In the dawn of October 23, 1970, Gary Gabelich sat in the driver’s seat of The Blue Flame, a rocket-propelled car. He topped 630 mph that day and set a world record. Just about 27 years later, Andy Green drove the ThrustSSC past the sound barrier, burning 4 gallons of fuel a second while doing so! These world records pique the imagination; however, achieving such records comes with a price tag in the millions. For the rest of the world, there are some more attainable records than tearing up the Bonneville Salt Flats faster than the speed of sound.
1. Tightest Car Parallel Parking
Driving a Fiat 500C, Alistair Moffatt was able to parallel park in a space that was only 2.95 inches larger than his car. It was January 8, 2015, and Moffatt achieved his record at the AutoSport International show in Birmingham, England. By setting this record, Moffatt reclaimed his title from Han Yue, who had set a seemingly unbeatable mark of 3.15 inches and snatched the title from Moffatt in 2014.
2. Heaviest Car to Balance on Top of One’s Head
John Evans balancing a Mini. Image courtesy of dailymail.co.uk.
Most people are content to stay safe within their car’s roll cage and behind assorted airbags. This is not true of John Evans, who stuck a 357-pound Mini Cooper on his head and balanced it for 33 seconds. Even though all of the interior of the car was removed before he completed the stunt, it’s still a remarkable feat. Evans’s record has held for 16 years, and he’s esteemed as the “master car balancer” of all time.
3. Highest Mileage Still Functioning Car
Irvin Gordon has driven more than 3 million (!) miles in his trusty Volvo. Image courtesy of autoblog.com.
Gabelich and Green may have both gone really fast, but Irvin Gordon and his 1966 Volvo P1800 have left them both in the supersonic dust. Gordon has driven his Volvo a total of more than 3 million miles, and counting, at the rate of more than 100,000 miles every year. His trusty mechanical steed cranks out 100 horsepower from its 1.8-liter engine.
4. Longest Wheelie by a Car
Mike Kunz breaking the record for the longest wheelie. Image courtesy of prairiepost.com.
Evel Knievel showed the world a ton of stunts using a motorcycle, including the wheelie. In practice, doing a wheelie on a motorcycle isn’t that difficult. Doing one in a car is difficult. Canadian Mike Kunz, whose nickname is “Nitro,” managed to do a wheelie in a car for almost half a mile (2,504 feet 7 inches). He accomplished this feat at the Temiskaming Drag ‘n Fly Summer Classic in Earlton, Ontario, Canada, on August 12, 2012, while driving a heavily modified PT Cruiser.
5. Longest Car
Jay Ohrberg’s limo features 26 wheels, a king size bed, and even a swimming pool. Image courtesy of yahoo.com.
Even Alistair Moffatt would have trouble parking this car, which is more than 100 feet long. Jay Ohrberg’s special stretched limousine sports an interior king-size bed and a swimming pool with a diving board. The car has 26 wheels and is designed either to drive with a completely straight body and wheelbase or to bend in the middle. For help with backing up, there is a second driver’s compartment in the rear. VIPs who want to get to the car to take a ride in luxury can even land on the vehicle’s roof in a helicopter.
6. Most People in a Smart Car
The Glendale Cheerleading Team managed to fit 20 people into a Smart car. Image courtesy of sunmotors.co.uk.
Smart Cars are renowned for being tiny. In much the same way as used to be done with Volkswagen Beetles, people try to pack as many of themselves inside a Smart Car as possible in a quest to set a world record. They don’t have much space with which to work: Smart Cars are only 98.4 inches long and 61 inches high. In 2010, the world record was established at 18 people stuffed inside. In 2011, The Glendale Cheerleading Team beat this record as they squeezed in 20 people into a Smart Car at The Staples Center in Los Angeles.
7. Longest Journey by a Coffee-Powered Car
Here’s how the coffee powered car works. Image courtesy of dailymail.co.uk.
Many people can’t get going in the morning without their coffee. In 2010, the world record was set for the furthest distance driven in a car powered by coffee. It was a 1988 Volkswagen Scirocco, which traveled 210 miles from London to Manchester. The car’s motor heated the coarsely ground coffee beans in a charcoal fire, which produced carbon monoxide and hydrogen. After that, the hydrogen was cooled and then fed into the combustion chamber to drive the car, which was purported to reach 60 mph.
8. Most Consecutive Donuts in a Car
At the Silverstone Race Circuit in Bedfordshire, UK, on September 4, 2011, British driver Jamie Morrow spun his Westfield Sport 1600 into a series of 280 consecutive “donuts.” There were 5,000 people cheering him on as part of the “Trax – The Ultimate Performance Car Event.”
9. Smallest Roadworthy Car
Austin Coulson designed this mini machine and claimed the record for the smallest car. Image courtesy of guinnessworldrecords.com.
Jay Ohrberg could fit 25 of these tiny cars inside his super stretch limo. Built in September 2012, the minuscule motor vehicle is only four feet long and roughly two feet wide and high. Austin Coulson was the designer.
10. Most Expensive Car
$52 million! Image courtesy of autoguide.com.
The Bugatti Veyron is so fast that it has an automatic feature that drops the car from top speed to a lower gear so that the tires don’t melt. It costs more than $2 million and is a plaything of the super-rich. A certain 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO, however, cost more than 25 Veyrons! It even cost more than most fighter jets. Famous Connecticut car collector Paul Pappalardo sold it for $52 million to an anonymous buyer in October 2013. Why is it so expensive? There were only ever 36 made. The car produces 302 horsepower and zips up to 60 mph in 5.8 seconds.
Conclusion
Look at him go! Image courtesy of autoblog.com.
Do you think you’d like to break one of these world records or even come up with your own? Perhaps you’d like to design a smaller car than the current record holder? Maybe you’d like to try your hand at doing donuts? Maybe you even have a heretofore-unknown 37th Ferrari 250 GTO sitting on blocks in a garage on a deserted road in the country somewhere?
You might even know of a previously unreported car world record? Go ahead and tell us about it. It doesn’t matter how quirky the record; as you can see by this list, some of the existing records are already pretty “out there.”