BMW Sets Two GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ Titles for Drifting in the All-New 2018 BMW M5.

• GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS Titles for the Greatest Distance Vehicle Drift in 8 hours and the Longest Twin Vehicle Drift (Water Assisted) Were Set on Monday, December 11 at the BMW Performance Center in Greer, SC.

• BMW Driving Instructor Johan Schwartz Completed a Sustained Drift of 232.5 Miles, Recapturing a Record He Originally Set in 2013.

• Schwartz and BMW Performance Center Chief Driving Instructor Matt Mullins Executed a Twin Vehicle Drift over the Course of 1 Hour, 49.25 miles.

• Custom Refueling System Developed to Allow Mid-Drift Refueling During World Record Attempt.

Woodcliff Lake, NJ / Las Vegas – January 9, 2018 10:00 AM EST / 7:00 AM PST… On December 11, 2017, BMW driving instructor Johan Schwartz drifted an all-new BMW M5 sedan 232.5 miles around a skid pad at the BMW Performance Center in Greer, SC, setting a new GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title for the Greatest distance vehicle drift in 8 hours.  Schwartz shattered the previous record by 143 miles.  A second GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title for the Longest twin vehicle drift (water assisted) was also set on the same day.    

Schwartz broke the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title for Longest continuous vehicle drift on May 11, 2013 when he drifted an unmodified 2013 BMW M5 sedan for 51.278 miles also at the BMW Performance Center in Greer, SC.  Since then, Schwartz’s record was broken twice – officially in 2013, then 2014. 

In order to accomplish these feats and set new GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS titles, BMW partnered with North Carolina based automotive fabricators Detroit Speed to develop a custom dry break fuel system capable of refueling the BMW M5 mid-drift in the same way that fighter jets can refuel mid-flight.  The resulting fueling system allowed Schwartz to drift continuously for the entire eight hours allocated by GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS. 

“We knew going-in that if we were going to recapture the world record for longest sustained drift and set the bar as high as possible, we would need to find a way to keep the M5 going without stopping to refuel,” said Schwartz. “In the end, the refueling system worked flawlessly and the M5 performed as expected.  It was a big win all around.” 

Although the refueling system was built with the most technologically advanced components on the market, a human touch was needed to make and hold the refuel connection. 

Five separate times over the course of the eight hour drift, a second BMW M5 -- a previous generation M5 (F10) similar to the one that Schwartz used to set his original record -- entered the skid pad driven by BMW Performance Center Chief Driving Instructor Matt Mullins.  As Mullins matched Schwartz’s drift, Detroit Speed’s Matt Butts, who was suspended via a safety tether from the second vehicle’s rear window, was able to straddle the space between both moving vehicles and successfully complete the fueling.    

“Although we practiced the refueling several times before the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title attempt, there was very little margin for error,” said Butts.  “We’re excited to have played a part in Johan and BMW recapturing this record.”

Once the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title for the Greatest distance vehicle drift in 8 hours was achieved, BMW attempted -- and successfully completed -- a second title for Longest twin vehicle drift (water assisted) (1 hour / 49.25 miles), now co-owned by Schwartz and Mullins. 

During the Consumer Electronics Show this week, Schwartz and Mullins will perform a drifting demonstration in the 2018 BMW M5 at the top of every hour.  The GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title-setting vehicle will be displayed in the BMW Experience at the Las Vegas Convention Center’s Silver Lot.

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BMW Group In America

BMW of North America, LLC has been present in the United States since 1975.  Rolls-Royce Motor Cars NA, LLC began distributing vehicles in 2003.  The BMW Group in the United States has grown to include marketing, sales, and financial service organizations for the BMW brand of motor vehicles, including motorcycles, the MINI brand, and the Rolls-Royce brand of Motor Cars; Design works, a strategic design consultancy based in California; technology offices in Silicon Valley and Chicago, and various other operations throughout the country.  BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC in South Carolina is part of BMW Group’s global manufacturing network and is the manufacturing plant for all X5 and X3 Sports Activity Vehicles and X6 and X4 Sports Activity Coupes.  The BMW Group sales organization is represented in the U.S. through networks of 344 BMW passenger car and BMW Sports Activity Vehicle centers, 153 BMW motorcycle retailers, 127 MINI passenger car dealers, and 36 Rolls-Royce Motor Car dealers.  BMW (US) Holding Corp., the BMW Group’s sales headquarters for North America, is located in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.

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