Subaru BRZ sets 360 spin record

Fancy yourself as a bit of a precision driver? If so, what would be your car of choice? Perhaps a mid-1960s MINI or a modern-day Fiat 500?

The rear-drive Subaru BRZ is now officially the world's best car for performing ultra-tight 360-degree spins, as observed last weekend by Guinness World Record officials.

Stunt driver Alastair Moffatt broke the previous record of 2.5 metres, from 2014, by guiding the Subaru BRZ coupe through two obstacles while simultaneously flicking the car into a 360-degree spin.

As the Subaru measures 4.24 metres long, it may seem strange that a smaller vehicle wasn't used for the record attempt – the previous record was held by a front-drive vehicle – but Moffatt explains that the stunt needed a vehicle with a low centre of gravity and high level of control.

Being rear drive also allows the car to push through its spin a little easier.

For the stunt, traction control and anti-lock brakes were disengaged and after successfully breaking the record, Moffatt said: "It's great to have another record to my name."

Driver Alastair Moffatt already holds the records for the world's tightest parallel and reverse parallel parks (the latter in a classic Mini) and now he's added another to the list.

"The Subaru BRZ was the perfect car in which to do it; light, highly manoeuvrable and easy to control."

The Subaru BRZ is one of the few cars in Australia that can be purchased online, from $37,150, and is powered by a 2.0-litre boxer engine worth 147kW and 205Nm.

As the old saying goes, don't try this at home…