Hello all

I am interested in attempting the world record for holding a rear wheel drive car sideways. I know nothing about this and wondered if the record exists? how long was it? what would I have to do to attempt it? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance :)

The only record set is for any car, it doesnt state RWD, 4WD or FWD ;)

The current record is held by Simon De Bank for 2 hrs 11 mins and 18 seconds driving sideways. It is not an easy task. ;)

John

Thats sort of answered my question. I wasn't sure if it was done on drive classes or overall :( I wonder how hard it would be to break that in a rear wheel drive?

bloody dificult, the AWD gives far more oportunity to correct the car than a RWD. Simon only stopped because he ran out of fuel. :D

Also, when SDB set the record, there wasn't one to beat so the officials 'set' a time of 15 mins to qualify it as a record.

So I suppose if you went sideways for over 15mins infront of all the relevent officals then I suppose you'd have the record for a RWD car :).


Justin

Justin

Thats what I thought. Now i need to know who to contact and get myself a rear wheel drive car :D

Any ideas if this is possible and who to contact?

<and get myself a rear wheel drive car >
Ooh I wonder where thats coming from :D
Only kidding mate, shes yours if you need her :)
Besides I have the utmost faith in Paul. He can drive like a god in any (and I do mean any) car you give him.
If anyone can break the record he can.
astraboy.

astraboy

Thanks mate :) I thought I was going to have to buy a capri or something. I just need to find a venue and officials etc. Does anyone know how to go about this please? HELP PLEASE.

Thanks in advance :)

BTTT :D

PP, you've got a nerve. Coming on a 4x4 website asking about rwd and how you can break the World Record set by our very own webmaster!

Good luck, though. Keep us posted ;)

Richard.

Hoppy

Thats maybe why I am getting no response ;)

Hi Paul

This is not easy, but having already been through it all, I can definitely point you in the right direction (you might have to travell in that direction whilst pointing in another direciton though :D )...

Unfortunately Guinness World Records have set the category at Cars rather than RWD, AWD, etc.. so you would need to attempt the record we set, but it is definitely doable in a RWD car as the fuel will last longer and it is basically easier, but requires just as much focus (which is the main part of the challenge).

You then need a venue. We used MIRA, but I wouldn't hold out much hope of being able to use it unless you have some serious contacts and a lot of development driving experience, insurances, etc, etc.

There are plenty of other concentric circle facilities though.. You could try Chobham (i think it's call Qinetic now after the company that runs it).

I did the autocar sideways challenge there last year and it would definitely be doable there, although the speeds will be higher than at MIRA and would be practically impossible in AWD (as you would need LOTS of revs and LOTS of fuel).

Next is a car. Think carefully about the airflow as the ducts, etc are not designed to cool the engine at that angle for that amount of time. Also the diffs. Then most importantly (and the thing you will spend most time on during testing) the tyres...

We used Toyo Proxies specially prepared by Tyres Northampton by testing wear rates and the effect on the handling of the car / pressures, etc over time. In the end they worked incredibly well.

The main reason we chose to use a scooby was because we actually wnated to set the record in an Impreza, to a) prove that it can be done, and b) tie in with scoobynet, but there are plenty of other cars that would be able to go for longer. I was always planning that (should someone beat the record) I would set it again in something like a 3 Series BM TD or something, so that might be worth thinking about.

There are lots of incidental things that I have probably forgotten, but we can save you a shed load of time that we spent trying to sort things out, so ask away and I'll give as much info as I can.

The rules of the record are that the car needs to stay at an angle between 15 degrees and 90 degrees to the direction of travel at all times, and that you need to stay within a defined lane of (something like) 2 car widths, or maybe 2.5 or something. Obviously as soon as you straighten up or spin it's over.

The challenge from the driving point of view is the commitment to complete concentration for that duration. Believe me, 15 minutes seemed like a couple of weeks :)

When taking 1 corner sideways you don't even need to think let alone focus on concentrating, but keeping it there constantly over that period of time is a real challenge.

GOOD LUCK!!! I have been looking forward to someone giving it a go.

All the best

Simon

Cheers Si, :)
Paul, I'm right next to Chobham, do you want me to have a word to see if its doable there?
astraboy.

any news?

He's on holiday ATM Si, I've been too lazy to tap up Chobham for him as I threw a house party on saturday night and I still aint recovered to be honest :eek:. Do you have a number for Chobham that I can call? or do you think a letter/email would work better?
astraboy.

I don't have a number or contact there I'm affraid.

I think a call would be better to try to talk to them in person. More likely to get ignored if you send an email, etc.

Good luck!

Simon