All-wheel drive on ice

Porsche Taycan drifts to Guinness World Record

(Bild: Porsche)

The first attempt had to be aborted, but in the second, the Porsche Taycan GTS drifted further than any other electric car before it in one go on ice. It is the fourth Guinness record for a Taycan.

At the wheel, instructor Jens Richter managed to complete a total of 132 laps in controlled oversteer. Within 46 minutes, he covered exactly 17.503 kilometers. The previous record was 14.809 kilometers.

(Bild: Porsche)

On 14 January 2025 at the Porsche Arctic Centers in Levi, Finland, around 150 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle, it did not initially look like a record: "Under the extreme continuous load of the drifting Taycan, the ice track degraded faster than expected," says Jens Richter, describing the challenges. "We therefore had to abandon the first attempt after around 11 kilometers."

(Bild: Porsche)

(Bild: Porsche)

(Bild: Porsche)

For the second attempt, the team switched to shorter spikes and took advantage of the fact that the ice temperatures dropped as darkness fell. This attempt was successful. "With our new Guinness World Record on ice, the Taycan has once again proven its outstanding cross-country qualities," grins Jens Richter. "This time even with all-wheel drive. The fact that the Taycan GTS is so easy to control even under extreme conditions speaks volumes for its excellent chassis and balance."

For the record attempt, the Porsche Experience team created a drift circle with a diameter of 59 meters. Standard Michelin tires with one-millimeter studs were fitted to both axles of the Taycan GTS for the successful record attempt.

The night was not only good for the ice temperature, but also for the staging.

(Bild: Porsche)

The vehicle was equipped with a professional GPS measuring device to precisely measure the route. This not only documents the distance traveled, but also records the driver's actions such as steering wheel movements, "gas" and braking processes as well as the G-forces acting on the vehicle.

Not the first Taycan record
The new record marks the fourth time that the electric sports car has entered the Guinness Book of World Records: in 2023, a Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo covered the greatest altitude difference ever covered by an electric car along the Xinjiang-Tibet route at 5573 meters.

In 2021, racing driver Leh Keen accelerated a Porsche Taycan to 165.1 km/h in an exhibition hall in New Orleans in the US state of Louisiana. In doing so, he set the world record for the fastest speed driven by a vehicle in an enclosed building. And in 2020, Porsche Experience instructor Dennis Retera drifted exactly 210 laps in a Taycan at the Porsche Experience Center (PEC) Hockenheimring, covering 42.171 kilometers within 55 minutes.