Porsche Taycan breaks world record… for ice drifting

On January 14, 2025, an instructor Porsche broke the record for the longest distance driven while drifting. Useless, therefore essential.

Who said electric cars aren’t fun? And despite their substantial mass due to their heavy batteries, Porsche dared to send one of its Taycan into an icy lake at the Arctic Circle for a little experiment: to see how long one of its Porsche Experience instructors could drift. However, at the end, a Guinness World Record was broken.

After an initial attempt covering 11 km, driver Jens Richter tried again, confident he could do better. Bingo! The technical team then opted for shorter crampons and took advantage of the dropping temperatures of the ice after sunset. This new attempt was successful: Jens Richter maintained his Taycan GTS 100% stock in a controlled drift over a total distance of 17.503 kilometers, or 132 laps, solely through adjustments to the accelerator and the steering wheel. This performance allowed him to set the world record for the longest continuous drift on ice by an electric car, far surpassing the previous record of 14.809 kilometers.

Breaking the Ice with Electric

“With this new Guinness World Record on ice, the Taycan once again demonstrates its exceptional handling capabilities,” affirms Jens Richter. “And this time, with all-wheel drive. The mastery of the Taycan GTS, even in extreme conditions, perfectly illustrates the quality of its chassis and its performance balance.”

Under the supervision of an official Guinness World Records referee, the record was set on an ice track located at the Porsche Arctic Center in Levi, Finland, about 150 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle. For the occasion, the Porsche Experience team set up a circular track 59 meters in diameter. The Taycan GTS was equipped with standard Michelin tires fitted with one-millimeter crampons on both axles to ensure the grip necessary for the success of this attempt.

The vehicle was fitted with a professional GPS device to accurately measure the distance traveled. This device also recorded driver actions, such as steering movements, acceleration, braking, and the G-forces experienced by the car.

The Taycan Records at Guinness World Records

With this new achievement, the Taycan now holds four Guinness World Records titles. In 2023, the Cross Turismo model set another record by traversing the Xinjiang-Tibet route with the maximum altitude change for an electric vehicle, reaching 5,573 meters.

In 2021, driver Leh Keen drove a Taycan at 165.1 km/h inside a building, setting the highest speed ever achieved in an enclosed space in New Orleans, Louisiana. And in 2020, Porsche Experience instructor Dennis Retera completed 210 laps in a Taycan at the Hockenheimring Porsche Experience Center, covering 42.171 kilometers in just 55 minutes.

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