At the Fujairah International Airport, UAE, Japanese drift champion Masato Kawabata and a specially-tuned, 1380-horsepower Nissan GT-R Coupe have obliterated the old Guinness World Record for the fastest drift, which stood at 135 mph. The record breaking speed at which this special GT-R Coupe drifted was a screamingly fast 189.5 miles per hour and at a 30 degree angle—that’s sideways. Nissan gave special thanks to the people at Fujairah International Airport, UAE, which provided space and support for the days leading up to the attempt as well as during the attempt itself. Now the part you’ve been waiting for: the actual world record-setting drift, check it out below!
The choice of the Fujairah International Airport was purposeful, and made mostly due to practical reasons, in that the airport was able to provide enough straight-away distance for Kawabata to reach the required speeds for such an audacious record attempt. Getting the attempts right was especially important because the Guinness World Record maintains strict guidelines that say you can only try three times to break a record, so the team had to make the most of those tries. They spent days in advance preparing for the attempt, with long hours spent tuning the GT-R as well as fitting it with special Toyo Tires that were designed specifically for the stunt.
"Once again, Nissan has broken a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title and has made international history for the fifth time in the Middle East. The Nissan GT-R is one of the world's most iconic supercars, proving time and again the incredible breadth of its capabilities, and has clearly demonstrated its performance leadership by beating the best drift cars out there. The fact that this achievement was set here in the UAE makes it even more special for our region. Setting this incredibly difficult world record was a clear demonstration of the excitement we are bringing to the Middle East with the Nismo brand." –Samir Cherfan, Managing Director of Nissan Middle East.
If you’re as excited about this amazing world record as we are here at Fred Beans Nissan of Doylestown, then you should come on into our Doylestown, PA showroom to help us celebrate! When you trust Fred Beans for your Nissan needs, you can expect outstanding customer service, a friendly, professional sales team, and of course, a great selection of new Nissan models. Even if you’re not able to drift like Masato Kawabata, you can still drive the same car—sort of—we can’t special tune it for you the way they did for the world record, but we promise this vehicle will still get your motor running.