On December 11, 2017, an all-new BMW M5 sedan set off with driving instructor Johan Schwartz behind the wheel. Schwartz then drifted the M4 around BMW’s Performance Center in Greer, South Carolina, setting a record for the “Greatest Distance Vehicle Drift,” traveling sideways for a total of 232.5 miles over eight hours around a skid pad. Not only did Schwartz set his record of 232.5 miles, he smashed his previous record attempt by 143 miles. But it doesn’t stop there.
During the same attempt, BMW also set the first record for the “Longest Twin Vehicle Drift (Water Assisted)” where the firm had a second car drift alongside the primary attempt car. The second car, a previous generation F10 M5 with BMW Performance Center Chief Drifting Instructor Matt Mullins at the wheel, went sideways alongside the first car for a total of 49.25 miles over the course of one hour, out of the total attempt’s eight-hour period.
And to make sure the first car kept going, the second car also acted as a mobile supply car, and refueled the primary car during the drift attempt.
Yes, you read that correctly. They refueled the primary car with a second car, while it was drifting sideways, around a skid pad, to make sure it could keep going during its record-setting attempt. They accomplished this by equipping the first car with a jet fighter-derived “dry break fuel” system, a completely custom setup just for this record attempt. The supply car refilled the first M5 a total of five separate times over the eight-hour drift.
“We knew going in that if we were going to recapture the world record for longest sustained drift and set the bar as high as possible, we would need to find a way to keep the M5 going without stopping to refuel,” said Schwartz. “In the end, the refueling system worked flawlessly and the M5 performed as expected. It was a big win all around.”
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