The Guinness Book of Records keeps getting thicker as more and more peculiar records are being added every year. Case in point, it has come to our knowledge there’s a world record for the fastest vehicle drift while steering with a foot. Polish drifter Bartosz Ostalowski holds the record after hitting an impressive 231.66 km/h (143.9 mph) while driving a BMW 3 Series Coupe from the E92 era.
The record-breaking attempt took place on September 30 at the Pila Airport in Poland where there’s a 2-kilometer (1.2-mile) runway. It’s also 60 meters (197 feet) wide, thus making it the ideal venue to perform a high-speed drift without putting the driver’s life in jeopardy. A device called a driftbox was used to accurately measure the velocity at which the last 3 Series Coupe made by BMW was going sideways.
As you can easily tell, this isn’t your run-of-the-mill E92. Dubbed “Fury,” the modified two-door 3er has lost its BMW engine in favor of a much larger 7.0-liter LS3 V8 with a pair of turbochargers thrown in for good measure. It pumps out a whopping 1,000 horsepower and 1,280 Newton-meters (944 pound-feet) of torque delivered to the road via an eight-speed ZF automatic transmission.
Bartosz Ostalowski reached 277 km/h (172 mph) on the kilometer-long straight before applying the handbrake to initiate the speedy drift. Within the 50-meter (164-feet) measuring zone, the skilled driver managed to average the aforementioned 231.66 km/h (143.9 mph) and the car had a maximum drift angle of 60 degrees. Licensed judges were on location to officialize the record.
Even though the event was professionally organized, it still takes a lot of courage to initiate a drift at such a high speed. Most of us have never even driven that fast in a straight line, let alone sideways. It should be noted Bartosz Ostalowski races in Polish Drift Championships and European leagues against able-bodied drivers.
