The Nissan GT-R has been breaking all sorts of records since it was launched in 2007. The most known record is the fastest lap for a production vehicle around the famed Nurburgring track in Germany. The lap was achieved by the GT-R with the N-Attack package, which has recently been available to the public as an upgrade.
And now in 2016, the GT-R is at it again, this time for the record of the fastest drift.
Nismo and GReddy Trust teamed up to tune a GT-R to a wicked 4.0 litre twin-turbo 1,361bhp drifting machine. To help the car drift, they removed the front drive shaft from the all-wheel-drive supercar to make it a rear wheel drive one.
To pilot this beast of a car, Nissan chose Japanese professional drifter Masato Kawabata, who is a former D1 Grand Prix Champion. Testing for the record was done in the Fuji Speedway. For the actual world record attempt, the 3KM long runway at the Fujairah International Airport in the UAE was the chosen venue.
For the record attempt, Kawabata was given three passes to set the fastest drift, which is according to the Guinness rules. The car needed to do a 30-degree slide at speed. For the drift record attempt, the car first accelerated to 217mph before pulling the e-brake and turning the car sideways. The resulting drift was clocked at 190mph. The record was broken 3 times during the 3 passes with the last pass being the fastest. See the video of the drift to appreciate the pure awesomeness of the feat. The super slow motion bit really emphasised the skill and bravery of Mr Kawabata-san.
The former record holder was Polish driver Jakub Przygoński, with a drift speed of 134.8 mph. He did it in a modified Toyota GT86 that produced a massive 1086bhp. We do wonder if anyone is brave enough to take the Hennessey Venom GT out for a drift at top speed.
Images via Top Gear
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