Porsche Taycan does world’s longest EV drift

The Porsche Taycan has already won plenty of plaudits – including the 2020 carsales Car of the Year People’s Choice Award – and can now boast the world’s longest consistent drift for an electric vehicle.

Verified by Guinness World Records, the all-electric super-sedan’s world-beating drift went for a total of 55 minutes and covered 42.171km (22 miles) at the Porsche Experience Centre in Hockenheimring, Germany.

Chief instructor Dennis Retera was at the helm of a rear-wheel drive version of the all-new Porsche Taycan, which he said makes power slides “extremely easy” once the stability programs are switched off.

Retera said maintaining high concentration levels was tough, particularly given the irrigated asphalt on the Hockenheimring skid pan – which he lapped 210 times – provided inconsistent levels of grip.

“I concentrated on controlling the drift with the steering – this is more efficient than using the accelerator pedal and reduces the risk of spinning,” he said.

An average speed of 46km/h was achieved during the drift, with a Guinness World Records official judge supervising the entire process.

While it’s an impressive feat for Porsche’s first electric car, which is priced from $191,000 (plus on-road costs) and is due to reach Australian showrooms in a matter of weeks, the Taycan is still no match for the BMW M5 which holds the record for the world’s longest continuous drift in a vehicle.

BMW achieved the record with the F10 M5 at its South Carolina Performance Centre back in 2018, executing a stomach-churning eight-hour-long drift over 374.1km with driver Johan Schwartz behind the wheel. Its average speed was 46.6km/h.

If that wasn’t enough, BMW also broke a second record at the same time as a second M5 – used as a refuelling car for Schwartz’s vehicle – drifted in tandem for 79.26km.

You can watch the M5 drift show here.