumsnet instead.

So unless you find "pointless" (your word) drifting impressive, you can't possibly be a piston head?

Furry muff.

[aka_kerrly]

Drifting has supposedly been deemed the coolest thing on earth, yes it requires skill but christ that is boring!!!!!!!!!!!

[garypotter]

Drifting is impressive for 10 secs then boring............


ps I think he needs a girlfriend

[hairykrishna]

Exactly what's the definition of a drift, for record purposes, anyway? There seem to be quite a few bits of the video where he straightens out before sliding again - surely they're the end of his 'continuous drift'?

[nelly_h]

Ninja182 said:

"Longest continuous drift". In the first few seconds of the video there is what looks to me like 'not drifting'. Drifting for 90 miles? Maybe. 90 mile drift? Definitly not.

That's what I thought. It looks like he does multiple transitions from clockwise to anticlockwise where he stops the drift (briefly) before restarting going the opposite direction.

I'm sure there are some specific rules for this world record that allow that, but while no doubt a challenge of endurance, this seemed less skillful (or interesting) than a 2 car drift competition.

A world record is still impressive though. I don't own any...

[OlberJ]

Much like it being a "sport", the rules are no doubt very hazy.

[thatdude]

He's done a trip from my house in north london to my parents house in brighton, sideways

that's brilliant