5 Car-Related Guinness World Records from 2022 That Will Definitely Make Your Day

Guinness World Records had a lot of surprises in 2022, but we selected only five of them. The most important for us, because there are wheels involved.

World’s longest car was restored

It’s called The American Dream and it's 100 feet and 1.50 in (30.54 meters) long. Freud would give us a long lecture on this subject, I’m sure. Especially since this is not the first time this monster breaks a record.

In fact, in 1986, it had “only” 60 feet (18.28 meters) and became the longest limo in the world. It was based on the Cadillac Eldorado, it had 26 wheels and two V8 engines at the front and rear, and it could be driven from both ends.

Its creator Jay Ohrberg later extended it to 100 feet (30.5 meters) and added some oligarch-style features, like a swimming pool, a mini-golf course, and even a helipad. It could carry 75 people and was a Hollywood and luxury party attraction.

But as its fame faded, it became a clunker somewhere in New Jersey. Lucky for fans of excessive things, in the 2000s, The American Dream became Michael Manning’s obsession. He bought it on eBay, and it took him three years and a quarter of a million dollars to restore it.

On March 1st, 2022, it was ready to once more be recognized as the longest limo in the world. It’s now on display at Dezerland Park Orlando’s Auto Museum in Florida. If you’re going to visit it, don’t forget a copy of Freud’s “On Narcissism.”

The most expensive car is not a Ferrari anymore

The most expensive car until 2022 was a 1963 Ferrari GTO, which sold in 2018 for a whopping $70 million (£52 million or €60 million). There’s a lot of money for a piece of metal on wheels. This assertion is only true if you’re not a billionaire car addict.

If you are, then there’s no problem doubling that amount. Because on May 5, 2022, a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé was sold for $142 million (£115 million or €135 million). I know, I’m speechless too.

Why does it cost such a fortune? Because it’s a piece of metal with a rich history. There were only two ever made and one of them is owned by the German company and is on display at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart.

The one auctioned by Sotheby’s in Stuttgart, Germany, will also be on display at various special events. Moreover, a part of the money will be used for a worldwide “Mercedes-Benz Fund” for environmental scholarships for young people.

Let’s get back to history. The chassis of the car is derived from the Silver Arrows race cars. They are shadowed only by the fact that the racing team was bankrolled by the Nazi regime. The best part of it is that they dominated motorsport in the ‘30s, and then in the ‘50s, they won twice the Formula One World Championship thanks to Juan Manuel Fangio.

Meanwhile, chief motorsport engineer, Rudolf Uhlenhaut, was responsible for creating the road-legal version of the 300 SLR race car. Today’s most expensive car was the fastest road car in the late ‘50s, thanks to its top speed of 180 mph (290 kph).

But then, in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, driver Pierre Levegh was involved in an accident that killed him along with 83 spectators. Because of this disaster, Mercedes-Benz shut down the hard-top 300 SLR project. Thus, only two prototypes remained to this day.

One of them is priceless, and the other one is simply too expensive to make sense: more than $100 million for a car is quite a challenge. We’re eager to see which car will break the $200 million barrier. Any bets?

Students wowed everybody with the fastest EV acceleration

While in the U.S. the quarter-mile drag races are the norm for fans of fast acceleration, Europeans stick to the 0-100 kph (0-62 mph). After all, this is one of the main features of modern cars’ spec sheet. And it's also one of Tesla’s favorite show-offs when compared to others.

Just think about that 1.99-second run advertised by the Model S in the Plaid Mode. It’s a headache for super sports cars, isn’t it? But there is a catch: this is the time to reach 60 mph, which is only 96.5 kph. Otherwise, the Model S reaches 100 kph (62 mph) in 2.1 seconds.

Which is less than a Bugatti, but more (by 0.1 seconds) than an all-electric Rimac. This is serious business for carmakers and every fraction of a second counts to claim the king-of-acceleration crown. Which, in 2022, was simply stolen by a bunch of students.

The team from the University of Stuttgart, Germany, built an e-vehicle in the workshop on their campus. It looks like an F1 car for kids and has an impossible name: E0711-11Evo. But it also weighs under 145 kg (320 pounds) and has a four-wheel drive with motors developed at the university.

The maximum output of 180 kW may seem too little compared to Rimac’s 1.408 kW (1,915 ps or 1,888 hp). But the newly designed high-voltage battery pack is what makes this little e-vehicle a serious contender. How serious?

How about 1.461 seconds for the 0-100 kph (0-62 mph) acceleration? Just under the 1.5 seconds limit that no other production or prototype car has been able to go under – at least, not officially.

Let’s not forget that the first attempt at breaking the acceleration record was a disaster because the little car crashed. Fortunately, the students were able to repair the car and, three weeks later, the Guinness officials recorded the record on the Robert Bosch race track in Renningen.

Oh, it’s worth mentioning that this team – Foerderverein GreenTeam Uni Stuttgart e.V – has held the record twice, in 2012 and 2015. But in 2016, AMZ Racing from Switzerland stole the show with a 1.513 time.

So now it was a double victory for the German team: a sweet revenge and also setting a new limit. Keep in mind that they are students. That makes this Guinness record much more valuable and inspirational.

Longest drift in an electric car on a wet surface

The Americans are very proud of their muscle cars drifting shows. I’m sure you’re thinking right now about all those smokie videos featuring late Ken Block. But it’s the Japanese that made drifting state-of-the-art entertainment on wheels.

How about smashing some records? In 2020, a rear-wheel drive Porsche Taycan set the record for the longest drift in an electric car on a wet surface. It was a pretty effective marketing tool for the high-performance EV of the 92 year-old German sports brand.

But now, make way for the three-year-old Chinese EV carmaker Zhiji Motors or IM Motors. In 2022, they wanted to prove to the world that their first car – the luxury-executive L7 - is a real Tesla killer. So, they tried to break Porsche’s record.

And they succeeded. The official driver, named Wei Pengda (aka Panda), drifted the car on a wet surface for 27.120 miles (43.646 km), beating the previous record of 26.203 miles (42.171 km) held by Dennis Retera (aka we-don’t-know-his-nickname).

It seems that 2022 was a good year for the Chinese drifters. In January, racing driver Wang Dongjiang continuously drifted for a record 3.87 miles (6.231 km) on ice. Only he didn’t use an electric car, but an old-school Subaru Impreza.

Shivers down your spine: longest parade of hearses

On March 17, 2022, 122 hearses drove on Kyalami Grand Prix Track, in South Africa. It sounds like a movie trailer for the sequel of the “Wednesday” series. But it was actually Funerex Africa, a trade expo for funeral professionals all over Africa.

It aimed to unify the industry after the Covid-19 pandemic when many funeral service workers were affected by mental well-being. The bright side (err…) of the pandemic was an increase of 12% in overall business in South Africa, but let's stick to our record thing for now.

Visitors could browse the newest models of hearses or, on the contrary, classic ones or even gothic-looking black hearses. There were also (empty) coffins on display and all kinds of funeral services on demand.

By the way, now it’s a good time for you to find out the origin of “hearse.” It comes from the French 'herce,' meaning harrow, and it’s rooted in the ancient Latin word 'hirpex,' meaning large rake. The first motorized hearses appeared in 1900 in the U.S., and we’re done with this subject.