Nissan has set the Guinness World Record for the fastest drift.
Using a specially tuned GT-R NISMO, Masato Kawabata, the Japanese drift champion entered a drift at a speed of 304.96 km/hr. The GT-R NISMO used to set the record was specially prepared by GReddy Trust and was tested at Japan’s Fuji Speedway facility with Kawabata at the wheel. The car was setup for agility while maintaining stability and 'confidence-inspiring' handling characteristics – essential when performing such challenging feats.
The drift attempt was held during a special event that took place at Fujairah International Airport, UAE, chosen for its 3km long airstrip which was deemed to be sufficiently long enough for the challenge. From the outset, Nissan says it wanted to perform the drift at a speed of more than 300km/h, and Kawabata, who leads in the D1 Grand Prix series for Team Tokyo was chosen from a group of highly specialised competition drivers.
GReddy Trust’s technicians worked on the specially tuned 2016 Nissan GT-R NISMO setup on site in the three days leading up to the event and had only three attempts to break the record as per strict guidelines set by Guinness World Records. Support was also provided by technicians and logistics personnel from the Prodrift Academy, Recaro for the driver’s seat, RAYS for the supply of special, lightweight alloy wheels and Toyo Tires for the drift tires that were specially designed for this stunt.