Behind the Scenes of BMW’s Vehicle Drifting Record
Record-breaking BMW M5 had to refuel five times in eight hours for its 232.5-mile drifting session, but they didn’t do it the easy way.
Following BMW’s absolute crushing of the previous vehicle distance drifting record, they have released this behind-the-scenes look at how they managed it. The previous record was set at 102.5 miles in eight hours using a Toyota GT86. However, in the hands of BMW Performance Driving School instructor Johan Schwartz, the F90 BMW M5 went an incredible 232.5 miles with the tail end hanging out.
If that wasn’t a large enough feat, BMW’s crew decided that they should refuel the car while it was moving. The rules for the record would actually have allowed them to stop and refuel. They could also have dropped a bigger gas tank into the M5 to make things a little easier. However, the crew decided to engineer a solution allowing them to refuel using another M5 drifting alongside the main car.
The reasoning behind not wanting to stop the car for gas consists of the kind of thinking we endorse: “That would be boring. Who wants to watch that?”
BMW driving instructor Matt Mullins got the job of drifting the support car containing an extra gasoline tank within just a couple of feet of the main car. Meanwhile, Matt Butts took the opportunity to risk being in a BMW sandwich while handling the fire risk of car-to-car refueling on the move. Each refueling mission required 15 to 18 gallons of fuel. The 600-horsepower 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 is a thirsty beast, so he had to do that 5 times to help complete the record attempt.
To top their day off, BMW also took the record for the for the longest (water-assisted) twin vehicle drift at 39.25 miles.
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