The phenomenal fully-electric Porsche Taycan sets another world record, but this time, it could be the shortest in distance and time.
Yesterday, the Guinness World Records recognised the Porsche Taycan Turbo S as the vehicle that achieved the fastest speed indoors.
The previous record of 140 km/h has not been broken since 2013, performed using a Speed Car XTRM Crosskart.
To beat the record, a suitable location was more difficult to find than a high-performance vehicle. The record must be done completely indoors, and Porsche USA choose the New Orleans Convention Centre, having the largest contiguous exhibit hall in the US.
On smooth road surfaces, the 761-horsepower Porsche Taycan Turbo S can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h and 160 km/h in just 2.8 seconds and 6.1 seconds respectively.
However, the floor in the convention centre is polished concrete. Porsche explains that driving a car at high speeds on such surface is almost like driving over ice.
Simple but important preparation work was done on the Porsche. Professional driver Leh Keen did some low-speed exploratory runs with the support crew warming up the factory-fitted Pirelli P-Zero tyres to ensure maximum grip and control off the starting line.
The team at Porsche USA also removed the Taycan’s LED headlamps, as the record requires the vehicle to be non-roadworthy.
Getting the Taycan Turbo S to stop is just as tricky as the launch, with so little grip available on the polished concrete floor.
In just a single attempt, the Porsche Taycan Turbo S managed to achieve a top speed 165.2 km/h (102.65 mph) before Keen pressed gently on the 10-piston carbon-ceramic brakes, as the record guidelines require the vehicle to start and finish the exercise from stationary positions.
“To accelerate so hard on such an erratic surface was incredible. Not for a moment did I doubt I could do it,” said Keen after the only run.
The indoor land speed record adds to a long list of records done with the Porsche Taycan, as well as Porsche. Recently, two Porsche Taycans achieved 13 electric vehicle records in a day while a Taycan RWD did the longest drift at over 42 kilometres in distance.
16-year-old Chloe Chambers meanwhile rhythmed a Porsche 718 Spyder into the record for the fastest vehicle slalom in a time of 47.45 seconds.
GALLERY
