There’s a new Guinness World Record and its set by the Taycan

I guess Porsche took 2020 way too literally when everyone said that its better to stay indoors. And I mean it’s not bad, just feels a bit too desperate to get the Taycan name on a Guinness world record. Although, it’s not all bad because an indoor land speed record means that the Taycan really is a very well balanced vehicle even at the speeds that it can achieve. Oh! and the acceleration isn’t a joke either.

There’s a Guinness World Records title for the fastest speed by a vehicle indoors – and, until recently, it stood at 86 mph. The rules – strictly enforced by Guinness World Records – are daunting. This new record was set by racing driver Leh Keen and here’s what Porsche had to say

“Leh had to start his record attempt and finish it at a standstill, all within the space of the building – there could be no run up, no safety net and no doors open and therefore no escape route. For good reasons, therefore, the record has stood for seven years.”

“Nevertheless, Leh proceeded enthusiastically with his planning. He required a car that was surefooted in challenging conditions, a vehicle that’s among the hardest accelerating and, just as important, hardest decelerating cars on sale today and that he would trust his life with in order to safely break the record safely.  The car that met this criteria was the all-electric Taycan Turbo S, possessing a maximum of 750 hp, with four wheel drive to maximize grip, powerful carbon ceramic brakes and the ability to accelerate to 60 mph from a standstill in just 2.6 seconds.”

In a speed record like this one, selecting the right building is just as challenging. Enter the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. At just over one million square feet, the convention center boasts having the largest contiguous exhibit hall in the United States, ideal for the distance it provided. However, like many other indoor facilities, the polished concrete surface replicated ice when being driven over at speed… and that is what my real concern was. How does a driver maneuver a car while taking it to the maximum possible speed. Imagine a slight bit of a slide from the extreme torque! OOFF!

Here’s what the Braveheart Leh had to say, “I didn’t really appreciate the scale of the record attempt until my first exploratory run. The surface is so unpredictable, so slick, that you have to have complete trust in your car. It truly was like ice – and you’re accelerating flat out, facing a really hard wall at the end. Suddenly, even in a massive space like the one we had, it seems very small,” said Leh Keen after his record attempt. “I could feel the Taycan’s systems figuring it out, working so hard to keep me heading straight – it was such an impressive feat. To accelerate so hard on such an erratic surface was incredible. Not for a moment did I doubt I could do it.”