BMW has announced that its new M5 has grabbed two official drifting records, one for the longest drift in eight hours and one for the longest twin vehicle water-assisted drift.
The feats were achieved in South Carolina in December 2017, with instructor Johan Schwartz behind the wheel of the new high-performance sedan, which is powered by a 4,4-litre twin-turbo V8 worth 441 kW and 750 N.m. Schwartz drifted 374,2 km on a skid pad, thereby setting a new Guinness World Record for the longest drift in eight hours, shattering the previous record by a whopping 230,1 km.
BMW teamed up with North Carolina-based company Detroit Speed to develop a custom-built refuelling system that made it possible to drift continuously without a break for the full eight hours. This saw the M5 refuelled during the drift in the same way that fighter jets refuels mid-flight.
As you can see in the footage below, a second M5 (driven by Matt Mullins, the chief driving instructor of the BMW Performance Centre) joined the record-breaking vehicle on the track for the special refuelling process.
The second record was awarded for the longest twin vehicle water-assisted drift, with Schwartz and Mullins drifting together for a full hour, covering 79,3 km.
