Most people would throw their cars in cruise control on a 100-plus-mile drive so they could relax. Journalist Jesse Adams didn’t have that luxury, however, during his recent stunt at Gerotek Test Facilities in South Africa.
Adams broke the record this week for the longest continuous drift by keeping a Toyota GT86 — sold in the United States as the 86 — sideways for 102 1/2 miles, according to 4WheelsNews. His run broke the previous record of 90 miles that was set by Harald Muller, who also used a GT86 for his attempt.
For anybody who isn’t familiar with drifting, it’s when you make the back end come lose on a rear-wheel-drive car, and hold it on the edge of a spin. To do so, drivers have to counter-steer and feather the throttle, which Adams did for 5 hours and 46 minutes.
What’s more, because a car is sideways while its mid-drift, drivers usually spend a lot of time looking out of their side window, but Adams couldn’t do that. A video of him stepping out of the GT86 after completing 1,000 laps of a skid pad reveal the car’s windows were covered with dirt that got kicked up.
Although Guinness World Records hasn’t yet confirmed Adams’ slide constituted the longest continuous drift, it’s expected to once it reviews data from the two GPS-based telemetry boxes fitted to his car.
Thumbnail photo via Toyota
