World’s longest drift record broken in SA!

A small group of people gathered, on a fresh Monday morning at the Gerotek Testing Facility, in anticipation of making history. AutoTrader’s motoring writers were fortunate enough to be assisting on the breaking of a WORLD record.

The sought after title: Longest Vehicle Drift

Born in the States, living in South Africa, and equipped with a Japanese car - Jesse Adams, 39, was determined to take the title off a German man named Harald Müller.

The record to beat was 144.126km which Müller achieved in a Toyota GT86 (or Toyota 86 as it is known locally), on a wet track back in July 2014. The event took place in Turkey and Müller completed 612 laps of the 235.5-metre course in 2h25m18s (2 hours, 25 minutes and 18 seconds). He apparently failed on his first attempt and was successful on his second attempt.

Adams, also equipped with the latest and stock standard 86, sponsored by Toyota SA, geared up and head out on a wet skidpan at Gerotek. The only modification made to his car was the addition of an extra 40 litre fuel tank. AutoTrader’s very own motoring content guys, Chad Lückhoff and Lawrence Minnie, were 2 of the 4 official witnesses.

Let the games begin!

The arena remained relatively quiet throughout the attempt. In the first hour, 170 laps were completed in roughly 177 meters per lap. Adams completed a lap in 18-20 seconds on average.

When the last 20 laps approached, everyone surrounded. Nerves were up, the air was tense and the smell of clutch and rubber was eminent. Adams spun a few times, the pressure was on. We were four and a half hours in and everyone watched anxiously. He was too far in for something to go wrong now. 10 laps down, 10 to go – everyone huddled around the judges. At 4h57m58.46s, Adams met the record of 145km’s and continued on.

On his first attempt he managed to meet and break the record. He completed 168.504km and 1000 laps in a time of 5h45m (5 hours and 45 minutes).

As with the previous title holder it will be questioned by many in the drifting world whether this is accepted as a ‘drift’ because the surface was wet, however according to Adams “by Guinness’ definitions it is accepted.”

We caught up with Adams the day before his attempt and he said to us “drifting is not a lot of labour – I just have to work my foot, pedals and arms.” Upon completion of his task, he got out of the car and exclaimed, “I just want to go to bed now! I want a hot bath and to go to bed." We quite sure he’ll take that statement back now.

He admitted that there were a few times he wanted to quit, “At about 400 laps I started to think to myself, what excuses can I give because I wanted to give up.” He continued, “and at 600, I wanted to give up again, the rear wheels started to do funny things.”

An emotional Adams confessed, “I didn't think I was going to make it, but I did, and probably could have done another 200."

It was a momentous occasion to witness and we’re very proud of our fellow South African motoring journalist! Well done Jesse!

The event co-ordinator, Adrian Burford, commented saying, "It was all done in one go. It's a fantastic achievement, a 1000 laps of the Gerotek skidpan on opposite lock, without stopping. That's like driving from Johannesburg to Pretoria, back to Joburg and back to Pretoria again. He’s done well over 150 km’s on opposite lock, all the time. I’m ecstatic."

Adams record remains unofficial for now until the verification process by the Guinness World Records team is completed.