Nissan GT-R Breaks World Record for Fastest Drift, Performs One at over 300 km/h

The record was set in the United Arab Emirates, at the Fujairah International Airport, with a modified Nissan GT-R Nismo.

Thanks to the 1,380 HP engine which delivered power only to the rear wheels, Japanese drift champion Masato Kawabata managed to drift at 304.96 km/h (189 MPH) at a 30-degree angle.

This is the fifth time Nissan breaks an international Guinness World Record, and the feat has been achieved with extensive development performed by Nismo specialists and GReddy Trust.

Before attempting to break the record, the development team tested the car at Japan’s Fuji Speedway. Naturally, Masato Kawabata was at the wheel, to ensure that he gets more experience with this modified GT-R.

Nissan chose the Fujairah International Airport because of its three-kilometer (1.86-mile) long strip, which allowed enough room for this challenge. From the beginning of this project, Nissan wanted to perform a drift at a speed of over 300 km/h, so their expectations were met and even exceeded.

The team only had five days in the United Arab Emirates to prepare for their attempt, and even assembled a workshop on site, in one of the hangars.

Nissan partnered up with the Prodrift Academy UAE to ensure logistics support for their team in Dubai. Technicians from GReddy and Nismo were also on-site to ensure that the modified V6 twin-turbo engine performed flawlessly in the blistering heat of Dubai, and it seems that their work paid off.

This stunt also required special tires from Toyo, as well as special alloy wheels from RAYS. The Japanese drift champion only had three attempts to do his record run, as Guinness World Records rules dictate.

The previous holder of this record is Polish driver Jakub PrzygoDski, who set the Guinness World Record for the fastest drift in the world in 2013. Back then, the Polish driver performed a drift at 217.973 km/h (135.44 MPH) in a modified Toyota GT86, which developed 1,000 HP.