Friday, September 16, 2016

This spring Masato Kawabata set the drifting speed record — 189.5 miles per hour — in a stunt in the UAE at the airport


Kawabata, a 38-year-old from Osaka, set the record in a specially prepped 2016 Nissan GT-R. In three attempts down the 1.86-mile airstrip, he managed to drift the car from 34 to 55 degrees of yaw. Kawabata's speed bested that of prior record holder Jakub Przygoński, a Polish driver who hit 135.4 miles per hour while going sideways in 2013.

Tanner Foust, rally racer and Top Gear USA host, says he was planning his own attempt at the record, but Kawabata's feat — 55 miles an hour faster than the previous record — will be hard to beat. "What you have to understand is that to drift consistently at 180 miles per hour," Foust says, "your wheel speed actually has to be something like 200 miles per hour."  The sideways movement also creates extra lift, which could flip the car in an instant.



Kawabata's GT-R was tweaked by Nismo, and GReddy. It's 4 liter engine was tuned to give it a healthy 1,380 horsepower. (The standard GT-R at Nissan dealers has a paltry 565.)

http://www.mensjournal.com/adventure/articles/drifting-at-1895-miles-per-hour-w436965

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