• Porsche set a new ice drifting record for EVs with the Taycan.
• Jens Richter drifted a Taycan GTS for 46 minutes.

The Porsche Taycan just secured its fourth Guinness World Record. All it took was a trip to the German company’s Arctic Center in Lavi, Finland and a driver keen enough to drive in circles for minutes on end.

I’m clearly oversimplifying here, but it sure sounds like a nice day out in a proper performance EV. Earlier this month, Porsche Experience instructor Jens Richter set a new world record for the longest continuous drift on ice in an electric vehicle. That electric vehicle was a Porsche Taycan GTS on studded tires, and the record is 132 laps totaling 10.875 miles (17.503 kilometers) in 46 minutes.

The run happened on January 14, but it wasn’t until the second try that the record was set. “Under the extreme continuous load of the drifting Taycan, the ice track deteriorated faster than expected,” said Jens Richter. “We therefore had to abort the first attempt after around 6.8 miles (11 kilometers)”.

For the second attempt, Porsche switched to tires with shorter spikes and took advantage of the fact the ice temperature dropped again as darkness fell. And it worked, with Richter using only throttle and steering inputs to do the job. “With our new Guinness World Records title on ice, the Taycan has once again proven its sideways driving qualities,” said Jens Richter. “And this time even with all-wheel drive. The fact that the Taycan GTS can be controlled so well even under extreme conditions speaks volumes for its excellent chassis and balanced performance.”

The track where the record was set was a circle with a diameter of 193 feet (59 meters) and the car was fitted with off-the-shelf Michelin tires with one-millimeter spikes for the successful record attempt. To record the data, Porsche used a professional GPS measuring device to log the distance, acceleration, braking and G-forces.

The new ice-drifting record trumped the previous one set by Wang Zhilong in China in February 2023 with a Mercedes-Benz EV that drifted 9.202 miles. 

The Taycan has three more records under its belt. Back in 2020, a Taycan drifted 210 laps in 55 minutes. A year later, it became the fastest car to drive in an enclosed building, hitting 102.5 miles per hour. Then, in 2023, a Taycan Cross Turismo achieved the biggest altitude change by an EV–though Hyundai beat that late last year with the Ioniq 5.

The Porsche Taycan GTS has a dual-motor all-wheel drive powertrain that’s good for 690 horsepower.