Top 10 Car World Records
It’s always great to be recognised as the best at something, whatever that particular pursuit may be. One of the best ways to gain ultimate recognition is to have an achievement recognised as a world record. In terms of cars and driving, several world records have been created – some are quirky and fun, while some are more straightforward and relate to particular driving skills.
Here are some of the top car world records:
Tightest car parallel parking
Most drivers think that their parallel parking skills are pretty good. However, it’s highly unlikely that those skills hold a candle to stunt driver Alastair Moffatt, who set a world record at the 2015 Autosport International show at Birmingham’s NEC by sliding a Fiat 500C into a space just 7.5cm longer than the car (with a little help from the handbrake). Moffat broke his own record and personal best of 8.6cm. His brother, John Moffatt, had previously broken the record by sliding a Mini Cooper between two RAC vans.
Fastest time to park 50 cars (in a car park)
It’s unlikely you’ll break this record any time soon. For a start, you’ll need 50 cars, and ideally, a large closed-off car park with permission from its owner. The incredible current record of 22 min 16.7 sec belongs to Brodie Branch, who managed to park all 50 cars by himself – these cars included a wide range of vehicles from a Fiat 500 to a BMW 5 Series.
Longest time to kiss a car
How much do you love your car? Enough to keep kissing it for three days straight? That’s what Mexicans Jesús Juárez Vite and Ernesta Hernandez Ambrosio did in 2013 to prove how much they love their set of wheels –they spent more than 76 hours kissing their car. Fancy you love your car more than them and could break that record?
Most countries visited by car
While most people who love to travel will do so by aeroplane or ship, German Gunther Holtorf decided to visit 180 countries by putting the pedal to the metal. He spent 26 years visiting these countries between 1988 and 2014 by driving his Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen (nicknamed Otto). If you don’t have the time or resources for such an arduous journey, you could try to break the “easier” record of most countries visited in one continuous car journey, which is 111 countries, set by Paige Parker and Jim Rogers from the US. Over three years, these two covered about 245 000 kilometres travelling across six continents in a custom-built Mercedes G-Wagen (with the body of a yellow SLK convertible).
Heaviest car ever balanced on a person’s head
It’s not exactly clear why anyone would want to balance a motor vehicle on their head, but this is exactly what John Evans has done three times. On one of these occasions, he balanced a car that weighed a staggering 162 kilograms. While the car had been stripped down, this is still a baffling, yet amazing feat.
Fastest wheel change
Unless you’re part of a Formula 1 crew, changing tyres is usually a tedious and fairly slow process. This was not the case though for four technicians from German tyre specialist Reifen Umert, who successfully changed all four wheels on a Ford Focus in precisely 58.43 seconds in 2015. This amazing feat involved lifting the car up with a jack and removing the wheel nuts with a traditional hand-held lug wrench.
Longest continuous car skid
It’s kind the kind of record that many could have broken accidentally – which is exactly what happened in 1964. On the Bonneville Salt Flats, American Norman Craig Breedlove lost control of his jet-powered car, which resulted in skid marks totalling nearly 10 kilometres being left behind. On a public road, the longest skid marks recorded were nearly 300 metres long.
Sticky business
Some people just love to plaster their car with mementoes of their interests, hobbies and the places they’ve been. Six students in Lithuania took this hobby to a new level when they applied a
14,637 different stickers onto a Nissan X-Trail within 23 hours. Afterwards, the sticker-laden car was displayed in a shopping centre.
Heaviest aircraft pulled by a production car
Think that a commercial car could never pull a plane? Think again – in April 2017, a 516-seat Airbus A380 was towed by a Porsche Cayenne S diesel over a distance of 42 metres at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle Airport. The towing occurred as a result of a publicity stunt. Air France supplied the Airbus 380, which weighs a hefty 285 tonnes.
Most U-turns completed in 2 minutes
You might pride yourself on your ability to get your car out of tight spaces. However, it’s unlikely you’re as proficient at it as Alex Jerden, who managed to complete an incredible 21 U-turns within 2 minutes.
Keep your car safe with a record-breaking company
Even if you don’t break any of these car records, make sure that you have peace of mind that your car is safe. Cartrack Namibia has an incredible 100% recovery rate in Namibia, so you know that you’ll always feel on top of the world when it comes to your car and its safety.
